Robert Boulter is an English film television and theatre actor He had a guest starring role on the television series The Bill in This was followed by a starring role in the play Herons written by Simon Stephens which was performed in at the Royal Court Theatre He had a guest role in the television series Judge John Deed in In Boulter landed a role as Craig in the episode Teddy s Story of the television series The Long Firm he starred alongside actors Mark Strong and Derek Jacobi He was cast in the theatre productions of the Philip Ridley play Mercury Fur which was performed at the Drum Theatre in Plymouth and the Menier Chocolate Factory in London He was directed by John Tiffany and starred alongside Ben Whishaw Shane Zaza Harry Kent Fraser Ayres Sophie Stanton and Dominic Hall
In Boulter starred alongside Whishaw in the play Citizenship written by Mark Ravenhill He appeared on a episode of the television series Doctors followed by a role in the theatre production of How to Curse directed by Josie Rourke How to Curse was performed at Bush Theatre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Boulter starred in two films in Daylight Robbery by filmmaker Paris Leonti and Donkey Punch directed by Olly Blackburn In May Boulter made a guest appearance on a two part episode arc of the television series Waking the Dead followed by an appearance on the television series Survivors in November He had a recurring role in ten episodes of the television series Casualty in as Kieron Fletcher Boulter starred in the film Mercenaries directed by Paris Leonti
In Boulter had a guest starring role on the television series The Bill he portrayed Scott Parry in the episode In Safe Hands Boulter starred as Scott in the play Herons written by Simon Stephens which was performed in at the Royal Court Theatre A review of Boulter s performance in The Independent on Sunday described him as horribly menacing in the role and he received critical reviews in The Herald and Evening Standard He appeared in the television series Judge John Deed in as Addem Armitage in the episode Political Expediency and had a role as a different character Toby Steele on The Bill
He had a recurring role in on two episodes of The Bill as character Connor Price In Boulter landed a role as Craig in the episode Teddy s Story of the television series The Long Firm he starred alongside actors Mark Strong and Derek Jacobi Boulter starred as Darren in the theatre productions of the Philip Ridley play Mercury Fur It was performed at the Drum Theatre in Plymouth and the Menier Chocolate Factory in London He was directed by John Tiffany and starred alongside Ben Whishaw Shane Zaza Harry Kent Fraser Ayres Sophie Stanton and Dominic Hall Boulter received a favorable review in The Daily Telegraph The acting is shatteringly intense with wired performances from Ben Whishaw now unrecognisable from his performance as Trevor Nunn s Hamlet Robert Boulter Shane Zaza and Fraser Ayres The Guardian noted Ben Whishaw and Robert Boulter offer tenderness amid the savagery
In Boulter starred in the play Citizenship written by Mark Ravenhill The play was part of a series which featured different playwrights titled Burn Chatroom Citizenship In a interview fellow actor Ben Whishaw identified Boulter as one of his favorite co stars I loved working with a guy called Robert Boulter who was in the triple bill of Burn Chatroom and Citizenship at the National He played my brother in Mercury Fur He portrayed Jason Tyler on the episode of the television series Doctors titled Something I Ate Boulter starred as William in the production of How to Curse directed by Josie Rourke How to Curse was performed at Bush Theatre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham In a review of the production for The Daily Telegraph theatre critic Charles Spencer noted Robert Boulter brings a touching vulnerability to the stage as William
Boulter starred in two films in Daylight Robbery by filmmaker Paris Leonti and Donkey Punch directed by Olly Blackburn Boulter portrayed a character named Sean in Donkey Punch who tags along with character Josh as the quiet brother who hits it off with Tammi Boulter guest starred on a two part episode arc Wounds in May of the television series Waking the Dead as character Jimmy Dearden He appeared on the television series Survivors as Neil in November He had a recurring role in ten episodes of the television series Casualty in as Kieron Fletcher He portrayed an emergency physician applying for a medical fellowship He commented on the inherent difficulties in portraying a physician on television Playing a doctor is a strange experience Pretending you know what you re talking about when you don t is very bizarre but there are advisers on set who are fantastic at taking you through procedures and giving you the confidence to stand there and look like you know what you re doing Boulter starred in the film Mercenaries directed by Paris Leonti
Du Fu Wade Giles Tu Fu Chinese was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty Along with Li Bai Li Po he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets His greatest ambition was to serve his country as a successful civil servant but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations His life like the whole country was devastated by the An Lushan Rebellion of and his last years were a time of almost constant unrest
Although initially he was little known to other writers his works came to be hugely influential in both Chinese and Japanese literary culture Of his poetic writing nearly fifteen hundred poems have been preserved over the ages He has been called the Poet Historian and the Poet Sage by Chinese critics while the range of his work has allowed him to be introduced to Western readers as the Chinese Virgil Horace Ovid Shakespeare Milton Burns Wordsworth Branger Hugo or Baudelaire
Traditional Chinese literary criticism emphasized the life of the author when interpreting a work a practice which Burton Watson attributes to the close links that traditional Chinese thought posits between art and morality Since many of Du Fu s poems feature morality and history this practice is particularly important Another reason identified by the Chinese historian William Hung is that Chinese poems are typically concise omitting context that might be relevant but which an informed contemporary could be assumed to know For modern Western readers The less accurately we know the time the place and the circumstances in the background the more liable we are to imagine it incorrectly and the result will be that we either misunderstand the poem or fail to understand it altogether Stephen Owen suggests a third factor particular to Du Fu arguing that the variety of the poet s work required consideration of his whole life rather than the reductive categorizations used for more limited poets
Most of what is known of Du Fu s life comes from his poems His paternal grandfather was Du Shenyan a noted politician and poet during the reign of Empress Wu Du Fu was born in the exact birthplace is unknown except that it was near Luoyang Henan province Gong county is a favourite candidate In later life he considered himself to belong to the capital city of Chang an ancestral hometown of the Du family
Du Fu s mother died shortly after he was born and he was partially raised by his aunt He had an elder brother who died young He also had three half brothers and one half sister to whom he frequently refers in his poems although he never mentions his stepmother
The son of a minor scholar official his youth was spent on the standard education of a future civil servant study and memorisation of the Confucian classics of philosophy history and poetry He later claimed to have produced creditable poems by his early teens but these have been lost
In the early s he travelled in the Jiangsu Zhejiang area his earliest surviving poem describing a poetry contest is thought to date from the end of this period around In that year he took the civil service exam likely in Chang an He failed to his surprise and that of centuries of later critics Hung concludes that he probably failed because his prose style at the time was too dense and obscure while Chou suggests his failure to cultivate connections in the capital may have been to blame After this failure he went back to traveling this time around Shandong and Hebei
His father died around Du Fu would have been allowed to enter the civil service because of his father s rank but he is thought to have given up the privilege in favour of one of his half brothers He spent the next four years living in the Luoyang area fulfilling his duties in domestic affairs
In the autumn of he met Li Bai Li Po for the first time and the two poets formed a friendship David Young describes this as the most significant formative element in Du Fu s artistic development because it gave him a living example of the reclusive poet scholar life to which he was attracted after his failure in the civil service exam The relationship was somewhat one sided however Du Fu was by some years the younger while Li Bai was already a poetic star We have twelve poems to or about Li Bai from the younger poet but only one in the other direction They met again only once in
In he moved to the capital in an attempt to resurrect his official career He took the civil service exam a second time during the following year but all the candidates were failed by the prime minister apparently in order to prevent the emergence of possible rivals He never again attempted the examinations instead petitioning the emperor directly in and probably again in He married around and by the couple had had five children three sons and two daughters but one of the sons died in infancy in From he began to have lung problems probably asthma the first of a series of ailments which dogged him for the rest of his life It was in that year that Du Fu was forced to move his family due to the turmoil of a famine brought about by massive floods in the region
In he received an appointment as Registrar of the Right Commandant s office of the Crown Prince s Palace Although this was a minor post in normal times it would have been at least the start of an official career Even before he had begun work however the position was swept away by events
The An Lushan Rebellion began in December and was not completely suppressed for almost eight years It caused enormous disruption to Chinese society the census of recorded million people but ten years later the census counted just million the remainder having been displaced or killed During this time Du Fu led a largely itinerant life unsettled by wars associated famines and imperial displeasure This period of unhappiness was the making of Du Fu as a poet Even Shan Chou has written that What he saw around him the lives of his family neighbors and strangers what he heard and what he hoped for or feared from the progress of various campaigns these became the enduring themes of his poetry Even when he learned of the death of his youngest child he turned to the suffering of others in his poetry instead of dwelling upon his own misfortunes Du Fu wrote
Brooding on what I have lived through if even I know such suffering the common man must surely be rattled by the winds
In Emperor Xuanzong was forced to flee the capital and abdicate Du Fu who had been away from the city took his family to a place of safety and attempted to join the court of the new emperor Suzong but he was captured by the rebels and taken to Chang an In the autumn his youngest son Du Zongwu Baby Bear was born Around this time Du Fu is thought to have contracted malaria
He escaped from Chang an the following year and was appointed Reminder when he rejoined the court in May This post gave access to the emperor but was largely ceremonial Du Fu s conscientiousness compelled him to try to make use of it he caused trouble for himself by protesting the removal of his friend and patron Fang Guan on a petty charge He was arrested but was pardoned in June He was granted leave to visit his family in September but he soon rejoined the court and on December he returned to Chang an with the emperor following its recapture by government forces However his advice continued to be unappreciated and in the summer of he was demoted to a post as Commissioner of Education in Huazhou The position was not to his taste in one poem he wrote
I am about to scream madly in the office Especially when they bring more papers to pile higher on my desk
He moved on in the summer of this has traditionally been ascribed to famine but Hung believes that frustration is a more likely reason He next spent around six weeks in Qinzhou now Tianshui Gansu province where he wrote more than sixty poems
In December he briefly stayed in Tonggu modern Gansu He departed on December for Chengdu Sichuan province where he was hosted by local Prefect and fellow poet Pei Di Du subsequently based himself in Sichuan for most of the next five years By the autumn of that year he was in financial trouble and sent poems begging help to various acquaintances He was relieved by Yan Wu a friend and former colleague who was appointed governor general at Chengdu Despite his financial problems this was one of the happiest and most peaceful periods of his life Many of Du s poems from this period are peaceful depictions of his life at thatched hut In he left the city to escape a rebellion but he returned in summer when he was appointed an advisor to Yan who was involved in campaigns against the Tibetan Empire
Luoyang the region of his birthplace was recovered by government forces in the winter of and in the spring of Du Fu and his family sailed down the Yangtze apparently with the intention of making their way there They traveled slowly held up by his ill health by this time he was suffering from poor eyesight deafness and general old age in addition to his previous ailments They stayed in Kuizhou in what is now Baidicheng Chongqing at the entrance to the Three Gorges for almost two years from late spring This period was Du Fu s last great poetic flowering and here he wrote poems in his dense late style In autumn Bo Maolin became governor of the region he supported Du Fu financially and employed him as his unofficial secretary
In March he began his journey again and got as far as Hunan province where he died in Tanzhou now Changsha in November or December in his th year He was survived by his wife and two sons who remained in the area for some years at least His last known descendant is a grandson who requested a grave inscription for the poet from Yuan Zhen in
Hung summarises his life by concluding that He appeared to be a filial son an affectionate father a generous brother a faithful husband a loyal friend a dutiful official and a patriotic subject
Below is an example of one of Du Fu s later works To My Retired Friend Wei Chinese Like many other poems in the Tang it featured the theme of a long parting between friends which was often due to officials being frequently transferred to the provinces
Criticism of Du Fu s works has focused on his strong sense of history his moral engagement and his technical excellence
Since the Song dynasty critics have called Du Fu the poet historian sh sh The most directly historical of his poems are those commenting on military tactics or the successes and failures of the government or the poems of advice which he wrote to the emperor Indirectly he wrote about the effect of the times in which he lived on himself and on the ordinary people of China As Watson notes this is information of a kind seldom found in the officially compiled histories of the era
Du Fu s political comments are based on emotion rather than calculation his prescriptions have been paraphrased as Let us all be less selfish let us all do what we are supposed to do Since his views were impossible to disagree with his forcefully expressed truisms enabled his installation as the central figure of Chinese poetic history
A second favourite epithet of Chinese critics is that of poet sage sh shng a counterpart to the philosophical sage Confucius One of the earliest surviving works The Song of the Wagons from around gives voice to the sufferings of a conscript soldier in the imperial army and a clear sighted consciousness of suffering These concerns are continuously articulated in poems on the lives of both soldiers and civilians produced by Du Fu throughout his life
Although Du Fu s frequent references to his own difficulties can give the impression of an all consuming solipsism Hawkes argues that his famous compassion in fact includes himself viewed quite objectively and almost as an afterthought He therefore lends grandeur to the wider picture by comparing it to his own slightly comical triviality
Du Fu s compassion for himself and for others was part of his general broadening of the scope of poetry he devoted many works to topics which had previously been considered unsuitable for poetic treatment Zhang Jie wrote that for Du Fu everything in this world is poetry Du wrote extensively on subjects such as domestic life calligraphy paintings animals and other poems
Du Fu s work is notable above all for its range Chinese critics traditionally used the term jdchng complete symphony a reference to Mencius description of Confucius Yuan Zhen was the first to note the breadth of Du Fu s achievement writing in that his predecessor united in his work traits which previous men had displayed only singly He mastered all the forms of Chinese poetry Chou says that in every form he either made outstanding advances or contributed outstanding examples Furthermore his poems use a wide range of registers from the direct and colloquial to the allusive and self consciously literary This variety is manifested even within individual works Owen identifies the rapid stylistic and thematic shifts in poems which enable the poet to represent different facets of a situation while Chou uses the term juxtaposition as the major analytical tool in her work Du Fu is noted for having written more on poetics and painting than any other writer of his time He wrote eighteen poems on painting alone more than any other Tang poet Du Fu s seemingly negative commentary on the prized horse paintings of Han Gan ignited a controversy that has persisted to the present day
The tenor of his work changed as he developed his style and adapted to his surroundings chameleon like according to Watson his earliest works are in a relatively derivative courtly style but he came into his own in the years of the rebellion Owen comments on the grim simplicity of the Qinzhou poems which mirrors the desert landscape the works from his Chengdu period are light often finely observed while the poems from the late Kuizhou period have a density and power of vision
Although he wrote in all poetic forms Du Fu is best known for his lshi a type of poem with strict constraints on form and content for example
About two thirds of Du Fu s extant works are in this form and he is generally considered to be its leading exponent His best lshi use the parallelisms required by the form to add expressive content rather than as mere technical restrictions Hawkes comments that it is amazing that Tu Fu is able to use so immensely stylized a form in so natural a manner
According to the Encyclopdia Britannica Du Fu s writings are considered by many literary critics to be among the greatest of all time and it states his dense compressed language makes use of all the connotative overtones of a phrase and of all the intonational potentials of the individual word qualities that no translation can ever reveal
In his lifetime and immediately following his death Du Fu was not greatly appreciated In part this can be attributed to his stylistic and formal innovations some of which are still considered extremely daring and bizarre by Chinese critics There are few contemporary references to him only eleven poems from six writers and these describe him in terms of affection but not as a paragon of poetic or moral ideals Du Fu is also poorly represented in contemporary anthologies of poetry
However as Hung notes he is the only Chinese poet whose influence grew with time and his works began to increase in popularity in the ninth century Early positive comments came from Bai Juyi who praised the moral sentiments of some of Du Fu s works although he found these in only a small fraction of the poems and from Han Yu who wrote a piece defending Du Fu and Li Bai on aesthetic grounds from attacks made against them Both these writers showed the influence of Du Fu in their own poetic work By the beginning of the th century Wei Zhuang constructed the first replica of his thatched cottage in Sichuan
It was in the th century during the Northern Song era that Du Fu s reputation reached its peak In this period a comprehensive re evaluation of earlier poets took place in which Wang Wei Li Bai and Du Fu came to be regarded as representing respectively the Buddhist Daoist and Confucian strands of Chinese culture At the same time the development of Neo Confucianism ensured that Du Fu as its poetic exemplar occupied the paramount position Su Shi famously expressed this reasoning when he wrote that Du Fu was preeminent because through all his vicissitudes he never for the space of a meal forgot his sovereign His influence was helped by his ability to reconcile apparent opposites political conservatives were attracted by his loyalty to the established order while political radicals embraced his concern for the poor Literary conservatives could look to his technical mastery while literary radicals were inspired by his innovations Since the establishment of the People s Republic of China Du Fu s loyalty to the state and concern for the poor have been interpreted as embryonic nationalism and socialism and he has been praised for his use of simple people s language
Du Fu s popularity grew to such an extent that it is as hard to measure his influence as that of Shakespeare in England it was hard for any Chinese poet not to be influenced by him While there was never another Du Fu individual poets followed in the traditions of specific aspects of his work Bai Juyi s concern for the poor Lu You s patriotism and Mei Yaochen s reflections on the quotidian are a few examples More broadly Du Fu s work in transforming the lshi from mere word play into a vehicle for serious poetic utterance set the stage for every subsequent writer in the genre
In the th century he was the favourite poet of Kenneth Rexroth who has described him as the greatest non epic non dramatic poet who has survived in any language and commented that he has made me a better man as a moral agent and as a perceiving organism
Du Fu s poetry has made a profound impact on Japanese literature especially on the literature from the Muromachi period and on scholars and poets in the Edo period including Matsuo Bash the very greatest of all haiku poets Even in modern Japanese the term Saint of Poetry shisei is mostly synonymous with Du Fu
Until the th century the Japanese preferred Bai Juyi above all poets and there were few references to Du Fu although his influence can be seen in some kanshi Chinese poetry made by Japanese poets anthologies such as Bunka Shreish in the th century The first notable Japanese appreciator of Du Fu s poetry was Kokan Shiren a Rinzai Zen patriarch and one of the most prominent authors of the literature of the Five Mountains he highly praised Du Fu and made a commentary on some poems of Du Fu from the perspective of a Zen priest in Vol of Saihokush His student Chgan Engetsu composed many kanshi which were clearly stated influenced by Du Fu in their prefaces Chgan s student Gid Shshin had close connection with the Court and Ashikaga Shogunate and propagated Du Fu s poetry in the mundane world one day Nij Yoshimoto the Kampaku regent of the Court and the highest authority of renga poetry asked Gid Should I learn the poetry of Du Fu and Li Bai Gid dared to reply Yes if you do have enough capability No if do not Since then there had been many seminars on Du Fu s poetry both in Zen temples and in the aristocratic society and as a result his poetry was often cited in Japanese literature in the Muromachi period eg Taiheiki a historical epic in the late th century and some noh plays such as Hyakuman Bash and Shunkan
During the Kan ei era of the Edo period Sho Chun of the Ming Dynasty s Collective Commentary on Du Fu s Lshi Toritsu Shikkai was imported into Japan and it gained explosive popularity in Confucian scholars and chnin townspeople class The commentary established Du Fu s fame as the highest of all poets for instance Hayashi Shunsai a notable Confucian scholar commented in Vol of Gah Bunsh that Zmi Du Fu was the very best poet in history and praised Sho Chun s commentary for its simplicity and readability while he criticized old commentaries during the Yuan Dynasty were too unfathomable Matsuo Bash the greatest haiku poet was also strongly influenced by Du Fu in Oku no Hosomichi his masterpiece he cites the first two lines of A Spring View before a haiku as its introduction and also many of his other haiku have similar wording and themes It is said that when he died in Osaka during a long travel a copy of Du Fu s poetry was found with him as one of a few precious items which he was able to carry around
A variety of styles have been used in efforts to translate Du Fu s work into English As Burton Watson remarks in The Selected Poems of Du Fu There are many different ways to approach the problems involved in translating Du Fu which is why we need as many different translations as possible p xxii The translators have had to contend with bringing out the formal constraints of the original without sounding laboured to a Western ear particularly when translating regulated verse or lshi and accommodating the complex allusions contained particularly in the later works Hawkes writes that his poems do not as a rule come through very well in translation p ix One extreme on each issue is represented by Kenneth Rexroth s One Hundred Poems From the Chinese His are free translations which seek to conceal the parallelisms through enjambement and expansion and contraction of the content his responses to the allusions are firstly to omit most of these poems from his selection and secondly to translate out the references in those works which he does select
Other translators have placed much greater weight on trying to convey a sense of the poetic forms used by Du Fu Vikram Seth in Three Chinese Poets uses English style rhyme schemes whereas Keith Holyoak in Facing the Moon approximates the Chinese rhyme scheme both use end stopped lines and preserve some degree of parallelism In The Selected Poems of Du Fu Burton Watson follows the parallelisms quite strictly persuading the western reader to adapt to the poems rather than vice versa Similarly he deals with the allusion of the later works by combining literal translation with extensive annotation
In Stephen Owen published translations with facing Chinese texts of the complete poetry of Du Fu in six volumes with extensive scholarly apparatus which emphasized literalness
Kiss You is a song recorded by English Irish boy band One Direction for their second studio album Take Me Home It was released as the record s second single in Germany and the third overall single on January The song was composed by Kristoffer Fogelmark Kristian Lundin Albin Nedler Savan Kotecha Shellback and its producers Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub Kiss You is an upbeat power pop song with electronic effects the lyrics detail a protagonist s infatuation with a significant other Critics praised the song for its production calling it a stand out track on Take Me Home
The track became the group s sixth top ten hit in Ireland and the United Kingdom while attaining top forty positions in both Belgian territories Flanders and Wallonia as well as in Australia Canada Denmark France New Zealand and the Netherlands The single peaked at number on the US Billboard Hot and has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA for shipments of copies One Direction performed Kiss You on both the UK and US versions of The X Factor and major concert tours Take Me Home Tour Where We Are Tour and On the Road Again Tour
An accompanying music video designed to display the group s comedic timing was directed by Vaughan Arnell who had previously worked with the group on two other music videos The clip depicts the band shooting various scenes via a green screen which include sequences reminiscent of iconic music videos of songs such as the Beach Boys Surfer Girl Elvis Presley s Jailhouse Rock and Rammstein s Mein Land The music video received million views in a hour period and positive commentary from reviewers who appreciated its carefree jubilant nature
The song was included in the dancing game Just Dance and is also one of the select songs available on the demo version Additionally it is the final main track on the US edition of Now That s What I Call Music
Kiss You was written by Kristoffer Fogelmark Kristian Lundin Albin Nedler Savan Kotecha Shellback and its producers Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub Falk Kotecha and Yacoub had collaboratively composed One Direction s previous hit singles What Makes You Beautiful One Thing and Live While We re Young In April The Independent reported that Simon Cowell the group s manager had challenged prominent songwriters to compete for space on One Direction s second album Falk said It s important to get their personalities on the music In addition the article reported that Syco Records was working on candidates that included Max Martin and Lundin
Kiss You was chosen as the second US single and third international from their second studio album Take Me Home Liam Payne a group member in a November interview with MTV News explained why they chose Kiss You as the album s second single in the US Payne was quoted as saying With the album that s the first one that we listened to and we were like Yeah we love this song According to a MTV News article the number was released digitally in the United States on November By January the song had not been officially promoted to US radio stations The track however was released by Sony Music Entertainment on February as the record s second single in Germany
Kiss You is an uptempo upbeat power pop song which runs for a duration of minutes four seconds The track features electronic effects colossal hooks a na na na breakdown and a Motown tinged melody One Direction s vocal range in the song span from the note of E to C Instrumentation includes guitar strings piano lines and vocals Written in the key of E major the beat is set in common time and moves at a quick beats per minute according to the digital sheet music published at Musicnotescom by Sony ATV Music Publishing Likewise Matt Collar from Allmusic noted that the track is frenetically hyper The lyrical content regards the protagonist s infatuation with a significant other and incorporates euphemisms for sexual intercourse in the lines If you don t wanna take it slow And you just wanna take me home Baby say yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Kiss You was well received by contemporary music critics who centred on its quality of production Both Rolling Stone s Jon Dolan who praised its effectiveness and Chris Payne of Billboard who appreciated the melody described Kiss You as one of the album s highlights Alexis Petridis for The Guardian commended the track s chorus as hard to dislodge from your brain Robert Copsey of Digital Spy noted the song s possibility to become an international hit applauding it sonically A reviewer for MTV News described the track s lyricism as butterflies inducing and Sam Lansky of Idolator wrote that Kiss You is noticeably a stand out track on its parent album Melinda Newman writing for HitFix regarded the song as a bouncy electronic infectious ditty while Chris Younie a critic from Music deemed it an amazing pop song lauding the group s falsetto and its head banging anthemic chorus
The single made its Irish Singles Chart debut at number on the week ending December It peaked at number seven on the week ending January marking their sixth top ten appearance in Ireland Kiss You entered at number in the UK Singles Chart on November It peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart on January becoming One Direction s sixth top ten hit in the United Kingdom On the week ending November Kiss You debuted at number on the United States Billboard Hot due to digital download sales from its parent album As a result of an end of year download rush on the week ending December the track re entered the Hot at number After the accompanying music video was released the song re entered the Hot at number Kiss You had sold digital downloads in the US by January The single ultimately peaked at number on the Hot and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA on April denoting shipments of copies
The song became One Direction s fourth top forty hit on the Canadian Hot peaking at number The single bowed at number on the Australian Singles Chart on January marking its peak position and the group s fourth top twenty hit in Australia The song has been certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association ARIA for shipments of copies The track entered the New Zealand Singles Chart at number on January It peaked at number in its third and fourth charting weeks becominh the group s sixth top forty appearance in New Zealand Kiss You has received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand RIANZ indicating sales of copies The track also reached the top in both Belgian territories Flanders and Wallonia as well as in the Czech Republic Denmark France the Netherlands and South Korea In addition Kiss You received gold certifications from the IFPI Norway and Denmark associations signifying collective shipments of units
The accompanying music video directed by Vaughan Arnell who had previously directed One Direction s music videos for Live While We re Young and Little Things was designed to showcase the group s comedic timing Inspired by the Beach Boys cult surfing films old Hollywood and British cinema the music video incorporates a technicolor vibe and a British kind of romp as noted by Arnell in a MTV News interview
Shot by November the music video was characterised in several MTV News interviews as bigger than anything we ve done before by Zayn Malik as a lot of hard work by Payne as pure stupidity by Louis Tomlinson and as I wouldn t say it s comedy it s all tongue in cheek by Arnell Premiering worldwide on Vevo on January the music video depicts the band shooting different scenes via a green screen dressed as sailors surfers skiers and jailers The video features scenes reminiscent of the films South Pacific To Catch a Thief Jailhouse Rock and Beach Blanket Bingo as well as the iconic music videos of songs such as The Beach Boys Surfer Girl Elvis Presley s Blue Hawaii and Rammstein s Mein Land among others
The music video garnered million views in a hour period failing to attain the Vevo record held by Justin Bieber s Beauty and a Beat music video million Despite a gain in weekly activity to their Vevo channel with the clip s success and preceding teaser videos earning million views during the week One Direction held at number two on the Billboard s Social chart A rise in Facebook reaction gave way to a increase in Facebook likes during the week Twitter followers added contributed to their overall fan base increase as well
Melinda Newman a contributor for HitFix favoured the clip as having everything a video by a boy band should be and found group s careless tone delightful Rebecca Macatee of E Online praised its intentionally cheesy and utterly adorable sequences and MTV News s Jocelyn Vena described the clip as conquering old Hollywood Molly Chance writing for Zapit was convinced that upon watching the adorable music video the viewer should have a hard time disliking the group Mikael Wood the critic for Los Angeles Times commended the group for having a genuinely great time rather than going through the motions
As part of its promotion One Direction performed the song on televised programmes and during their worldwide Take Me Home Tour One Direction performed the track on The Today Show at the Rockefeller Center on November to a record crowd estimated at Kiss You was included in the set list of the group s December sold out show at New York City s Madison Square Garden One Direction delivered a performance of Kiss You in front of a video game themed set on the final of the ninth series of The X Factor UK on December According to the Daily Mail their energetic rendition of Kiss You proved that the group have an elusive quality On December the group also performed the number on the final of the second season of The X Factor USA Considering One Direction the franchise s biggest success story an editor for The Huffington Post opined that the boy band s prominent presence on both the US and UK versions of The X Factor seemed fitting Not only Take Me Home Tour they also performance in Where We Are Tour On the Road Again Tour
Carl Falk writing production programming instruments guitar background vocals
Savan Kotecha writing background vocals
Albin Nedler writing background vocals
Rami Yacoub writing production programming instruments bass
Credits adapted from Take Me Home s liner notes
The Ise class battleships Ise gata senkan were a pair of dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy IJN during World War I Originally intended to be repeats of the preceding Fus class they were redesigned before construction began Both ships carried supplies for the survivors of the Great Kant earthquake in They were modernized in with improvements to their armour and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style Afterwards they played a minor role in the Second Sino Japanese War
Despite the expensive reconstructions both vessels were considered obsolete by the eve of the Pacific War and neither saw significant action in the early years of the war Following the loss of most of the IJN s large aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway in mid they were rebuilt with a flight deck replacing the rear pair of gun turrets to give them the ability to operate an air group of floatplanes A lack of aircraft and qualified pilots however meant that they never actually operated their aircraft in combat While awaiting their air group the sister ships were sometimes used to ferry troops and material to Japanese bases They participated in the Battle of Cape Engao in late where they decoyed the American carrier fleet supporting the invasion of Leyte away from the landing beaches Afterwards both ships were transferred to Southeast Asia in early they participated in Operation Kita where they transported petrol and other strategic materials to Japan The sisters were then reduced to reserve until they were sunk during American airstrikes in July After the war they were scrapped in
The design of the Fus class battleships was shaped both by the ongoing international naval arms race and a desire among Japanese naval planners to maintain a fleet of capital ships powerful enough to defeat the United States Navy in an encounter in Japanese territorial waters The IJN s fleet of battleships had proven highly successful in the last year of the Russo Japanese War which culminated in the destruction of the Russian Second and Third Pacific Squadrons at the Battle of Tsushima
In the aftermath the Japanese Empire immediately turned its focus to the two remaining rivals for imperial dominance in the Pacific Ocean Britain and the United States Sat Tetsutar a Japanese Navy admiral and military theorist speculated that conflict would inevitably arise between Japan and at least one of its two main rivals To that end he called for the Japanese Navy to maintain a fleet with at least as many capital ships as the US Navy This ratio Sat theorized would enable the Imperial Japanese Navy to defeat the US Navy in one major battle in Japanese waters in any eventual conflict Accordingly the Imperial Defence Policy called for the construction of a battle fleet of eight modern battleships long tons t each and eight modern armoured cruisers long tons t each This was the genesis of the Eight Eight Fleet Program the development of a cohesive battle line of sixteen capital ships
The launch of HMS Dreadnought in by the Royal Navy raised the stakes and complicated Japan s plans Displacing long tons t and armed with ten inch cm guns Dreadnought rendered all existing battleships obsolete by comparison The launch of the battlecruiser HMS Invincible the following year was a further setback for Japan s quest for parity When the two new Satsuma class battleships and two Tsukuba class armoured cruisers launched by were outclassed by their British counterparts the Eight Eight Fleet Program was restarted
The first battleships built for the renewed Eight Eight Fleet Program were the two dreadnoughts of the Kawachi class ordered in and laid down in In the Navy put forward a request to the Diet parliament to secure funding for the entirety of the program at once Because of economic constraints only four battlecruisers and a single battleship of the Fus class were ultimately approved by the Diet Three more Fus class ships Yamashiro Ise and Hyga were approved and all three were ordered in April While Yamashiro was laid down later that year the IJN lacked the funding to proceed with the construction of Ise and Hyga until the Diet authorized additional funding for the ships in July
The progress of Fus s construction while the IJN waited for the funding to be released and foreign developments caused the IJN to reassess the Fus class design The distribution of the midships gun turrets was the most obvious flaw as they complicated the protection of the midships magazine and exposed more of the ship to the blast effects of the guns when they fired Another issue was that Japanese sailors had problems maintaining a high rate of fire with the kilogram lb shells used in the manually loaded millimetre in secondary guns used in the Fus class and earlier designs To resolve this issue the IJN designed a smaller millimetre in gun that offset its lighter shell weight with a higher rate of fire It also decided that the barbette armour of the earlier ships was too thin and wanted a modest increase in speed to partially counter the higher speeds of the latest foreign ships like the British Queen Elizabeth class battleships and Russian Borodino class battlecruisers For financial reasons more powerful engines could not be ordered so the new design was lengthened slightly and the boiler rooms enlarged to increase speed by knots km h mph to knots km h mph To save weight the forecastle deck was shortened so that the lower midships gun turret was lower than in the Fus class This reduced the crew s accommodations despite a significant increase in the crew s numbers and naval historian Fukui Shizuo believed that these ships had the worst habitability of any Japanese capital ship The final design was designated A by the IJN and differed enough from the A design of the Fus class that it was considered a separate class
The ships had a length of metres ft in overall a beam of metres ft in and a draught of metres ft in at deep load They displaced long tons t at deep load roughly long tons t more than the preceding class Their crew consisted of officers and enlisted men They had a metacentric height of metres ft in at deep load
During the ships modernization during the s their forward superstructures were enlarged with multiple platforms added to their tripod foremasts Both ships were also given torpedo bulges to improve their underwater protection and to compensate for the weight of the additional armour In addition their sterns were lengthened by metres ft These changes increased their overall length to metres ft their beam to metres ft in and their draft to metres ft in Their displacement increased over long tons t to long tons t at deep load The crew now numbered officers and enlisted men
The Ise class ships had two sets of direct drive steam turbines each of which drove two propeller shafts with metre ft in propellers The high pressure turbines drove the wing shafts while the low pressure turbines drove the inner shafts The turbines were designed to produce a total of or shaft horsepower or kW Hyga and Ise respectively using steam provided by Kampon Ro G water tube boilers at working pressures of kg cm kPa psi Both ships comfortably exceeded their designed speed of knots km h mph during their sea trials Ise reached knots km h mph from shp kW and Hyga exceeded that with knots km h mph from shp kW Each of the boilers consumed a mixture of coal and oil and the ships had a stowage capacity of long tons t of coal and long tons t of fuel oil which gave them a range of nautical miles km mi at a speed of knots km h mph Ise and Hyga had three generators of kilowatts hp capacity and two kilowatt hp turbo generators at volts
During their s modernization the boilers on each ship were replaced by eight new Kampon oil fired boilers fitted into the former aft boiler room and the forward funnel was removed The turbines were replaced by four geared Kampon turbines with a designed output of shp kW intended to increase their speed to knots km h mph On her trials Ise reached a top speed of knots km h mph from shp kW The fuel storage of the ships was increased to a total of long tons t of fuel oil that gave them a range of nautical miles km mi at a speed of knots km h mph
The twelve calibre cm in Type guns of the Ise class were mounted in three pairs of twin gun superfiring turrets Numbered one through six from front to rear each turret weighed long tons t The hydraulically powered turrets had an elevation capability of degrees The guns had a rate of fire of rounds per minute and could be loaded at any angle between and degrees In the elevation was increased to degrees and then to degrees during their mid s modernization except for No turret as its supporting structure could not be lowered The recoil mechanism of the guns was also changed from a hydraulic to a pneumatic system which allowed for a faster firing cycle of the main guns
By World War II the guns used Type armour piercing capped shells Each of these shells weighed kilograms lb and was fired at a muzzle velocity of metres per second ft s They had a maximum range of metres yd at degrees of elevation and meters yd at degrees after modernization Also available was a kilogram lb high explosive shell that had a muzzle velocity of metres per second ft s A special Type Sanshikidan incendiary shrapnel shell was developed in the s for anti aircraft use
The ships secondary armament consisted of twenty calibre centimetre Type Eighteen of these were mounted in casemates in the forecastle and superstructure and the remaining pair were mounted on the deck above them and protected by gun shields They had a maximum elevation of degrees which gave them ranges of metres yd Each gun had a rate of fire of up to rounds per minute Anti aircraft defence was provided by four calibre rd Year Type centimetre AA guns in single mounts The centimetre in high angle guns had a maximum elevation of degrees and had a rate of fire of to rounds per minute They fired a kg lb projectile with a muzzle velocity of m s ft s to a maximum height of metres ft The ships were also fitted with six submerged centimetre in torpedo tubes three on each broadside They carried twelve to eighteen th Year Type torpedoes which had a kilogram lb warhead They had three settings for range and speed metres yd at knots km h mph metres yd at knots km h mph or metres yd at knots km h mph
In the AA guns were replaced with eight caliber cm in Type dual purpose guns fitted on both sides of the forward superstructures in four twin gun mounts When firing at surface targets the guns had a range of metres yd they had a ceiling of metres ft at their maximum elevation of degrees Their maximum rate of fire was rounds a minute but their sustained rate of fire was around eight rounds per minute Two twin gun mounts for license built Vickers two pounder light AA guns were also added These guns had a maximum elevation of degrees and a rate of fire of rounds per minute The pair of cm guns on the upper deck were removed at this time
During the mid s reconstruction the torpedo tubes were removed and the Vickers two pounders were replaced by twenty license built Hotchkiss mm Type light AA guns in twin gun mounts This was the standard Japanese light AA gun during World War II but it suffered from severe design shortcomings that rendered it a largely ineffective weapon According to historian Mark Stille the twin and triple mounts lacked sufficient speed in train or elevation the gun sights were unable to handle fast targets the gun exhibited excessive vibration the magazine was too small and finally the gun produced excessive muzzle blast These millimetre in guns had an effective range of metres yd and an effective ceiling of metres ft at an elevation of degrees The maximum effective rate of fire was only between and rounds per minute because of the frequent need to change the fifteen round magazines In addition the forward pair of cm guns in the forecastle were removed at this time and the maximum elevation of the remaining guns was increased to degrees
The Ise class ships waterline protective belt had a maximum thickness of mm in of Vickers cemented armour amidships below it was a strake of mm in armour The upper armoured deck consisted of two layers of high tensile steel mm in thick and the lower armoured deck also consisted of two layers of high tensile steel but only mm in thick The sides of this deck sloped downwards to meet the bottom of the lower strake of the belt armour The ends of the belt armour were closed off by bulkheads that ranged in thickness from to mm to in The turrets were protected with an armour thickness of mm in on the face and mm on the roof The casemate armour was mm in thick and that of the barbettes was mm thick rather than the originally planned mm The sides of the conning tower were mm thick
The Ise class were the only Japanese battleships to place the powder magazine above the shell magazine as the IJN wished to put as much space as possible between the highly flammable propellant and mine and torpedo detonations The danger from plunging shells at long distances was not appreciated until the fatal magazine explosions of three British battlecruisers during the Battle of Jutland graphically demonstrated the point To further protect the magazines the depth of the double bottom was increased to a total of metres ft in underneath the barbettes and magazines Additionally the vessels contained watertight compartments to preserve buoyancy in the event of battle damage In addition to the torpedo bulge added when the ships were modernized the deck armour over the machinery and magazines was increased to a total thickness of mm Inside the original skin of the ships two torpedo bulkheads were also added and the turret roofs were increased to a total of millimetres in of armour
While the details of the ship s fire control instruments are not fully available it is known that the ships were fitted with a fire control director after completion No computer was fitted at that time and data from the rangefinders had to be processed manually Turrets and were built with imported metre ft in Bausch Lomb rangefinders These were felt to be inferior to the British Barr Stroud instruments used on other ships and were removed in They were replaced by either the British rangefinders or domestically built instruments of or metres ft in or ft in length In the late s the fire control systems were upgraded and additional platforms were added to the foremast to accommodate them A pair of directors for the cm AA guns were added one on each side of the forward superstructure in the early s The fire control systems were again upgraded in the mid s and directors were added for the mm AA guns Both ships had metre ft in rangefinders installed at the top of the pagoda mast at that time Type air search radars were installed aboard the sisters in mid
Ise was briefly fitted with an aircraft flying off platform for a Mitsubishi MF fighter on Turret No in It was replaced by a platform on Turret No for a Yokosuka EY reconnaissance floatplane in A catapult and a collapsible tonne long ton crane were fitted on the stern during the mid s modernization and the ships were equipped to operate three floatplanes although no hangar was provided The initial Nakajima EN biplanes were replaced by Nakajima EN biplanes in
The sinking of the British capital ships Prince of Wales and Repulse by Japanese land based aircraft on December led the IJN to realize that battleships could not operate in the face of enemy aircraft and required friendly air support to protect them The loss of four Japanese aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway in June severely limited the ability of the IJN to provide any air cover and alternatives were sought Earlier proposals to convert one or more battleships into carriers had been made and rejected at the beginning of the war but they were revived after Midway Plans for more elaborate conversions were rejected on the grounds of expense and most critically time and the IJN settled on removing the rear pair of turrets and replacing them with a flight deck equipped with two catapults to launch floatplanes The Ise class ships were selected for the conversion because Hyga had suffered an explosion in Turret No in early May that virtually destroyed the turret and their Turret No could not elevate to the full degrees deemed necessary for the long range engagement anticipated by the IJN The Fuss were scheduled to follow once the first two were completed
The rear turrets the barbettes and their supporting structures were removed beginning in early and the openings in the middle deck were covered by mm plates salvaged from the turret armour All of the cm guns were removed and the casemate openings sealed off Four additional twin cm mounts were added one pair abreast the funnel and the other abreast the conning tower The original ten twin mm gun mounts were replaced by triple mounts and nine new triple mounts were added a total of guns Two each Type and Type AA directors were added to control the additional guns The ammunition for these new guns was stored in the magazines originally used for the cm guns and for Turret No During the ships AA defences were reinforced with an additional dozen triple and eleven single mm gun mounts for a total of barrels and a pair of Type early warning radars were added In September six round AA rocket launchers were added on the sides of the flight deck
A metre long ft in flight deck was built above the stern and stretched forward to the rebuilt aft superstructure The flight deck was metres ft in wide at its forward end and metres ft in at the stern It overhung the stern and increased the overall length of the ships to metres ft in A pair of rotating gunpowder propelled catapults were fitted on the sides of the hull forward of the aft superstructure where they partially restricted the arc of fire of the two amidships turrets They could launch aircraft up to kilograms lb in weight and required seconds to launch each aircraft The flight deck had eight permanent storage positions connected by rails to the catapults and the hydraulically operated aircraft lift that brought the aircraft up from the hangar below on the trolleys used to move the floatplanes about Two aircraft were intended to be stowed on the catapults and three more in temporary positions on the flight deck for a total of thirteen
The metre long ft in hangar was metres ft in wide forward and metres ft in at the rear It was metres ft in high and designed to stow nine aircraft It was fitted with fire fighting foam and carbon dioxide dispensers as a result of wartime experience The T shaped lift was metres ft in wide at its forward end and metres ft in wide at the its aft end It was metres long and had a capacity of tonnes long tons Petrol storage tanks with a capacity of tonnes long tons were installed in the former magazine of Turret No to provide each aircraft with enough fuel for three sorties To recover the aircraft the collapsible crane formerly on the stern was moved up to the port side of the flight deck Another crane was intended on the starboard side but it was never fitted
The ships had an air group of each of Yokosuka DY dive bombers Allied reporting name Judy and Aichi EA reconnaissance aircraft Allied reporting name Paul Both aircraft had development problems and neither air group ever had all of its intended aircraft Coupled with a shortage of trained pilots neither ship ever used its aircraft during combat
After the loss of the fast battleship Hiei at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in late to rudder damage the IJN decided to reinforce the protection of the steering compartment and to create an auxiliary steering compartment The protection of the former was strengthened by the addition of a concrete wall at least metre ft in in thickness and some of the armour removed from the turrets was used to protect the latter The double bottom below the former positions of aft turrets was converted to hold fuel oil this increased the ships endurance to nautical miles km mi at a speed of knots A pair of Type surface search radars were also fitted during the conversion
The removal of the secondary armament the rear turrets and their supporting structures was generally compensated by the addition of the flight deck hangar AA guns and more fuel and the metacentric height increased metres in to metres ft in at full load as a result of the reduction in the displacement by over tonnes long tons to tonnes long tons This also reduced the draught to metres ft in The overhang of the flight deck at the stern increased the overall length to metres ft in and the beam was slightly reduced to metres ft in
Upon commissioning the sister ships were assigned to the st Battleship Division of the st Fleet Hyga had an explosion in one of her main gun turrets that killed men and injured in the following year she accidentally collided with and sank a schooner losing two crewmen Before the start of the Pacific War both ships frequently exercised off the coasts of the Soviet Union Korea and China in addition to training in Japanese waters Ise hosted Edward Prince of Wales and his aide de camp Lieutenant Louis Mountbatten in during the prince s visit to Japan In Korea Bay when the Great Kant earthquake struck they sailed to Kyushu where they loaded supplies from for the victims on September Together with two other battleships and a pair of light cruisers Ise sank the destroyer Yayoi in during gunnery practice Ise s AA armament was upgraded in and Hyga s two years later The latter ship was modernized in and Ise in both at Kure Naval Arsenal During the Second Sino Japanese War the sisters frequently patrolled the Chinese coast in support of the blockade imposed by Japan In August Hyga ferried two battalions of Special Naval Landing Forces to Port Arthur Three years later she served as the flagship for the Emperor of the puppet state of Manchukuo Henry Pu yi during his state visit to Japan in June On November the ships were transferred to the nd Battleship Division of the st Fleet The sisters were refitted in late in preparation for war which included the fitting of external degaussing coils and additional AA directors
When Japan began the Pacific War on December the sisters sortied for the Bonin Islands with four other battleships and the light carrier Hsh as distant cover for the fleet attacking Pearl Harbor and returned six days later On March Ise and Hyga sortied from their anchorage at Hashirajima to join the unsuccessful search for the American carrier force that had attacked Marcus Island a week earlier Similarly they pursued but did not catch the American carriers that had launched the Doolittle Raid on April
During gunnery training on May there was a premature detonation in the left gun of Hyga s Turret No that disabled both guns and killed crewmen Both aft magazines were flooded to douse the resulting fire and save the ship She received temporary repairs during which the turret was removed and replaced by a circular armour plate on which three triple mm gun mounts were positioned On May a valve in Ise s No engine room stuck in the open position and flooded the engine room While under repair at Kure both ships received prototype Type radars Commanded by Vice Admiral Shir Takasu the nd Battleship Division set sail with the Aleutian Support Group on May at the same time that most of the Imperial Fleet began an attack on Midway Island Operation MI
They returned home on June and the IJN began preliminary planning to replace the lost carriers with hybrid carriers converted from battleships The sisters were selected for conversion and detached from the division on July in preparation They remained on standby alert until the actual conversions began Ise was converted at Kure Naval Arsenal from February to September and Hyga at Sasebo Naval Arsenal from May to November
After completing her sea trials Ise was attached to the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy at Etajima and ferried troops and munitions to the naval base at Truk in October In November the ship began working up joined by the newly completed Hyga the following month and both rejoined the nd Battleship Division On May the sisters were transferred to Rear Admiral Matsuda Chiaki s reformed Fourth Carrier Division of the rd Fleet The division s th Naval Air Group was formed that same day and conducted its first catapult launches in late June
Shortages of aircraft and serviceability problems greatly retarded pilot training and the ships only had a total of DYs and EAs on hand on October of these only and were operational respectively The Japanese plan for the defence of the Philippines envisioned that the surviving carriers would be used to lure the American carrier forces away from the invasion area to a position where the carriers could be attacked by land based aircraft and the transports by the rest of the IJN The other carrier air groups were not in much better shape and the Japanese decided to retain the aircraft ashore for use against the American carriers The Fourth Carrier Division was assigned to the Northern Force under the command of Vice Admiral Jisabur Ozawa and the sisters sailed from Yashima on October On the morning of October the bulk of the few aircraft aboard were launched to attack the American carriers as a distraction They inflicted no damage and caused the Americans to search in the direction from which they had attacked The Americans finally spotted the Japanese carriers at some miles km east of Cape Engao the northeastern tip of Luzon The American carriers were spread out and it was very late in the day to launch an airstrike so Admiral William Halsey commander of the Third Fleet decided to mass his carriers in a position to attack the following morning Ozawa reversed course during the night correctly believing that the Americans would follow him north
Although they had lost contact during the night the Americans did find the Japanese carriers at They had already launched an airstrike of aircraft that was orbiting miles km ahead of the American carriers while waiting for the Japanese ships to be located This was just the first of a total of five airstrikes that the Americans launched that day The sisters were not heavily engaged by the early airstrikes which are focusing on the group s aircraft carriers Ise claimed to have shot down five attacking dive bombers from the second wave and one small bomb detonated on Turret No Hyga was lightly damaged by near misses that rupture some hull plating in her bulge and pepper her superstructure with splinters She took on a degree list that was quickly corrected before she was ordered to tow the crippled carrier Chiyoda to safety Her attempt was unsuccessful and Chiyoda had to be abandoned to her fate
Ise was attacked by odd aircraft from the fourth wave but they failed to inflict any serious damage She dodged torpedoes and was only hit by a bomb once on the bulge outboard of the port catapult Some other bombs near missed her spraying her with splinters and ruptured some hull plates that contaminated some fuel oil and caused leaks in her port boiler rooms While an exact total of her casualties is not available it has been estimated that men were killed and some crewmen were wounded during this attack Hyga was unsuccessfully attacked by an American submarine at Around Ozawa learned about a force of destroyers and cruisers that drove off the Japanese destroyers rescuing survivors from some of the carriers lost earlier in the day and sank Chiyoda He ordered the Fourth Carrier Division to reverse course and engage the Americans but the battleships were unable to find them and Ozawa ordered them to reverse course and head for Amami shima When they arrived on October Ozawa transferred to Hyga and hoisted his flag aboard her While en route for Kure the division was unsuccessfully attacked by another submarine
In early November the catapults were removed from both ships and they loaded troops and munitions later that month While en route they were diverted to the Spratly Islands upon reports of heavy air raids at Manila After off loading their cargo they sailed for Lingga Island near Singapore on November They transferred to Cam Ranh Bay French Indochina and Hyga became flagship of the th Fleet there on December The division sailed for Singapore on December and Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima transferred his flag to the light cruiser yodo on arrival there the following day The division continued onwards to Lingga Its planned return to Japan was delayed by attacks by the American Third Fleet on targets in Indochina and southern China that sank two oil tankers that were intended to refuel the division
The IJN then decided to use the sisters and their escorts to bring a load of petrol rubber tin and other strategic minerals back to Japan after the American carriers departed the South China Sea Operation Kita They loaded their cargoes beginning on February at Singapore and departed four days later Also carrying some oilfield workers they were escorted by yodo and three destroyers Decrypted Japanese radio signals revealed the Japanese plan to the Allies and submarines were positioned along their anticipated route in an attempt to intercept and sink the ships An additional were moved into position while the group was en route but only three were ultimately able to attack None of them were successful before the Japanese reached Kure on February The Fourth Carrier Division was disbanded on March and the sisters were reduced to st rank reserve ships On March Kure was attacked by aircraft from Task Force and Hyga was hit three times by bombs that killed men and wounded Her gunners claimed to have shot down one American dive bomber during the attack Ise was hit twice during the attack but her casualties if any are unknown
The ships were turned into floating AA batteries over the next several months although it availed them little when they were attacked again by American carrier aircraft in July On the th Ise was struck by five bombs and near missed multiple times all told she lost crewmen killed and many others wounded The bombs started numerous leaks and Ise began to settle by the bow although she was returned to an even keel after three days pumping Hyga was a primary focus of the attack and she received direct hits and up to near misses She was badly damaged with some odd crewmen killed and wounded during the attack She slowly foundered over the next two days and was not attacked when the Americans returned four days later This time it was Ise s turn and she was struck or more times with many near misses that put her on the bottom in shallow water with a degree list The sisters were struck off the Navy List in November and their wrecks were scrapped after the war
Richard Gale Dick Rifenburg August December was an American football player and a pioneering television broadcaster for the forerunner to WIVB TV in Buffalo He played college football for the University of Michigan Wolverines in and from to He was a consensus selection at end on the College Football All America Team Rifenburg played professionally in the National Football League NFL with the Detroit Lions for one season in After retiring from football he settled in Buffalo and became a sports broadcaster He worked as a color commentator and as a play by play announcer for the Buffalo Bulls He hosted various television and radio sports shows and was eventually inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame
In college he led the Big Ten Conference in single season receptions during his senior year and set Michigan Wolverines receptions records for both career touchdown and single season touchdowns He had also been a Michigan High School Athletic Association MHSAA state champion in both basketball and track and field His college career was interrupted by World War II service and his high school career was also affected by the war due to the MHSAA s cancellation of state championships in all sports in
Rifenburg was born in Petoskey Michigan and raised in Kalamazoo Michigan before his family moved to Saginaw Michigan Rifenburg was a star athlete at Saginaw s Arthur Hill High School in football basketball and track and field In Michigan canceled boys high school tournaments in all sports due to World War II and they did not return until the fall of In he led Arthur Hill High to the MHSAA Class A high school basketball championship over Kalamazoo Central High School scoring points including in the second half of the championship game Rifenburg was also the state champion in in both the shot put feet inches m and high jump feet inches m He also led Arthur Hill in football and his high school accomplishments are featured in Glory The history of Saginaw County sports by Jack Tany ASIN BRHZ which is a book on high school sports in Saginaw County Michigan Rifenburg was named All State in football basketball and track
It is ironic that Rifenburg was born in Petoskey Michigan in for several reasons Ted Petoskey preceded Rifenburg as an All American end on the University of Michigan football team Petoskey had excelled as a representative of Saginaw County in MHSAA competition Petoskey posted significant football accomplishments in making a significant year for himself as well Achieving All American status as an end at Michigan would be Rifenburg s next step after excelling in MHSAA competition
In the fall of Rifenburg enrolled at the University of Michigan The United Press syndicate ran a feature article about Rifenburg in September that opened as follows Another great end has made his appearance on the Big Ten football horizon in the person of Dick Rifenburg year old Michigan freshman Every so often a great offensive end comes along a player who has to learn how to play defense but who has the natural speed smooth actions height and big hands that is the mark of an outstanding pass receiver Rifenburg has laid claim to that rating A loose limbed pound freshman from Saginaw Mich Rifenberg is being boomed as the Big Ten s next freshman sensation As a freshman he caught two touchdown passes in his first college football game against Iowa In an article titled Teens and TNT Time reported on Rifenburg s performance Of the few teams already in action Michigan s teens rang the freshman bell loudest last week by winning their opener to against the strong Iowa Seahawks Naval Pre Flight ft Freshman End Dick Rifenburg caught passes and ran for both Michigan touchdowns
Rifenburg s college career was interrupted by World War II service in the United States Navy but after missing the season he returned to play for the Wolverines from to Rifenburg played for the Wolverines in consecutive undefeated National Championship seasons in and He started nine games for the team The team referred to as Michigan s Mad Magicians is considered to be the greatest University of Michigan football team of all time Rifenberg and teammate Len Ford had the reputation as the team practical jokers During the game against Wisconsin Rifenburg started calling signals for the Badgers Wisconsin s offense protested to officials who prowled the Wolverines secondary but never caught their man Rifenburg continued to scramble Badger signals as Rifenburg s teammates laughed at his scheme In the January Rose Bowl that season Michigan rolled to a victory over USC and they outgained the Trojans yards to Rifenburg caught a yard pass for the game s final score
In the championship season Rifenburg scored eight touchdowns caught passes and gained yards receiving and rushing Rifenburg was the second highest scoring end in the nation in and he was a consensus All American as a senior being selected as first team on nine of the All American teams Rifenburg led the Big Ten in receptions
Although Rifenburg finished fourth among midwestern Heisman voters in he did not finish among the top eight By comparison Notre Dame end Leon Hart won the Heisman Trophy in but made only eight of the All American teams It is not clear why Rifenburg did not finish higher However it is fairly clear that sportswriters of that era had a bias against Michigan In the Associated Press poll at the end of the season the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were ranked ahead of the University of Michigan though both teams were undefeated Some noted that every Southern AP voter had voted for Notre Dame which had yet to integrate whereas three of Michigan s star players Bob Mann Gene Derricotte and Len Ford were African American The Southern schools refused even to schedule games against schools that played African American players
Rifenburg was considered one of the greatest Wolverine s of the s In four seasons with the Michigan Wolverines Rifenburg played in games and had over yards of total offense Rifenburg held the University of Michigan s single season and career record for touchdown receptions eight in a season sixteen career until his records were broken by Anthony Carter in
In Rifenburg was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the th round of the NFL draft and he was also drafted by the New York Yankees of the All America Football Conference He had intended to play in with the Yankees but suffered a knee injury in a practice session for the August Chicago College All Star Game Press accounts at the time noted that the injury will probably keep him out of pro football all season if not forever The incident led to a debate as to whether NFL owners should bar their men from playing with the college all stars
Rifenburg landed a job at WJR radio in Detroit but he left his sportscaster s job to join the Detroit Lions In the NFL season Rifenburg came back from his injury to play for the Detroit Lions He played in games and had ten receptions for yards and one touchdown for the Lions Rifenburg recalled that his playing time with the Lions was limited because the Lions also signed Heisman Trophy winner Leon Hart who played the same position
In May he announced he was retiring from professional football to become sports director at a radio station in Buffalo He was hired as a sportscaster by WBEN now known as WIVB which had just started the first television station in Buffalo and the only one serving Southern Ontario This was an early foray into television by the Buffalo Evening News In the s Rifenburg hosted a popular panel show called Let s Talk Sports in Buffalo and also pioneered an early morning exercise program He also worked for WBEN AM and WBEN FM and as the sideline announcer for Buffalo Bills games along with Van Miller the long time Bills play by play announcer In addition he served as the play by play announcer for the University of Buffalo Bulls football team As a radio broadcaster he is remembered for things ranging from ski reports to years worth of Breakfast At programs live from various local restaurants to years as the WBEN AM All Night Show host
After years with WBEN and a change in ownership for the station his show was replaced with the Mutual Network s The Larry King Show In the s Rifenburg taught communications at Buffalo s Medaille College and served as a disc jockey on Public Broadcasting s radio station WEBR now WDCZ He also sold ads for Buffalo Evening News competitor Buffalo Courier Express Rifenburg s final employer was Erie County who hired him as an inmate training supervisor at the Erie County Correctional Facility
Rifenburg was posthumously inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame in September He was given the Golden Age Award which is reserved for those who did it first the people who had no pattern to follow The Hall of Fame award was presented to Rifenburg s wife Jane In her acceptance speech Jane Rifenburg observed that despite all of her late husband s achievements there was one thing he had never received He had a great career but he never had a trophy And now he has
Rifenburg lived of his years in Buffalo His wife the former Jane Morris was the head of the Buffalo Jills cheerleaders when they met Rifenburg who was survived by three sons Douglas A Gary R and Bruce R one daughter Wendy J Colf and two grandchildren died in Cheektowaga New York in December he was years old Doug was a first team football All Western New York linebacker for Clarence High School
The Treasure Coast hurricane was the second most intense tropical cyclone to strike the United States during the active Atlantic hurricane season The eleventh tropical storm fifth hurricane and the third major hurricane of the season it formed east northeast of the Leeward Islands on August The tropical storm moved rapidly west northwestward steadily intensifying to a hurricane It acquired peak winds of miles per hour km h and passed over portions of the Bahamas on September including Eleuthera and Harbour Island causing severe damage to crops buildings and infrastructure Winds over mph km h affected many islands in its path especially those that encountered its center and many wharves were ruined
Subsequently it weakened and made landfall at Jupiter Florida early on September with winds of mph km h The hurricane moved across the state passing near Tampa before moving into Georgia and dissipating In Florida the strong winds of the cyclone blew buildings off their foundations and numerous trees were prostrated in citrus groves The Treasure Coast region received the most extensive destruction and Stuart Jupiter and Fort Pierce were heavily damaged Inland the cyclone weakened rapidly but produced prodigious amounts of rain causing a dam to collapse near Tampa The storm caused million in damage USD after damaging or destroying homes
Unusually the storm hit Florida less than hours before another major hurricane bearing mile per hour km h winds struck South Texas never have two major cyclones hit the United States in such close succession
The origins of the hurricane were from a tropical wave that possibly spawned a tropical depression on August although there was minimal data over the next few days as it tracked to the west northwest On August a nearby ship reported gale force winds which indicated that a tropical storm had developed to the east northeast of the Lesser Antilles Based on continuity it is estimated the storm attained hurricane status later that day Moving quickly to the west northwest the storm passed north of the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico Early on September a ship called the Gulfwing reported a barometric pressure of mbar inHg which confirmed that the storm attained hurricane status After passing north of the Turks and Caicos islands the hurricane struck Eleuthera and Harbour Island in the Bahamas on September the latter at UTC A station on the latter island reported a pressure of inHg mb during the minute passage of the eye Based on the pressure and the small size of the storm it is estimated the hurricane struck Harbour Island with peak winds of mph km h making it the equivalent of a modern Category hurricane on the Saffir Simpson scale Interpolation suggested that the storm reached major hurricane status or Category status on September
The hurricane initially followed the course of another hurricane that passed through the area in late August which ultimately struck Cuba and Texas This hurricane instead maintained a general west northwest track After moving through the northern Bahamas the hurricane weakened slightly before making landfall at Jupiter Florida at UTC on September A station there reported a pressure of inHg mb during a minute period of the eye s passage this suggested a landfall strength of mph km h At the time the radius of maximum winds was mi km which was smaller than average After landfall the hurricane weakened rapidly while crossing the state It briefly emerged into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm early on September A few hours later while continuing to the northwest it made another landfall near Rosewood a ghost town in Levy County east of Cedar Key with winds of about mph km h Turning to the north the storm slowly weakened as it crossed into Georgia dissipating on September near Augusta
On September a fleet of eight aircraft evacuated all white residents from West End Grand Bahama to Daytona Beach Florida While the storm was near peak intensity on September the Weather Bureau issued hurricane warnings from Miami to Melbourne Florida with storm warnings extending northward to Jacksonville Later that day storm warnings were issued from Key West to Cedar Key About people evacuated by train from areas around Lake Okeechobee By evening on September high tides sent sea spray over coastal seawalls in Palm Beach County as residents boarded up buildings structures on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach were said to be a solid front of plywood Along the coast observers reported very rough seas as the eye neared land
The powerful hurricane moved over or near several islands in the Bahamas Winds on Spanish Wells and Harbour Island were both estimated at around mph km h Winds reached mph km h at Governor s Harbour mph km h on Eleuthera and mph km h on the Abaco Islands The storm was farther away from Nassau where winds reached mph km h The hurricane damaged a lumber mill on Abaco washing away a dock Heavy damage occurred on Harbour Island including to several roofs the walls of government buildings and the water system The hurricane destroyed four churches and houses leaving people homeless A mi km road on Eleuthera was destroyed Several islands sustained damage to farms including the total loss of various fruit trees on Russell Island Despite Category winds on Spanish Wells only five houses were destroyed although most of the remaining dwellings lost their roofs Collectively between North Point James Cistern and Gregory Town on Eleuthera the storm destroyed houses and damaged many others On Grand Bahama where a to ft to m storm surge was reported half of the houses were destroyed as were boats and two planes and most docks were wrecked
When the storm moved ashore in Florida winds reached an estimated mph km h in Jupiter these occurred after the eye passed In West Palm Beach anemometers measured at least mile per hour km h winds with gusts to mph km h barometers ranged from to inHg to mb The storm produced the strongest winds in the city since the Okeechobee hurricane Winds were not as strong farther from the center to mph to km h winds were observed in Miami to the south Titusville to the north and Tampa on the west coast Fort Pierce estimated peak winds of to mph to km h and pressures dipped to inHg mb Inland winds near Lake Okeechobee peaked at only mph km h The hurricane dropped heavy rainfall along its path peaking at in mm in Clermont
At West Palm Beach the majority of the damage was confined to vegetation Several coconut and royal palms that withstood the hurricane snapped littering streets with broken trunks Winds downed road signs on many streets and floodwaters covered the greens on a local golf course Some garages and isolated structures mostly lightweight were partly or totally destroyed along with a lumber warehouse Some homes that lost roofing shingles had water damage to their interiors as well Nearby Lake Worth sustained extensive breakage of windows including plate glass and loss of tile and shingle roofing but preparations reduced losses to just several thousand dollars and no post storm accidents took place Strong winds snapped many light poles in the city and trees and shrubs were broken or uprooted As in Lake Worth officials in West Palm Beach credited preparations and stringent building codes with reducing overall damage The city had learned from previous experience with severe storms in and High tides eroded Ocean Boulevard at several spots and disrupted access to several bridges on the Lake Worth Lagoon Winter estates and hotels on Palm Beach generally sustained little material damage except to vegetation and county properties went largely unscathed
In Martin and St Lucie counties the storm was considered among the worst on record The storm leveled some homes and swept many others off their foundations At Stuart winds removed or badly damaged of the roofs in town The storm destroyed the third floor of the building that housed a bowling alley and the Stuart News a local newspaper At Olympia an abandoned settlement also known as Olympia Beach strong winds leveled the old Olympia Inn a gas station and the second floor of a pharmaceutical building Winds also tore the roof off an ice plant A bridge leading to the barrier island from Olympia was partly wrecked the bridge tender survived by gripping the railing during the storm Winds leveled his nearby home According to the Monthly Weather Review some of the most severe damage from the storm in Florida was at Olympia The storm left many homes in Hobe Sound uninhabitable forcing crews to tear them down Winter estates on the island however were better built and little damaged While Stuart and Hobe Sound sustained significant damage Port Salerno suffered minimally In Stuart the storm left to people homeless up to nearly of the population which was at the time Between Jupiter and Fort Pierce the storm knocked down power and telegraph lines In the latter city high waves washed out a portion of the causeway In the s an elderly resident recalled that the storm was the most severe on record in Fort Pierce
Crop damage was worst along the Indian River Lagoon several farms in Stuart experienced total losses and statewide of the citrus crop or million boxes were destroyed Many chicken coops in Stuart were destroyed and the local chicken population was scattered and dispersed as far as Indiantown Across southeastern Florida the hurricane damaged houses and destroyed another causing over million in damage One person an African American farm worker was killed when his shack blew down in Gomez a brakeman died after seven railcars derailed and a child was killed by airborne debris
High rainfall caused flooding across Florida notably near Tampa where waters reached ft m deep High rainfall of over in mm caused a dam operated by Tampa Electric Co to break mi km northeast of Tampa along the Hillsborough River The break resulted in severe local damage flooding portions of Sulphur Springs Workers attempted to save the dam with sandbags and after the break most residents in the area were warned of the approaching flood Over homes were flooded forcing about people to evacuate Outside Florida the storm produced winds of and mph and km h in Savannah Georgia and Charleston South Carolina respectively In the latter city the storm spawned a tornado which caused about in property damage Heavy rainfall occurred along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts reaching over in mm Light rainfall also extended into North Carolina
In the Bahamas after the storm a boat sailed from Nassau to deliver food and building materials to Eleuthera
After the storm the National Guard offered shelters for at least homeless residents in Stuart Of the families adversely affected by the hurricane required assistance from the American Red Cross Farmers in Texas also affected by a major hurricane requested growers in Florida wait days so they could sell their citrus crop that fell The damaged dam near Tampa initially resulted in waters from the Hillsborough River being pumped into the city s water treatment plant and a new dam was eventually built in
The Second Battle of Naktong Bulge was an engagement between United Nations UN and North Korean NK forces early in the Korean War from September to September along the Naktong River in South Korea It was a part of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter and was one of several large engagements fought simultaneously The battle ended in a victory for the United Nations after large numbers of United States US and Republic of Korea ROK troops repelled a strong North Korean attack
After the First Battle of Naktong Bulge the US Army s nd Infantry Division was moved to defend the Naktong River line The division which was untried in combat was struck with a strong attack by several divisions of the Korean People s Army which crossed the river and struck all along the division s line The force of the attack split the US nd Infantry Division in half and the North Koreans were able to penetrate to Yongsan promoting a fight there
The urgency of the threat to Pusan Perimeter prompted the US Marine Corps st Provisional Marine Brigade to be brought in to reinforce the US Army troops In two weeks of heavy fighting the US forces were able to force the North Koreans out of the Naktong Bulge region The North Koreans were further repulsed after the UN counterattack at Inchon which culminated in the virtual destruction of the North Korean army
From the outbreak of the Korean War and the invasion of South Korea by the North the North Korean People s Army had enjoyed superiority in both manpower and equipment over both the Republic of Korea Army and the United Nations forces dispatched to South Korea to prevent it from collapsing The North Korean strategy was to aggressively pursue UN and ROK forces on all avenues of approach south and to engage them aggressively attacking from the front and initiating a double envelopment of both flanks of the unit which allowed the North Koreans to surround and cut off the opposing force which would then be forced to retreat in disarray often leaving behind much of its equipment From their initial June offensive to fights in July and early August the North Koreans used this strategy to effectively defeat any UN force and push it south However when the UN forces under the Eighth United States Army established the Pusan Perimeter in August the UN troops held a continuous line along the peninsula which North Korean troops could not flank and their advantages in numbers decreased daily as the superior UN logistical system brought in more troops and supplies to the UN army
When the North Koreans approached the Pusan Perimeter on August they attempted the same frontal assault technique on the four main avenues of approach into the perimeter Throughout August the NK th Division and later the NK th Division engaged the US th Infantry Division at the Battle of Masan initially repelling a UN counteroffensive before countering with battles at Komam ni and Battle Mountain These attacks stalled as UN forces well equipped and with plenty of reserves repeatedly repelled North Korean attacks North of Masan the NK th Division and the US th Infantry Division sparred in the Naktong Bulge area In the First Battle of Naktong Bulge the North Korean division was unable to hold its bridgehead across the river as large numbers of US reserve forces were brought in to repel it and on August the NK th Division was forced back across the river with percent casualties In the Taegu region five North Korean divisions were repulsed by three UN divisions in several attempts to attack the city during the Battle of Taegu Particularly heavy fighting took place at the Battle of the Bowling Alley where the NK th Division was almost completely destroyed in the attack On the east coast three more North Korean divisions were repulsed by the South Koreans at P ohang dong during the Battle of P ohang dong All along the front the North Korean troops were reeling from these defeats the first time in the war their strategies were not working
In planning its new offensive the North Korean command decided any attempt to flank the UN force was impossible thanks to the support of the UN navy Instead they opted to use frontal attack to breach the perimeter and collapse it as the only hope of achieving success in the battle Fed by intelligence from the Soviet Union the North Koreans were aware the UN forces were building up along the Pusan Perimeter and that it must conduct an offensive soon or it could not win the battle A secondary objective was to surround Taegu and destroy the UN and ROK units in that city As part of this mission the North Korean units would first cut the supply lines to Taegu
On August the North Korean commands distributed operations orders to their subordinate units The North Koreans called for a simultaneous five prong attack against the UN lines These attacks would overwhelm the UN defenders and allow the North Koreans to break through the lines in at least one place to force the UN forces back Five battle groupings were ordered The center attack called for the NK th Division NK th Division NK nd Division and NK th Division break through the US nd Infantry Division at the Naktong Bulge to Miryang and Yongsan
During the North Koreans September offensive the US th Infantry Division s US th Infantry Regiment was heavily engaged in the Battle of Nam River north of Masan On the th Regiment s right flank just north of the confluence of the Nam River and the Naktong River was the US th Infantry Regiment US nd Infantry Division There in the southernmost part of the nd Infantry Division zone the th Infantry Regiment held a sector more than yards m long including the bulge area of the Naktong where the First Battle of Naktong Bulge had taken place earlier in August Each US infantry company on the river line here had a front of feet m to feet m and they held only key hills and observation points as the units were extremely spread out along the wide front
During the last week of August US troops on these hills could see minor North Korean activity across the river which they thought was North Koreans organizing the high ground on the west side of the Naktong against a possible American attack There were occasional attacks on the th Infantry s forward positions but to the men in the front lines this appeared to be only a standard patrol action On August the UN forces were alerted to a pending attack when much of the Korean civilian labor force fled the front lines Intelligence officers reported an attack was coming
On the west side of the Naktong North Korean Major General Pak Kyo Sam commanding the NK th Division issued his operations order to the division on August Its mission in the forthcoming attack was to outflank and destroy the US troops at Naktong Bulge by capturing the Miryang and Samnangjin areas to cut off the US nd Division s route of supply and withdrawal between Taegu and Pusan However the North Koreans weren t aware that the US nd Infantry Division had recently replaced the US th Infantry Division in positions along the Naktong River Consequently they expected lighter resistance the th troops were exhausted from months of fighting but the nd Division men were fresh and newly arrived in Korea They had only recently been moved into the line The North Koreans began crossing the Naktong River under cover of darkness at certain points
On the southern most flank of the th Infantry river line just above the junction of the Nam River with the Naktong A Company of the st Battalion was dug in on a long finger ridge paralleling the Naktong that terminates in Hill at the Kihang ferry site The river road from Namji ri running west along the Naktong passes the southern tip of this ridge and crosses to the west side of the river at the ferry A small village called Agok lay at the base of Hill and yards m from the river A patrol of tanks and armored vehicles together with two infantry squads of A Company th Infantry held a roadblock near the ferry and close to Agok On the evening of August A Company moved from its ridge positions overlooking Agok and the river to new positions along the river below the ridge line
That evening Sergeant Ernest R Kouma led the patrol of two M Pershing tanks and two M Gun Motor Carriages in Agok Kouma placed his patrol on the west side of Agok near the Kihang ferry At a heavy fog covered the river and at mortar shells began falling on the American held side of the river By this strike intensified and North Korean mortar preparation struck A Company s positions American mortars and artillery began firing counterbattery Some of the A Company men reported they heard noises on the opposite side of the river and splashes in the water
At the fog lifted and Kouma saw that a North Korean pontoon bridge was being laid across the river directly in front of his position Kouma s four vehicles attacked this structure and after about a minute of heavy fire the bridge collapsed and the ponton boats used to hold the bridge in place were sunk At a small arms fight flared around the left side of A Company north of the tanks This gunfire had lasted only two or three minutes when the A Company roadblock squads near the tanks received word by field telephone that the company was withdrawing to the original ridge positions and that they should do likewise
Kouma s patrol was then ambushed by a group of North Koreans dressed in US military uniforms Kouma was wounded and the other three vehicles had to withdraw but he held the Agok site until the next morning with his single tank In the attack against A Company the North Koreans hit the st Platoon which was near Agok but they did not find the nd Platoon northward
The NK th Division s infantry crossing of the Naktong and attack on its east side near midnight quickly overran the positions of C Company north of A Company There the North Koreans assaulted in force signaled by green flares and blowing of whistles The company held its positions only a short time and then attempted to escape Many of the men moved south a few of them coming into A Company s ridge line positions near Agok during the night Most of C Company moved all the way to the th Division positions south of the Naktong On September that division reported that men of C Company had come into its lines
Meanwhile miles km north of Agok and A Company s position B Company th Infantry held a similar position on Hill overlooking the Paekchin ferry crossing of the river This ferry was located at the middle of the Naktong Bulge where the Yongsan road came down to the Naktong and crossed it The US nd Infantry Division had planned a reconnaissance mission to start from there the night of August the same night that the NK I Corps offensive rolled across the river
Near the end of the month two reconnaissance patrols from the th Infantry had crossed to the west side of the Naktong and observed North Korean tank and troop activity miles km west of the river Information obtained later indicated it was in fact the command post of the NK th Division On August th Infantry commander Colonel John G Hill outlined projected Operation Manchu which was to be a company sized combat patrol to cross the river advance to the suspected North Korean command post and communications center destroy it capture prisoners and collect intelligence
The th Infantry Regiment had planned Task Force Manchu on orders from the nd Division commander Major General Laurence B Keiser which in turn had received instructions from Eighth United States Army commander Lieutenant General Walton Walker for aggressive patrolling Keiser decided the patrol should cross the river at the Paekchin ferry The th Infantry reserve E Company reinforced with one section of light machine guns from H Company was to be the attack force The st Platoon nd Engineer Combat Battalion was to transport it across the river in assault boats the night of August Two heavy weapons companies D and H were each to furnish one section of heavy machine guns one section of mm mortars and one section of mm recoilless rifles for supporting fires A platoon of inch mortars was also to give support
After dark on August First Lieutenant Charles I Caldwell of D Company and First Lieutenant Edward Schmitt of H Company th Infantry moved their men and weapons to the base of Hill which was within B Company s defense sector and overlooked the Paekchin ferry crossing of the Naktong River The raiding force E Company was still in its regimental reserve position about miles km west of Yongsan getting ready with the engineer platoon to move to the crossing site Colonel Hill went forward in the evening with the inch mortar platoon to its position at the base of Hill where the mortarmen prepared to set up their weapons
By the closest front line unit was B Company on top of Hill mile km north of the river road which curved around the hill s southern base The regimental chaplain Captain Lewis B Sheen had gone forward in the afternoon to B Company to hold services On top of Hill Chaplain Sheen and men in B Company after dark heard splashing in the water below them They soon discovered a long line of North Korean soldiers wading the river
The first North Korean crossing at the Paekchin ferry caught the Heavy Mortar Platoon unprepared in the act of setting up its weapons It also caught most of the D and H Company men at the base of Hill miles km from the crossing site The North Koreans killed or captured many of the troops there Hill was there but escaped to the rear just before midnight together with several others when the division canceled Operation Manchu because of the attacks The first heavy weapons carrying party was on its way up the hill when the North Korean attack engulfed the men below It hurried on to the top where the advance group waited and there all hastily dug in on a small perimeter This group was not attacked during the night
From until shortly after midnight the NK th Division crossed the Naktong at a number of places and climbed the hills quietly toward the th Infantry river line positions Then when the artillery barrage preparation lifted the North Korean infantry were in position to launch their assaults These began in the northern part of the regimental sector and quickly spread southward At each crossing site the North Koreans would overwhelm local UN defenders before building pontoon bridges for their vehicles and armor
At B Company was attacked A truck stopped at the bottom of the hill a whistle sounded then came a shouted order and North Korean soldiers started climbing the slope The hills on both sides of B Company were already under attack as was also Hill a rugged terrain feature a miles km from the river and the North Koreans principal immediate objective The North Koreans apparently were not aware of the Task Force Manchu group lower down on the hill and it was not attacked during the night But higher up on Hill the North Koreans drove B Company from its position inflicting very heavy casualties on it Sheen led one group of soldiers back to friendly lines on September
At September the th Infantry Regiment ordered its only reserve E Company to move west along the Yongsan Naktong River road and take a blocking position at the pass between Cloverleaf Hill and Obong ni Ridge miles km from the river and miles km from Yongsan This was the critical terrain where so much heavy fighting had taken place in the first battle of the Naktong Bulge Fighting began at the pass at when an American medium tank of A Company nd Tank Battalion knocked out a T at Tugok also called Morisil E Company never reached its blocking position A strong North Korean force surprised and delivered heavy automatic fire on it at from positions astride the road east of the pass The company suffered heavy casualties including the company commander and Keiser s aide who had accompanied the force With the critical parts of Cloverleaf Hill and Obong ni Ridge the best defensive terrain between Yongsan and the river the North Koreans controlled the high ground The US nd Infantry Division now had to base its defense of Yongsan on relatively poor defensive terrain the low hills at the western edge of the town
North of the th Infantry sector of the nd Infantry Division front along the Naktong the US rd Infantry Regiment on August had just relieved the rd Battalion of the US th Infantry Regiment which in turn had only a few days before relieved the US st Infantry Regiment of the US th Infantry Division On August the rd Regiment was in a new sector of which it had only a limited knowledge It took over a yards m Naktong River front without its rd Battalion which had been attached to the US st Cavalry Division to the north Colonel Paul L Freeman the regimental commander deployed the st Battalion on the high ground along the river with the three companies abreast The st Battalion under US Lieutenant Colonel Claire E Hutchin Jr outposted the hills with platoons and squads He placed the nd Battalion in a reserve position miles km behind the st Battalion and in a position where it commanded the road net in the regimental sector On August h the nd Division moved E Company south to a reserve position in the th Infantry sector
Two roads ran through the regimental sector from the Naktong River to Changnyong The main road bent south along the east bank of the river to Pugong ni and then turned northeast to Changnyong A northern secondary road curved around marshland and lakes the largest of which was Lake U p o to Changnyong In effect the st Battalion of the rd Regiment guarded these two approach routes to Changnyong
The men of the nd Platoon B Company rd Infantry held outpost positions on seven hills covering a yards m front along the east bank of the Naktong north of Pugong ni Across the river in the rice paddies they could see in the afternoon of August two large groups of North Korean soldiers Occasionally artillery fire dispersed them Just before dark the platoon saw a column of North Koreans come out of the hills and proceed toward the river They immediately reported to the battalion command post The artillery forward observer who estimated the column at people thought they were refugees Freeman immediately ordered the artillery to fire on the column reducing its number However the North Koreans continued their advance
At the first shells of what proved to be a two hour North Korean artillery and mortar preparation against the American river positions of nd Platoon As the barrage rolled on North Korean infantry crossed the river and climbed the hills in the darkness under cover of its fire At the barrage lifted and the North Koreans attacked nd Platoon forcing it from the hill after a short fight Similar assaults took place elsewhere along the battalion outpost line
On the regimental left along the main Pugong ni Changnyong road North Korean soldiers completely overran C Company by September Only seven men of C Company could be accounted for and three days later after all the stragglers and those cut off behind North Korean lines had come in there were only men in the company As the North Korean attack developed during the night st Battalion succeeded in withdrawing a large part of its force less C Company just north of Lake U p o and the hills there covering the northern road into Changnyong miles km east of the river and miles km west of the town B Company lost heavily in this action
When word of the disaster that had overtaken st Battalion reached regimental headquarters Freeman obtained the release of G and F Companies from nd Division reserve and sent the former to help st Battalion and the latter on the southern road toward Pugong ni and C Company Major Lloyd K Jenson executive officer of the nd Battalion accompanied F Company down the Pugong ni road This force was unable to reach C Company but Jenson collected stragglers from it and seized high ground astride this main approach to Changnyong near Ponch o ri above Lake Sanorho and went into a defensive position there The US nd Division released E Company to the regiment and the next day it joined F Company to build up what became the main defensive position of the d Regiment in front of Changnyong North Korean troops during the night passed around the right flank of st Battalion s northern blocking position and reached the road three miles behind him near the division artillery positions The rd Infantry Headquarters and Service Companies and other miscellaneous regimental units finally stopped this penetration near the regimental command post miles km northwest of Changnyong
Before the morning of September had passed reports coming in to US nd Division headquarters made it clear that North Koreans had penetrated to the north south Changnyong Yongsan road and cut the division in two the th and d Infantry Regiments with the bulk of the division artillery in the north were separated from the division headquarters and the th Infantry Regiment in the south Keiser decided that this situation made it advisable to control and direct the divided division as two special forces Accordingly he placed the division artillery commander Brigadier General Loyal M Haynes in command of the northern group Haynes command post was miles km north of Changnyong Task Force Haynes became operational at September Southward in the Yongsan area Keiser placed Brigadier General Joseph S Bradley Assistant Division Commander in charge of the th Infantry Regiment the nd Engineer Combat Battalion most of the nd Tank Battalion and other miscellaneous units of the division This southern grouping was known as Task Force Bradley
All three regiments of the NK nd Division the th th and th in line from north to south crossed during the night to the east side of the Naktong River into the rd Regiment sector The NK nd Division concentrated in the Sinban ni area west of the river had in effect attacked straight east across the river and was trying to seize the two avenues of advance into Changnyong above and below Lake U p o On August Lake U p o was a large body of water although in most places very shallow
At dawn September Keiser at nd Division headquarters in Muan ni miles km east of Yongsan on the Miryang road felt his division was in the midst of a crisis The massive North Korean attack had made deep penetrations everywhere in the division sector except in the north in the zone of the th Infantry The NK th Division had effected major crossings of the Naktong at two principal points against the US th Infantry the NK nd Division in the meantime had made three major crossings against the US rd Infantry and the NK th Division had begun crossing more troops in the Hill area near Hyongp ung in the US th Infantry sector At Keiser telephoned Eighth Army headquarters and reported the heaviest and deepest North Korean penetrations were in the th Infantry sector
Liaison planes rose from the division strip every hour to observe the North Korean progress and to locate US nd Infantry Division front line units Communication from division and regimental headquarters to nearly all the forward units was broken Beginning at and continuing throughout the rest of the day the light aviation section of the division artillery located front line units cut off by the North Koreans and made fourteen airdrops of ammunition food water and medical supplies As information slowly built up at division headquarters it became apparent that the North Koreans had punched a hole miles km wide and miles km deep in the middle of the division line and made less severe penetrations elsewhere The front line battalions of the US th and rd Regiments were in various states of disorganization and some companies had virtually disappeared Keiser hoped he could organize a defense along the Changnyong Yongsan road east of the Naktong River and prevent North Korean access to the passes eastward leading to Miryang and Ch ongdo
At Walker requested the US Air Force to make a maximum effort along the Naktong River from Toksong dong just above the US nd Division boundary southward and to a depth of miles km west of the river He wanted the Air Force to isolate the battlefield and prevent further North Korean reinforcements and supplies from moving across the river in support of the North Korean spearhead units The Far East Command requested the US Navy to join in the air effort and the US Seventh Fleet turned back from its strikes in the Inch on Seoul area and sped southward at full steam toward the southern battle front Walker came to the US nd Division front at and ordered the division to hold at all costs He had already ordered ground reinforcements to the Yongsan area
During the morning of September Walker weighed the news coming in from his southern front wavering in a decision as to which part of the front most needed his Pusan Perimeter reserves Since midnight the NK I Corps had broken his Pusan Perimeter in two places the NK nd and th Divisions in the US nd Division sector and the NK th Division and NK th Division in the US th Division sector below the junction of the Nam and Naktong Rivers In the US nd Division sector North Korean troops were at the edge of Yongsan the gateway to the corridor leading miles km eastward to Miryang and the main Pusan Mukden railroad and highway
Eighth Army had in reserve three understrength infantry regiments and the battalion British th Infantry Brigade which was not yet completely equipped and ready to be placed in line The st Provisional Marine Brigade at Changwon miles km northeast of Masan preparing for movement to the port of Pusan the US th Infantry Regiment of the th Division which had arrived at Masan only the night before at to relieve the th Regimental Combat Team which was then to join the th Division in the Taegu area and the US th Infantry Regiment of the US th Infantry Division then with that division s headquarters at Kyongsan southeast of Taegu Walker alerted both the th Division headquarters together with its th Regiment and the st Provisional Marine Brigade to move at a moment s notice the th Division either to the nd or th Division fronts and the marines to an unannounced destination
As the morning passed General Walker decided that the situation was most critical in the Naktong Bulge area of the US nd Division sector There the North Koreans threatened Miryang and with it the entire Eighth Army position At Walker ordered US Marine Corps Brigadier General Edward A Craig commanding the st Provisional Marine Brigade to prepare the marines to move at once The marines made ready to depart for the Naktong Bulge at
The situation on the front was chaotic during the day September The North Koreans at one place had crossed at the Kihang ferry captured Agok and scattered A Company th Infantry at its positions from Agok northward A Company withdrew to positions on the ridge line back of the river From there at daylight the men could see North Korean soldiers on many of the ridges surrounding them most of them moving east After several hours nd Platoon of A Company sent a patrol down the hill to Agok to obtain supplies abandoned there during the night returning later with much needed water rations and ammunition
Later in the morning North Korean barges crossed the Naktong below A Company The company sent a squad with a light machine gun to the southern tip of the ridge overlooking Agok to take these troops under fire When the squad reached the tip of the ridge they saw that a North Korean force occupied houses at its base The company hit these houses with artillery The North Koreans broke from the houses running for the river At this the light machine gun at the tip of the ridge took them under fire as did another across the Naktong to the south in the US th Infantry Division sector Proximity fuze artillery fire decimated this group Combined fire from all weapons inflicted an estimated casualties on this North Korean force In the afternoon US aircraft dropped food and ammunition to the company only part of it was recovered The st Battalion ordered A Company to withdraw the company that night
During the withdraw however A Company ran into a sizable North Korean force and had scattered in the ensuing fight Most of the company including its commander were killed at close range In this desperate action Private First Class Luther H Story a weapons squad leader fought so tenaciously that he was awarded the Medal of Honor Badly wounded Story refused to be a burden to those who might escape and when last seen was still engaging North Korean at close range Of those in the company approximately ten men escaped to friendly lines The next morning under heavy fog the group made its way by compass toward Yongsan From a hill at after the fog had lifted the men looked down on the Battle of Yongsan which was then in progress That afternoon survivors of the company merged into the lines of the nd Tank Battalion near Yongsan Stragglers from this position continued to stream in the next few days as well
In the meantime Task Force Manchu was still holding its position along the Naktong River about miles km north of where A Company had been destroyed on the southern end of the line The perimeter position taken by the men of D and H Companies th Infantry who had started up the hill before the North Koreans struck was on a southern knob of Hill miles km south of B Company s higher position In addition to the D and H Company men there were a few from the Heavy Mortar Platoon and one or two from B Company Altogether to men were in the group The group had an SCR radio a heavy machine gun two light machine gun a M Browning Automatic Rifle about M Garand rifles and about carbines or pistols Schmitt assumed command of the group
During the night Schmitt established radio communication with the st Battalion th infantry When daylight came Schmitt and his group saw that they were surrounded by North Koreans One force occupied the higher knob half a mile above them formerly held by B Company Below them North Koreans continued crossing the river and moving supplies forward to their combat units some of them already several miles eastward The North Koreans quickly discovered Task Force Manchu group They first attacked it at that afternoon and were repulsed That night an estimated company attacked three times pressing the fight to close quarters but failed each time to penetrate the tight US perimeter Daylight of the second day disclosed many North Korean dead on the steep slopes outside the perimeter
In the afternoon of September Schmitt radioed st Battalion for an airdrop of supplies A US plane attempted the drop but the perimeter was so small and the slopes so steep that virtually all the supplies went into North Korean hands The men in the perimeter did however recover from a drop made later at some supplies and ammunition Private First Class Joseph R Ouellette of H Company left the perimeter to gather weapons ammunition and grenades from the North Korean dead On several occasions he was attacked and on one such occasion a North Korean soldier suddenly attacked Ouellette who killed the North Korean in hand to hand combat
That same afternoon the North Koreans sent an American prisoner up the hill to Schmitt with the message You have one hour to surrender or be blown to pieces Failing in frontal infantry attack to reduce the little defending force the North Koreans now meant to take it under mortar fire Only minutes later North Korean antitank fire came in on the knob and two machine guns from positions northward and higher on the slope of Hill swept the perimeter Soon mortars emplaced on a neighboring high finger ridge eastward registered on Schmitt s perimeter and continued firing until dark The machine gun fire forced every man to stay in his foxhole The lifting of the mortar fire after dark was the signal for renewed North Korean infantry attacks all of which were repulsed But the number of killed and wounded within the perimeter was growing and supplies were diminishing There were no medical supplies except those carried by one aid man
The third day September the situation worsened The weather was hot and ammunition food and supplies were nearly completely exhausted Since the previous afternoon North Korean mortar barrages had alternated with infantry assaults against the perimeter Survivors later estimated there were about twenty separate infantry attacks repulsed Two North Korean machine guns still swept the perimeter whenever anyone showed himself Dead and dying US troops were in almost every foxhole Mortar fragments destroyed the radio and this ended all communication with other US units Artillery fire and air strikes requested by Schmitt never came Some North Koreans worked their way close to the perimeter and threw grenades into it Six times Ouellette leaped from his foxhole to escape grenades thrown into it In this close action Ouellette was killed Most of the foxholes of the perimeter received one or more direct mortar hits in the course of the continuing mortar fire One of these killed Schmitt on September The command passed now to First Lieutenant Raymond J McDoniel of D Company senior surviving officer
At daylight on the morning of September only two officers and approximately half the men who had assembled on the hill were alive As the day passed with ammunition down to about one clip per man and only a few grenades left and no help in sight McDoniel decided to abandon the position that night When it got dark the survivors would split into small groups and try to get back to friendly lines That evening after dark the North Koreans launched another weak attack against the position At McDoniel and Caldwell and enlisted men slipped off the hill in groups of four Master Sergeant Travis E Watkins still alive in his paralyzed condition refused efforts of evacuation saying that he did not want to be a burden to those who had a chance to get away He asked only that his carbine be loaded and placed on his chest with the muzzle under his chin Like Oullette he would also win the Medal of Honor for his actions Of the men who came off the hill the night of September escaped to friendly lines many of them following the Naktong downstream hiding by day and traveling by night until they reached the lines of the US th Infantry Division
Members of Task Force Manchu who escaped from Hill brought back considerable intelligence information of North Korean activity in the vicinity of the Paekchin ferry crossing site At the ferry site the North Koreans had put in an underwater bridge A short distance downstream each night they placed a pontoon bridge across the river and took it up before dawn the next morning Carrying parties of civilians guarded by four North Korean soldiers crossed the river continuously at night an estimated total of carriers being used at this crossing site
North of the US th Infantry and the battles in the Naktong Bulge and around Yongsan the US d Infantry Regiment after daylight of September was in a very precarious position Its st Battalion had been driven from the river positions and isolated miles km westward Approximately North Koreans now overran the regimental command post compelling Freeman to withdraw it about yards m There miles km northwest of Changnyong the US rd Infantry Headquarters and Headquarters Company miscellaneous regimental units and regimental staff officers checked the North Koreans in a hour fight
The North Koreans advanced to Changnyong itself during the afternoon of September and ROK National Police withdrew from the town North Koreans were in Changnyong that evening With his communications broken southward to the nd Infantry Division headquarters and the th Infantry Haynes during the day decided to send a tank patrol down the Yongsan road in an effort to re establish communication C Company nd Tank Battalion led its tanks southward They had to fight their way down the road through several roadblocks Of the three tanks that started only the lead tank got through to Yongsan There it delivered an overlay of Task Force Haynes positions to Bradley
Still farther northward in the zone of the US th Infantry the North Koreans were also active After the North Korean breakthrough during the night of August Keiser had ordered the nd Battalion th Infantry to move south and help the rd Infantry establish a defensive position west of Changnyong In attempting to do this the battalion found North Korean troops already on the ridges along the road They had penetrated to Hill overlooking the th Infantry command post This hill and Hill dominated the rear areas of the regiment At September North Koreans launched an attack from Hill against the th Regiment command post The regimental commander organized a defensive perimeter and requested a bombing strike which was denied him because the enemy target and his defense perimeter were too close to each other But the Air Force did deliver rocket and strafing strikes
This fight continued until September On that day F Company captured Hill killing North Koreans From the crest he and his men watched as many more North Koreans ran into a village below them Directed artillery fire destroyed the village Among the abandoned North Korean materiel on the hill Schauer s men found twenty five American BARs and submachine guns a large American radio thirty boxes of unopened American fragmentation and concussion grenades and some American rations
Meanwhile during these actions in its rear the st Battalion rd Infantry was cut off miles km west of the nearest friendly units On September the regiment ordered it to withdraw to the Changnyong area At a tank infantry patrol was sent down the road but it reported that an estimated North Korean battalion held the mountain pass just eastward of the battalion s defense perimeter Upon receiving this report the battalion commander requested permission by radio to remain in his present position and try to obstruct the movement of North Korean reinforcements and supplies That evening Freeman approved this request and st Battalion spent three days in the isolated positions During this time C Skytrain planes supplied the battalion by airdrops
On the morning of September rd Battalion th Infantry moved in an attack westward from the rd Regiment command post near Mosan ni to open the road to the st Battalion On the second day of the fighting at the pass the relief force broke through the roadblock with the help of air strikes and artillery and tank fire The advanced elements of the battalion joined st Battalion at September That evening North Koreans strongly attacked the rd Battalion th Infantry on Hill north of the road and opposite st Battalion driving one company from its position
On September Haynes changed the boundary between the th and rd Infantry Regiments giving the northern part of the rd s sector to the th Infantry thus releasing st Battalion for movement southward to help the nd Battalion defend the southern approach to Changnyong The st Battalion rd Infantry about men strong when the attack began was now down to a strength of approximately men The rd Infantry now made plans to concentrate all its troops on the position held by its nd Battalion on the Pugong ni Changnyong road The st Battalion moved there and took a place on the left flank of the nd Battalion At the same time the regimental command post moved to the rear of this position In this regimental perimeter the rd Infantry fought a series of hard battles Simultaneously it had to send combat patrols to its rear to clear infiltrating North Koreans from Changnyong and from its supply road
On the morning of September the st and nd Regiments of the NK th Division in their first offensive of the war stood only a few miles short of Yongsan after a successful river crossing and penetration of the American line The rd Regiment had been left at Inch on but division commander Major General Pak Kyo Sam felt the chances of capturing Yongsan were strong
On the morning of September with only the shattered remnants of E Company at hand the US th Infantry Regiment US nd Infantry Division had virtually no troops to defend Yongsan Keiser in this emergency attached the nd Engineer Combat Battalion to the regiment The US nd Tank Battalion and the nd Division Reconnaissance Company also were assigned positions close to Yongsan The regimental commander planned to place the engineers on the chain of low hills that arched around Yongsan on the northwest
A Company nd Engineer Combat Battalion moved to the south side of the Yongsan Naktong River road D Company of the nd Engineer Battalion was on the north side of the road Approximately miles km west of Yongsan an estimated North Korean troops engaged A Company in a fire fight M Gun Motor Carriages of the nd AAA Battalion supported the engineers in this action which lasted several hours Meanwhile with the approval of General Bradley D Company moved to the hill immediately south of and overlooking Yongsan A platoon of infantry went into position behind it A Company was now ordered to fall back to the southeast edge of Yongsan on the left flank of D Company There A Company went into position along the road on its left was C Company of the Engineer battalion and beyond C Company was the nd Division Reconnaissance Company The hill occupied by D Company was in reality the western tip of a large mountain mass that lay southeast of the town The road to Miryang came south out of Yongsan bent around the western tip of this mountain and then ran eastward along its southern base In its position D Company not only commanded the town but also its exit the road to Miryang
North Koreans had also approached Yongsan from the south The US nd Division Reconnaissance Company and tanks of the nd Tank Battalion opposed them in a sharp fight In this action Sergeant First Class Charles W Turner of the Reconnaissance Company particularly distinguished himself He mounted a tank operated its exposed turret machine gun and directed tank fire which reportedly destroyed seven North Korean machine guns Turner and this tank came under heavy North Korean fire which shot away the tank s periscope and antennae and scored more than hits on it Turner although wounded remained on the tank until he was killed That night North Korean soldiers crossed the low ground around Yongsan and entered the town from the south
At September while the North Koreans were attempting to destroy the engineer troops at the southern edge of Yongsan and clear the road to Miryang Walker spoke by telephone with Major General Doyle O Hickey Deputy Chief of Staff Far East Command in Tokyo He described the situation around the Perimeter and said the most serious threat was along the boundary between the US nd and US th Infantry Divisions He described the location of his reserve forces and his plans for using them He said he had started the st Provisional Marine Brigade toward Yongsan but had not yet released them for commitment there and he wanted to be sure that General of the Army Douglas MacArthur approved his use of them since he knew that this would interfere with other plans of the Far East Command Walker said he did not think he could restore the nd Division lines without using them Hickey replied that MacArthur had the day before approved the use of the US Marines if and when Walker considered it necessary A few hours after this conversation Walker at attached the st Provisional Marine Brigade to the US nd Division and ordered a co ordinated attack by all available elements of the division and the marines with the mission of destroying the North Koreans east of the Naktong River in the nd Division sector and of restoring the river line The marines were to be released from nd Division control as soon as this mission was accomplished
A decision was reached that the marines would attack west at on September astride the Yongsan Naktong River road the th Infantry B Company of the nd Tank Battalion and D Battery of the d AAA Battalion would attack northwest above the marines and attempt to re establish contact with the US rd Infantry the nd Engineer Combat Battalion remnants of the st Battalion th Infantry and elements of the nd Tank Battalion would attack on the left flank or south of the marines to reestablish contact with the th Division Eighth Army now ordered the US th Infantry Division headquarters and the US th Infantry Regiment to move to the Susan ni area miles km south of Miryang and miles km east of the confluence of the Nam River and the Naktong River There it was to prepare to enter the battle in either the nd or th Division zone
The American counteroffensive of September west of Yongsan according to prisoner statements resulted in one of the bloodiest debacles of the war for a North Korean division Even though remnants of the NK th Division supported by the low strength NK th Division still held Obong ni Ridge Cloverleaf Hill and the intervening ground back to the Naktong on September the division s offensive strength had been spent at the end of the American counterattack The NK th and th divisions were not able to resume the offensive
The NK nd Division made a new effort against the rd Infantry s perimeter in the predawn hours of September in an attempt to break through eastward This attack launched at and heavily supported with artillery penetrated F Company It was apparent that unless F Company s position could be restored the entire regimental front would collapse When all its officers became casualties First Lieutenant Ralph R Robinson adjutant of the nd Battalion assumed command of the company With North Koreans rapidly infiltrating his company s position and gaining its rear Robinson in the darkness made his way through them yards m to A Company s position There he obtained that company s reserve platoon and brought it back to F Company He accomplished the dangerous and difficult task of maneuvering it into the gap in F Company s lines in darkness and heavy rain
The attack tapered off with the coming of daylight but that night it resumed The North Koreans struck repeatedly at the defense line This time they continued the fighting into the daylight hours of September The Air Force then concentrated strong air support over the regimental perimeter to aid the ground troops Casualties came to the aid stations from the infantry companies in an almost steady stream during the morning All available men from Headquarters Company and special units were formed into squads and put into the fight at the most critical points At one time the regimental reserve was down to six men When the attack finally ceased shortly after the rd Regiment had an estimated combat efficiency of only percent
This heavy night and day battle cost the NK nd Division most of its remaining offensive strength The medical officer of the NK th Regiment nd Division captured a few days later said that the division evacuated about men nightly to a hospital in Pugong ni and that in the first two weeks of September the nd Division lost killed and wounded in the fighting west of Changnyong Even though its offensive strength was largely spent by September the division continued to harass rear areas around Changnyong with infiltrating groups as large as companies Patrols daily had to open the main supply road and clear the town
North Korean and US troops remained locked in combat along the Naktong River for several more days The North Koreans offensive capability was largely destroyed and the US troops resolved to hold their lines barring further attack
The UN counterattack at Inchon collapsed the North Korean line and cut off all their main supply and reinforcement routes On September the UN discovered the North Koreans had abandoned much of the Pusan Perimeter during the night and the UN units began advancing out of their defensive positions and occupying them Most of the North Korean units began conducting delaying actions attempting to get as much of their army as possible into North Korea The North Koreans withdrew from the Masan area first the night of September After the forces there the remainder of the North Korean armies withdrew rapidly to the North The US units rapidly pursued them north passing over the Naktong River positions which were no longer of strategic importance
The North Korean nd and th Divisions were almost completely destroyed in the battles The th Division had numbered men at the beginning of the offensive on September The nd Division numbered Only a few hundred from each division returned to North Korea after the fight The majority of the North Korean troops had been killed captured or deserted All of NK II Corps was in a similar state and the North Korean army exhausted at Pusan Perimeter and cut off after Inchon was on the brink of defeat
By this time the US nd Infantry Division suffered killed wounded captured and missing during its time at Pusan Perimeter This included about casualties it suffered during the First Battle of Naktong Bulge the previous month American forces were continually repulsed but able to prevent the North Koreans from breaking the Pusan Perimeter The division had numbered on September but was in excellent position to attack despite its casualties The st Provisional Marine Brigade suffered killed and around wounded during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter most of which probably occurred at Yongsan
Of all the North Korean attacks along the Pusan Perimeter the Second Battle of Naktong Bulge is seen by historians as the most serious threat It was the battle in which the North Koreans made the most substantial gains splitting the US nd Infantry Division in half and briefly capturing Yongsan where they were very close to breaching through to the US forces supply lines and threatening other divisions rear areas However once again the fatal weakness of the North Korean Army had cost it victory after an impressive initial success its communications and supply were not capable of exploiting a breakthrough and of supporting a continuing attack in the face of massive air armor and artillery fire that could be concentrated against its troops at critical points By September the North Korean attacks in the area had been repulsed
Hed PE also known as hed Planet Earth and stylized as hd pe is an American rock band from Huntington Beach California Formed in the band performs a style of music which it refers to as G punk a fusion of punk rock and gangsta rap
After releasing three albums on Jive Records Hed PE left the label to record independently eventually signing with Suburban Noize Records in Since the band has become known for its involvement in the Truth movement referencing it in many of their song lyrics and concerts as well as the concept of the album New World Orphans To date they have released nine studio albums one live album and two compilation albums
The band was formed by vocalist Jared Gomes formerly of The Clue also known as MCUD MC Underdog and guitarist Wes Geer who became friends amidst the Orange County hardcore punk scene Gomes and Geer recruited guitarist Chizad bassist Mawk drummer BC Vaught and DJ Product They named the group Hed which stands for higher education The band built a following with their energetic performances at local venues and released the self financed extended play Church of Realities Legal issues forced Hed to change their name adding PE which stood for Planet Earth
Hed PE signed with Jive Records releasing their self titled debut album in In his review of the album Allmusic s Steve Huey wrote There are some slow and or unfocused moments but overall its aggression will probably play well with late s metal and punk fans Due to the label s contractual terms and the disappointing sales of the album the band found themselves unable to repay the cash advances given to them by Jive Gomes is quoted as saying We had these romantic visions of the music industry and we thought it would be cool to be a punk band on a rap label So we fulfilled that dream but it was also probably the worst thing that could have happened We ve had offers from Sony and others that we can t take because we owe Jive so much money
On June Hed PE appeared on the tribute album Nativity in Black II covering Black Sabbath s Sabbra Cadabra Hed PE released their second studio album Broke on August It peaked at No on the Billboard while its first single Bartender peaked at No on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at No on the Modern Rock Tracks chart Allmusic s Jason D Taylor wrote Broke may have not found as much success in the competitive mainstream market as some would have liked and even despite its distinct departure from the group s debut it is an album that shows more vision than other rap tinged rock albums to come out in The most negative response to the album came from critics who viewed its lyrics as misogynistic
On October Gomes was arrested for possession of marijuana while the band was performing in Waterbury Connecticut He was released on a US bond In Hed PE performed on the Ozzfest tour alongside bands such as Korn Static X and System of a Down A music video for Killing Time the second single from Broke was produced in promotion of the film Miles to Graceland which featured the song on its soundtrack
Hed PE released their third studio album Blackout on March It peaked at No on the Billboard while its title track peaked at No on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at No on the Modern Rock Tracks chart Allmusic s Johnny Loftus wrote that While it expands on melodic elements that had previously played a supporting role in the band s sound Blackout also delivers truckloads of crushing guitar and pounding rhythm And whether or not it is the presence of a top line producer hed pe have figured out a way to imbue their aggressive mix of heavy rock and hip hop with some serious hooks Guitarist Jaxon joined the band in early He is the fourth person to fill this position
Hed PE left Jive Records releasing their fourth studio album Only in Amerika on Koch Records on October It peaked at No on the Top Independent Albums chart and at No on the Billboard In his review of the album Johnny Loftus wrote It wants to be a confrontational megaphone in the ear of conservatives but Jahred s torrential rhetoric is too messy and blatantly offensive to incite anything but superficial anger and the music though occasionally explosive takes a backseat to the ranting
In Hed PE signed with Suburban Noize Records recording their fifth studio album Back Base X The album was intended as a return to the basics of rock music and did not rely as heavily on studio enhancement as previous releases The album was released on June the same day as The Best of hd Planet Earth a compilation album produced by Jive Records without the band s authorization or consent Back Base X peaked at No on the Independent Albums chart and at No on the Billboard Allmusic s Rob Theakston wrote that Back Base X suffers from the same problems as Amerika it tries to be conceptual in thought la Tool and vicious in its political commentary la Fugazi or System of a Down but somehow falls short by sounding like an angry stoner on a soapbox It won t win any new fans but existing fans of hed pe s work won t be turning their backs away from the band in anger anytime soon either
On June the band released their sixth studio album Insomnia It peaked at No on the Independent Albums chart and at No on the Billboard The album s lead single Suffa became one of the most requested tracks at Sirius Satellite Radio s Hard Attack while the song s music video was voted one of the Top of on MTV s Headbangers Ball Hed PE released their first live album The DIY Guys in On January they released their seventh studio album New World Orphans It was released in three different versions each contains a different set of bonus tracks In drummer Trauma joined the band He is the sixth person to fill this position The band s eighth studio album Truth Rising was released on October to mixed reviews Hed pe played the Local Heroes Tour in the fall of and played with Flipsyde in San jose on Sunday October In an interview frontman Jared Gomes stated that their album for titled Ascension would be released within the first half of Towards the end of DJ Product mysteriously left the band with no explanation and no comment from the other members On Frontman Jahred Gomes stated on the band s official Facebook that the new upcoming hed PE album will be named Evolution and to be released within the year
On May On the band s official Facebook page they released the official announcement of when the band s new album Evolution will hit stores The album is set for release July They also released a teaser of the tone of the new album on their Facebook page and soon after the track One More Body
In it was confirmed that year guitarist Jaxon Benge and original bassist Mark Young had left the band They were replaced by guitarist Greg Gregzilla Harrison and bassist Kurt Blankenship leaving vocalist and founding member Jared Gomes as the group s only remaining original talent
Hed PE performs a style of music which they have referred to as G punk a phrase inspired by the term G funk itself a reference to the P Funk collective Hed PE s music is a fusion of styles ranging from hip hop reggae and ska to hard rock punk and heavy metal Other elements that have been incorporated into this style include blues funk jazz and industrial Jared Gomes vocal style ranges from melodic singing to rapping screaming and death growls The band s lyrics draw from a number of subjects including the existence of extraterrestrial life criticism of organized religion the Truth movement cannabis use and sexual intercourse
Gomes in addition to the Truth movement has expressed support for social liberal politicians such as Nancy Pelosi and president Barack Obama Previously however Gomes lyrics for Only in Amerika expressed support for nationalism and called for retaliation against Al Qaeda for the terrorist attacks
The band s influences include HEM Beastie Boys Black Sabbath Bob Marley Led Zeppelin Nine Inch Nails Snoop Dogg Cypress Hill Notorious BIG and Rage Against the Machine Hed PE s second album Broke incorporated classic rock and world music influences while Back Base X was influenced by classic punk bands such as the Sex Pistols and the Clash Insomnia was influenced by thrash metal bands such as Slayer and New World Orphans was influenced by Suicidal Tendencies and Minor Threat Guitarist Jaxon has been credited for encouraging a heavier hardcore punk influenced musical style
Jared Paulo Sergio Gomes lead vocals current
Major Trauma Jeremiah Stratton drums current
Gregzilla Greg Harrison guitar current
Kid Bass Kurt Blankenship bass current
Ken Sachs The Finger keyboard
Wesley Geer Wesstyle Wes Geer guitar
Ben C Vaught BC drums
Doug Boyce DJ Product turntables samples
Anthony Tiny Bubz Biuso drums
An ironclad is a steam propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates used in the early part of the second half of the th century The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells The first ironclad battleship Gloire was launched by the French Navy in November The British Admiralty had been considering armored warships since and prepared a draft design for an armored corvette in in early the Royal Navy started building two iron hulled armored frigates and by had made the decision to move to an all armored battle fleet After the first clashes of ironclads both with wooden ships and with one another took place in during the American Civil War it became clear that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored ship of the line as the most powerful warship afloat This type of ship would come to be very successful in the American Civil War
Ironclads were designed for several roles including as high seas battleships coastal defense ships and long range cruisers The rapid evolution of warship design in the late th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden hulled vessel that carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the steel built turreted battleships and cruisers familiar in the th century This change was pushed forward by the development of heavier naval guns the ironclads of the s carried some of the heaviest guns ever mounted at sea more sophisticated steam engines and advances in metallurgy which made steel shipbuilding possible
The quick pace of change meant that many ships were obsolete as soon as they were finished and that naval tactics were in a state of flux Many ironclads were built to make use of the ram or the torpedo which a number of naval designers considered the important weapons of naval combat There is no clear end to the ironclad period but towards the end of the s the term ironclad dropped out of use New ships were increasingly constructed to a standard pattern and designated battleships or armored cruisers
The ironclad became technically feasible and tactically necessary because of developments in shipbuilding in the first half of the th century According to naval historian J Richard Hill The ironclad had three chief characteristics a metal skinned hull steam propulsion and a main armament of guns capable of firing explosive shells It is only when all three characteristics are present that a fighting ship can properly be called an ironclad Each of these developments was introduced separately in the decade before the first ironclads
In the th and early th centuries fleets had relied on two types of major warship the ship of the line and the frigate The first major change to these types was the introduction of steam power for propulsion While paddle steamer warships had been used from the s onwards steam propulsion only became suitable for major warships after the adoption of the screw propeller in the s
Steam powered screw frigates were built in the mid s and at the end of the decade the French Navy introduced steam power to its line of battle The desire for change came from the ambition of Napoleon III to gain greater influence in Europe which required a challenge to the British at sea The first purpose built steam battleship was the gun Napolon in Napolon was armed as a conventional ship of the line but her steam engines could give her a speed of knots km h regardless of the wind conditions a potentially decisive advantage in a naval engagement
The introduction of the steam ship of the line led to a building competition between France and Britain Eight sister ships to Napolon were built in France over a period of ten years but the United Kingdom soon managed to take the lead in production Altogether France built ten new wooden steam battleships and converted from older ships of the line while the United Kingdom built and converted
The era of the wooden steam ship of the line was brief because of new more powerful naval guns In the s and s warships began to mount increasingly heavy guns replacing and pounder guns with pounders on sailing ships of the line and introducing pounders on steamers Then the first shell guns firing explosive shells were introduced following their development by the French Gnral Henri Joseph Paixhans and by the s were part of the standard armament for naval powers including the French Navy Royal Navy Imperial Russian Navy and United States Navy It is often held that the power of explosive shells to smash wooden hulls as demonstrated by the Russian destruction of an Ottoman squadron at the Battle of Sinop spelled the end of the wooden hulled warship The more practical threat to wooden ships was from conventional cannon firing red hot shot which could lodge in the hull of a wooden ship and cause a fire or ammunition explosion Some navies even experimented with hollow shot filled with molten metal for extra incendiary power
The use of iron instead of wood as the primary material of ships hulls began in the s the first warship with an iron hull was the gunboat Nemesis built by Laird for the East India Company in There followed also from Laird the first full blown warships with metal hulls the steam frigates Guadelupe and Montezuma for the Mexican navy But a thin iron skin while not being susceptible to fire or lethal splintering like wood was not the same thing as providing iron armor calculated to stop enemy gunfire
Following the demonstration of the power of explosive shells against wooden ships at the Battle of Sinop and fearing that his own ships would be vulnerable to the Paixhans guns of Russian fortifications in the Crimean War Emperor Napoleon III ordered the development of light draft floating batteries equipped with heavy guns and protected by heavy armor Experiments made during the first half of proved highly satisfactory and on July the French communicated to the British Government that a solution had been found to make gun proof vessels and that plans would be communicated After tests in September the British Admiralty agreed to build five armoured floating batteries on the French plans establishing the important Thames and Millwall Iron Works within the docks
The French floating batteries were deployed in as a supplement to the wooden steam battle fleet in the Crimean War The role of the battery was to assist unarmored mortar and gunboats bombarding shore fortifications The French used three of their ironclad batteries Lave Tonnante and Dvastation in against the defenses at the Battle of Kinburn on the Black Sea where they were effective against Russian shore defences They would later be used again during the Italian war in the Adriatic in The British floating batteries Glatton and Meteor arrived too late to participate to the action at Kinburn The British planned to use theirs in the Baltic Sea against the well fortified naval base at Kronstadt
The batteries have a claim to the title of the first ironclad warships but they were capable of only knots km h under their own power they operated under their own power at the Battle of Kinburn but had to be towed for long range transit They were also arguably marginal to the work of the navy The brief success of the floating ironclad batteries convinced France to begin work on armored warships for their battlefleet
By the end of the s it was clear that France was unable to match British building of steam warships and to regain the strategic initiative a dramatic change was required The result was the first ocean going ironclad the Gloire begun in and launched in
Gloire s wooden hull was modelled on that of a steam ship of the line reduced to one deck sheathed in iron plates inches mm thick She was propelled by a steam engine driving a single screw propeller for a speed of knots km h She was armed with thirty six inch mm rifled guns France proceeded to construct ironclad warships including two more sister ships to Gloire and the only two decked broadside ironclads ever built Magenta and Solfrino
The Royal Navy had not been keen to sacrifice its advantage in steam ships of the line but was determined that the first British ironclad would outmatch the French ships in every respect particularly speed A fast ship would have the advantage of being able to choose a range of engagement which could make her invulnerable to enemy fire The British specification was more a large powerful frigate than a ship of the line The requirement for speed meant a very long vessel which had to be built from iron The result was the construction of two Warrior class ironclads HMS Warrior and HMS Black Prince The ships had a successful design though there were necessarily compromises between sea keeping strategic range and armour protection their weapons were more effective than that of Gloire and with the largest set of steam engines yet fitted to a ship they could steam at knots km h Yet the Gloire and her sisters had full iron armour protection along the waterline and the battery itself Warrior and Black Prince but also the smaller Defence and Resistance were obliged to concentrate their armour in a central citadel or armoured box leaving many main deck guns and the fore and aft sections of the vessel unprotected The use of iron in the construction of Warrior also came with some drawbacks iron hulls required more regular and intensive repairs than wooden hulls and iron was more susceptible to fouling by marine life
By navies across Europe had adopted ironclads Britain and France each had sixteen either completed or under construction though the British vessels were larger Austria Italy Russia and Spain were also building ironclads However the first battles using the new ironclad ships involved neither Britain nor France and involved ships markedly different from the broadside firing masted designs of Gloire and Warrior The use of ironclads by both sides in the American Civil War and the clash of the Italian and Austrian fleets at the Battle of Lissa had an important influence on the development of ironclad design
The first use of ironclads in action came in the US Civil War The US Navy at the time the war broke out had no ironclads its most powerful ships being six steam powered unarmoured frigates Since the bulk of the Navy remained loyal to the Union the Confederacy sought to gain advantage in the naval conflict by acquiring modern armored ships In May the Confederate Congress voted that million be appropriated for the purchase of ironclads from overseas and in July and August the Confederacy started work on construction and converting wooden ships
On October the CSS Manassas became the first ironclad to enter combat when she fought Union warships on the Mississippi during the Battle of the Head of Passes She had been converted from a commercial vessel in New Orleans for river and coastal fighting In February the larger CSS Virginia joined the Confederate Navy having been rebuilt at Norfolk Constructed on the hull of USS Merrimack Virginia originally was a conventional warship made of wood but she was converted into an iron covered casemate ironclad gunship when she entered the Confederate navy By this time the Union had completed seven ironclad gunboats of the City class and was about to complete the USS Monitor an innovative design proposed by the Swedish inventor John Ericsson The Union was also building a large armored frigate the USS New Ironsides and the smaller USS Galena
The first battle between ironclads happened on March as the armored Monitor was deployed to protect the Union s wooden fleet from the ironclad ram Virginia and other Confederate warships In this engagement the second day of the Battle of Hampton Roads the two ironclads repeatedly tried to ram one another while shells bounced off their armor The battle attracted attention worldwide making it clear that the wooden warship was now out of date with the ironclads destroying them easily
The Civil War saw more ironclads built by both sides and they played an increasing role in the naval war alongside the unarmored warships commerce raiders and blockade runners The Union built a large fleet of fifty monitors modeled on their namesake The Confederacy built ships designed as smaller versions of the Virginia many of which saw action but their attempts to buy ironclads overseas were frustrated as European nations confiscated ships being built for the Confederacy especially in Russia the only country to openly support the Union through the war Only CSS Stonewall was completed and she arrived in American waters just in time for the end of the war
Through the remainder of the war ironclads saw action in the Union s attacks on Confederate ports Seven Union monitors including USS Montauk as well as two other ironclads the ironclad frigate New Ironsides and a light draft USS Keokuk participated in the failed attack on Charleston one was sunk Two small ironclads CSS Palmetto State and CSS Chicora participated in the defence of the harbor For the later attack at Mobile Bay the Union assembled four monitors as well as wooden ships facing the CSS Tennessee the Confederacy s most powerful ironclad and the gunboats CSS Morgan CSS Gaines CSS Selma
On the western front the Union built a formidable force of river ironclads beginning with several converted riverboats and then contracting engineer James Eads of St Louis Missouri to build the City class ironclads These excellent ships were built with twin engines and a central paddle wheel all protected by an armored casement They had a shallow draft allowing them to journey up smaller tributaries and were very well suited for river operations Eads also produced monitors for use on the rivers the first two of which differed from the ocean going monitors in that they contained a paddle wheel the USS Neosho and USS Osage
Arguably Eads vessels were some of the better ironclads of the Western Flotilla but there were a number of other vessels that served valiantly with the fleet All were of varying design some more successful than others and some were similar to standard riverboats but with armored side mounted paddle wheels All were armed with various smoothbore and some rifled guns If nothing else the experience of the American Civil War and its wild variety of competing ironclad designs some more successful or disastrous than others confirmed the emerging trade off or compromises required in applying the latest technological advances in iron armour manufacture ship construction and gun design to name a few also going on in Europe There was no such thing as a perfect ironclad which could be invincible in every possible encounter ship duels standing up to forts Brown Blue water operations
The Union ironclads played an important role in the Mississippi and tributaries by providing tremendous fire upon Confederate forts installations and vessels with relative impunity to enemy fire They were not as heavily armored as the ocean going monitors of the Union but they were adequate for their intended use More Western Flotilla Union ironclads were sunk by torpedoes mines than by enemy fire and the most damaging fire for the Union ironclads was from shore installations not Confederate vessels
The first fleet battle and the first ocean battle involving ironclad warships was the Battle of Lissa in Waged between the Austrian and Italian navies the battle pitted combined fleets of wooden frigates and corvettes and ironclad warships on both sides in the largest naval battle between the battles of Navarino and Tsushima
The Italian fleet consisted of ironclads and a similar number of wooden warships escorting transports which carried troops intending to land on the Adriatic island of Lissa Among the Italian ironclads were seven broadside ironclad frigates four smaller ironclads and the newly built Affondatore a double turretted ram Opposing them the Austrian navy had seven ironclad frigates
The Austrians believed their ships to have less effective guns than their enemy so decided to engage the Italians at close range and ram them The Austrian fleet formed into an arrowhead formation with the ironclads in the first line charging at the Italian ironclad squadron In the mele which followed both sides were frustrated by the lack of damage inflicted by guns and by the difficulty of ramming nonetheless the effective ramming attack being made by the Austrian flagship against the Italian attracted great attention in following years
The superior Italian fleet lost its two ironclads Re d Italia and Palestro while the Austrian unarmoured screw two decker SMS Kaiser remarkably survived close actions with four Italian ironclads The battle ensured the popularity of the ram as a weapon in European ironclads for many years and the victory won by Austria established it as the predominant naval power in the Adriatic
The battles of the American Civil War and at Lissa were very influential on the designs and tactics of the ironclad fleets that followed In particular it taught a generation of naval officers the misleading lesson that ramming was the best way to sink enemy ironclads
The adoption of iron armor meant that the traditional naval armament of dozens of light cannon became useless since their shot would bounce off an armored hull To penetrate armor increasingly heavy guns were mounted on ships nevertheless the view that ramming was the only way to sink an ironclad became widespread The increasing size and weight of guns also meant a movement away from the ships mounting many guns broadside in the manner of a ship of the line towards a handful of guns in turrets for all round fire
From the s to the s many naval designers believed that the development of the ironclad meant that the ram was again the most important weapon in naval warfare With steam power freeing ships from the wind and armor making them invulnerable to shellfire the ram seemed to offer the opportunity to strike a decisive blow
The scant damage inflicted by the guns of Monitor and Virginia at Battle of Hampton Roads and the spectacular but lucky success of the Austrian flagship SMS Erzherzog Ferdinand Max sinking the Italian Re d Italia at Lissa gave strength to the ramming craze From the early s to early s most British naval officers thought that guns were about to be replaced as the main naval armament by the ram Those who noted the tiny number of ships that had actually been sunk by ramming struggled to be heard
The revival of ramming had a significant effect on naval tactics Since the th century the predominant tactic of naval warfare had been the line of battle where a fleet formed a long line to give it the best fire from its broadside guns This tactic was totally unsuited to ramming and the ram threw fleet tactics into disarray The question of how an ironclad fleet should deploy in battle to make best use of the ram was never tested in battle and if it had been combat might have shown that rams could only be used against ships which were already stopped dead in the water
The ram finally fell out of favour in the s as the same effect could be achieved with a torpedo with less vulnerability to quick firing guns
The armament of ironclads tended to become concentrated in a small number of powerful guns capable of penetrating the armor of enemy ships at range calibre and weight of guns increased markedly to achieve greater penetration Throughout the ironclad era navies also grappled with the complexities of rifled versus smoothbore guns and breech loading versus muzzle loading
HMS Warrior carried a mixture of pounder inch mm breech loading rifles and more traditional pounder smoothbore guns Warrior highlighted the challenges of picking the right armament the breech loaders she carried designed by Sir William Armstrong were intended to be the next generation of heavy armament for the Royal Navy but were shortly withdrawn from service
Breech loading guns seemed to offer important advantages A breech loader could be reloaded without moving the gun a lengthy process particularly if the gun then needed to be re aimed The Warrior s Armstrong guns also had the virtue of being lighter than an equivalent smoothbore and because of their rifling more accurate Nonetheless the design was rejected because of problems which plagued breech loaders for decades
The weakness of the breech loader was the obvious problem of sealing the breech All guns are powered by the explosive conversion of gunpowder into gas This explosion propels the shot or shell out of the front of the gun but also imposes great stresses on the gun barrel If the breech which experiences some of the greatest forces in the gun is not entirely secure then there is a risk that either gas will discharge through the breech or that the breech will break This in turn reduces the muzzle velocity of the weapon and can also endanger the gun crew The Warrior s Armstrong guns suffered from both problems the shells were unable to penetrate the in mm armor of Gloire while sometimes the screw which closed the breech flew backwards out of the gun on firing Similar problems were experienced with the breech loading guns which became standard in the French and German navies
These problems influenced the British to equip ships with muzzle loading weapons of increasing power until the s After a brief introduction of pounder or inch mm smoothbore Somerset Gun which weighed tons t the Admiralty introduced inch mm rifled guns weighing tons These were followed by a series of increasingly mammoth weapons guns weighing and finally tons with calibre increasing from inch mm to inch mm
The decision to retain muzzle loaders until the s has been criticised by historians However at least until the late s the British muzzle loaders had superior performance in terms of both range and rate of fire than the French and Prussian breech loaders which suffered from the same problems as had the first Armstrong guns
From onwards the balance between breech and muzzle loading changed Captain de Bange invented a method of reliably sealing a breech adopted by the French in Just as compellingly the growing size of naval guns made muzzle loading much more complicated With guns of such size there was no prospect of hauling in the gun for re loading or even re loading by hand and complicated hydraulic systems were required for re loading the gun outside the turret without exposing the crew to enemy fire In the ton inch mm guns of HMS Inflexible fired only once every minutes while bombarding Alexandria during the Urabi Revolt The ton mm inch guns of Caio Duilio could each fire a round every minutes
In the Royal Navy the switch to breech loaders was finally made in as well as the significant advantages in terms of performance opinion was swayed by an explosion on board HMS Thunderer caused by a gun being double loaded a problem which could only happen with a muzzle loading gun
The calibre and weight of guns could only increase so far The larger the gun the slower it would be to load the greater the stresses on the ship s hull and the less the stability of the ship The size of the gun peaked in the s with some of the heaviest calibres of gun ever used at sea HMS Benbow carried two inch mm breech loading guns each weighing tons no British battleship would ever carry guns as large The Italian mm inch guns would be larger than any gun fitted to a battleship until the inch mm armament of the Japanese Yamato class of World War II One consideration which became more acute was that even from the original Armstrong models following the Crimean War range and hitting power far exceeded simple accuracy especially at sea where the slightest roll or pitch of the vessel as floating weapons platform could negate the advantage of rifling American ordnance experts accordingly preferred smoothbore monsters whose round shot could at least skip along the surface of the water Actual effective combat ranges they had learned during the Civil War were comparable to those in the Age of Sail though a vessel could now be smashed to pieces in only a few rounds Smoke and the general chaos of battle only added to the problem As a result many naval engagements in the Age of the Ironclad were still fought at ranges within easy eyesight of their targets and well below the maximum reach of their ships guns
Another method of increasing firepower was to vary the projectile fired or the nature of the propellant Early ironclads used black powder which expanded rapidly after combustion this meant cannons had relatively short barrels to prevent the barrel itself slowing the shell The sharpness of the black powder explosion also meant that guns were subjected to extreme stress One important step was to press the powder into pellets allowing a slower more controlled explosion and a longer barrel A further step forward was the introduction of chemically different brown powder which combusted more slowly again It also put less stress on the insides of the barrel allowing guns to last longer and to be manufactured to tighter tolerances
The development of smokeless powder based on nitroglycerine or nitrocellulose by the French inventor Paul Vielle in was a further step allowing smaller charges of propellant with longer barrels The guns of the pre Dreadnought battleships of the s tended to be smaller in calibre compared to the ships of the s most often in mm but progressively grew in length of barrel making use of improved propellants to gain greater muzzle velocity
The nature of the projectiles also changed during the ironclad period Initially the best armor piercing projectile was a solid cast iron shot Later shot of chilled iron a harder iron alloy gave better armor piercing qualities Eventually the armor piercing shell was developed
The first British French and Russian ironclads in a logical development of warship design from the long preceding era of wooden ships of the line carried their weapons in a single line along their sides and so were called broadside ironclads Both Gloire and HMS Warrior were examples of this type Because their armor was so heavy they could only carry a single row of guns along the main deck on each side rather than a row on each deck
A significant number of broadside ironclads were built in the s principally in Britain and France but in smaller numbers by other powers including Italy Austria Russia and the United States The advantages of mounting guns on both broadsides was that the ship could engage more than one adversary at a time and the rigging did not impede the field of fire
Broadside armament also had disadvantages which became more serious as ironclad technology developed Heavier guns to penetrate ever thicker armor meant that fewer guns could be carried Furthermore the adoption of ramming as an important tactic meant the need for ahead and all round fire These problems led to broadside designs being superseded by designs that gave greater all round fire which included central battery turret and barbette designs
There were two main design alternatives to the broadside In one design the guns were placed in an armoured casemate amidships this arrangement was called the box battery or centre battery In the other the guns could be placed on a rotating platform to give them a broad field of fire when fully armored this arrangement was called a turret and when partially armored or unarmored a barbette
The centre battery was the simpler and during the s and s the more popular method Concentrating guns amidships meant the ship could be shorter and handier than a broadside type The first full scale centre battery ship was HMS Bellerophon of the French laid down centre battery ironclads in which were not completed until Centre battery ships often but not always had a recessed freeboard enabling some of their guns to fire directly ahead
The turret was first used in naval combat on the USS Monitor in with a type of turret designed by the Swedish engineer John Ericsson A competing turret design was proposed by the British inventor Cowper Coles with a prototype of this installed on HMS Trusty in for testing and evaluation purposes Ericsson s turret turned on a central spindle and Coles s turned on a ring of bearings Turrets offered the maximum arc of fire from the guns but there were significant problems with their use in the s The fire arc of a turret would be considerably limited by masts and rigging so they were unsuited to use on the earlier ocean going ironclads The second problem was that turrets were extremely heavy Ericsson was able to offer the heaviest possible turret guns and armour protection by deliberately designing a ship with very low freeboard The weight thus saved from having a high broadside above the waterline was diverted to actual guns and armour Low freeboard however also meant a smaller hull and therefore a smaller capacity for coal storage and therefore range of the vessel In many respects the turreted low freeboard Monitor and the broadside sailer HMS Warrior represented two opposite extremes in what an Ironclad was all about The most dramatic attempt to compromise these two extremes or squaring this circle was designed by Captain Cowper Phipps Coles HMS Captain a dangerously low freeboard turret ship which nevertheless carried a full rig of sail and which subsequently capsized not long after her launch in Her half sister HMS Monarch was restricted to firing from her turrets only on the port and starboard beams The third Royal Navy ship to combine turrets and masts was HMS Inflexible of which carried two turrets on either side of the centre line allowing both to fire fore aft and broadside
A lighter alternative to the turret particularly popular with the French navy was the barbette These were fixed armored towers which held a gun on a turntable The crew was sheltered from direct fire but vulnerable to plunging fire for instance from shore emplacements The barbette was lighter than the turret needing less machinery and no roof armor though nevertheless some barbettes were stripped of their armor plate to reduce the top weight of their ships The barbette became widely adopted in the s and with the addition of an armored gun house transformed into the turrets of the pre Dreadnought battleships
The ironclad age saw the development of explosive torpedoes as naval weapons which helped complicate the design and tactics of ironclad fleets The first torpedoes were static mines used extensively in the American Civil War That conflict also saw the development of the spar torpedo an explosive charge pushed against the hull of a warship by a small boat For the first time a large warship faced a serious threat from a smaller one and given the relative inefficiency of shellfire against ironclads the threat from the spar torpedo was taken seriously The US Navy converted four of its monitors to become turretless armored spar torpedo vessels while under construction in but these vessels never saw action Another proposal the towed or Harvey torpedo involved an explosive on a line or outrigger either to deter a ship from ramming or to make a torpedo attack by a boat less suicidal
A more practical and influential weapon was the self propelled or Whitehead torpedo Invented in and deployed in the s the Whitehead torpedo formed part of the armament of ironclads of the s like HMS Inflexible and the Italian Caio Duilio and Enrico Dandolo The ironclad s vulnerability to the torpedo was a key part of the critique of armored warships made by the Jeune Ecole school of naval thought it appeared that any ship armored enough to prevent destruction by gunfire would be slow enough to be easily caught by torpedo In practice however the Jeune Ecole was only briefly influential and the torpedo formed part of the confusing mixture of weapons possessed by ironclads
The first ironclads were built on wooden or iron hulls and protected by wrought iron armor backed by thick wooden planking Ironclads were still being built with wooden hulls into the s
Using iron construction for warships offered advantages for the engineering of the hull However unarmored iron had many military disadvantages and offered technical problems which kept wooden hulls in use for many years particularly for long range cruising warships
Iron ships had first been proposed for military use in the s In the s and s France Britain and the United States had all experimented with iron hulled but unarmored gunboats and frigates However the iron hulled frigate was abandoned by the end of the s because iron hulls were more vulnerable to solid shot iron was more brittle than wood and iron frames more likely to fall out of shape than wood
The unsuitability of unarmored iron for warship hulls meant that iron was only adopted as a building material for battleships when protected by armor However iron gave the naval architect many advantages Iron allowed larger ships and more flexible design for instance the use of watertight bulkheads on the lower decks Warrior built of iron was longer and faster than the wooden hulled Gloire Iron could be produced to order and used immediately in contrast to the need to give wood a long period of seasoning And given the large quantities of wood required to build a steam warship and the falling cost of iron iron hulls were increasingly cost effective The main reason for the French use of wooden hulls for the ironclad fleet built in the s was that the French iron industry could not supply enough and the main reason why Britain built its handful of wooden hulled ironclads was to make best use of hulls already started and wood already bought
Wooden hulls continued to be used for long range and smaller ironclads because iron nevertheless had a significant disadvantage Iron hulls suffered quick fouling by marine life slowing the ships down manageable for a European battlefleet close to dry docks but a difficulty for long range ships The only solution was to sheath the iron hull first in wood and then in copper a laborious and expensive process which made wooden construction remain attractive Iron and wood were to some extent interchangeable the Japanese Kong and Hiei ordered in were sister ships but one was built of iron and the other of composite construction
After steel started to be introduced as a material for construction Compared to iron steel allows for greater structural strength for a lower weight The French Navy led the way with the use of steel in its fleet starting with the Redoutable laid down in and launched in Redoutable nonetheless had wrought iron armor plate and part of her exterior hull was iron rather than steel
Even though Britain led the world in steel production the Royal Navy was slow to adopt steel warships The Bessemer process for steel manufacture produced too many imperfections for large scale use on ships French manufacturers used the Siemens Martin process to produce adequate steel but British technology lagged behind The first all steel warships built by the Royal Navy were the dispatch vessels Iris and Mercury laid down in and
Iron built ships used wood as part of their protection scheme HMS Warrior was protected by in mm of wrought iron backed by in mm of teak the strongest shipbuilding wood The wood played two roles preventing spalling and also preventing the shock of a hit damaging the structure of the ship Later wood and iron were combined in sandwich armor for instance in HMS Inflexible
Steel was also an obvious material for armor It was tested in the s but the steel of the time was too brittle and disintegrated when struck by shells Steel became practical to use when a way was found to fuse steel onto wrought iron plates giving a form of compound armor This compound armor was used by the British in ships built from the late s first for turret armor starting with HMS Inflexible and then for all armor starting with HMS Colossus of The French and German navies adopted the innovation almost immediately with licenses being given for the use of the Wilson System of producing fused armor
The first ironclads to have all steel armor were the Italian Caio Duilio and Enrico Dandolo Though the ships were laid down in their armor was not purchased from France until The French navy decided in to adopt compound armor for its fleet but found it limited in supply so from the French navy was using steel armor Britain stuck to compound armor until
The ultimate ironclad armor was case hardened nickel steel In the US Navy tested steel armor hardened by the Harvey process and found it superior to compound armor For several years Harvey steel was the state of the art produced in the US France Germany Britain Austria and Italy In the German firm Krupp developed gas cementing which further hardened steel armor The German Kaiser Friedrich III laid down in was the first ship to benefit from the new Krupp armor and the new armor was quickly adopted the Royal Navy using it from HMS Canopus laid down in By almost all new battleships used Krupp armor though the US continued to use Harvey armor alongside until the end of the decade
The equivalent strengths of the different armor plates was as follows in mm of wrought iron was equivalent to in mm of either plain steel or compound iron and steel armor and to in mm of Harvey armor or in mm of Krupp armor
Ironclad construction also prefigured the later debate in battleship design between tapering and all or nothing armour design Warrior was only semi armoured and could have been disabled by hits on the bow and stern As the thickness of armor grew to protect ships from the increasingly heavy guns the area of the ship which could be fully protected diminished Inflexible s armor protection was largely limited to the central citadel amidships protecting boilers and engines turrets and magazines and little else An ingenious arrangement of cork filled compartments and watertight bulkheads was intended to keep her stable and afloat in the event of heavy damage to her un armored sections
The first ocean going ironclads carried masts and sails like their wooden predecessors and these features were only gradually abandoned Early steam engines were inefficient the wooden steam fleet of the Royal Navy could only carry to days coal and the situation was similar with the early ironclads Warrior also illustrates two design features which aided hybrid propulsion she had retractable screws to reduce drag while under sail though in practice the steam engine was run at a low throttle and a telescopic funnel which could be folded down to the deck level
Ships designed for coastal warfare like the floating batteries of the Crimea or USS Monitor and her sisters dispensed with masts from the beginning The British HMS Devastation started in was the first large ocean going ironclad to dispense with masts Her principal role was for combat in the English Channel and other European waters and while her coal supplies gave her enough range to cross the Atlantic she would have had little endurance on the other side of the ocean The Devastation and the similar ships commissioned by the British and Russian navies in the s were the exception rather than the rule Most ironclads of the s retained masts and only the Italian navy which during that decade was focused on short range operations in the Adriatic built consistently mastless ironclads
During the s steam engines improved with the adoption of double expansion steam engines which used less coal than earlier models The Royal Navy decided to switch to the double expansion engine in and by they were widespread However this development alone was not enough to herald the end of the mast Whether this was due to a conservative desire to retain sails or was a rational response to the operational and strategic situation is a matter of debate A steam only fleet would require a network of coaling stations worldwide which would need to be fortified at great expense to stop them falling into enemy hands Just as significantly because of unsolved problems with the technology of the boilers which provided steam for the engines the performance of double expansion engines was rarely as good in practice as it was in theory
During the s the distinction grew between first class ironclads or battleships on the one hand and cruising ironclads designed for long range work on the other The demands on first class ironclads for very heavy armor and armament meant increasing displacement which reduced speed under sail and the fashion for turrets and barbettes made a sailing rig increasingly inconvenient HMS Inflexible launched in but not commissioned until was the last British battleship to carry masts and these were widely seen as a mistake The start of the s saw the end of sailing rig on ironclad battleships
Sails persisted on cruising ironclads for much longer During the s the French navy had produced the Alma and La Galissonnire classes as small long range ironclads as overseas cruisers and the British had responded with ships like HMS Swiftsure of The Russian ship General Admiral laid down in and completed in was a model of a fast long range ironclad which was likely to be able to outrun and outfight ships like Swiftsure Even the later HMS Shannon often described as the first British armored cruiser would have been too slow to outrun General Admiral While Shannon was the last British ship with a retractable propellor later armored cruisers of the s retained sailing rig sacrificing speed under steam in consequence It took until for the Royal Navy to lay down a long range armored warship capable of catching enemy commerce raiders HMS Warspite which was completed in While sailing rigs were obsolescent for all purposes by the end of the s rigged ships were in service until the early years of the th century
The final evolution of ironclad propulsion was the adoption of the triple expansion steam engine a further refinement which was first adopted in HMS Sans Pareil laid down in and commissioned in Many ships also used a forced draught to get additional power from their engines and this system was widely used until the introduction of the steam turbine in the mid s decade
While ironclads spread rapidly in navies worldwide there were few pitched naval battles involving ironclads Most European nations settled differences on land and the Royal Navy struggled to maintain a deterrent parity with at least France while providing suitable protection to Britain s commerce and colonial outposts worldwide Ironclads remained for the British Royal Navy a matter of defending the British Isles first and projecting power abroad second Those naval engagements of the latter half of the th century which involved ironclads normally involved colonial actions or clashes between second rate naval powers But these encounters were often enough to convince British policy makers of the increasing hazards of strictly naval foreign intervention from Hampton Roads in the American Civil War to the hardening combined defences of naval arsenals such as Kronstadt and Cherbourg
There were many types of ironclads
Seagoing ships intended to stand in the line of battle the precursors of the battleship
Coastal service and riverine vessels including floating batteries and monitors
Vessels intended for commerce raiding or protection of commerce called armoured cruisers
The United Kingdom possessed the largest navy in the world for the whole of the ironclad period The Royal Navy was the second to adopt ironclad warships and it applied them worldwide in their whole range of roles In the age of sail the British strategy for war depended on the Royal Navy mounting a blockade of the ports of the enemy Because of the limited endurance of steamships this was no longer possible so the British at times considered the risk laden plan of engaging an enemy fleet in harbor as soon as war broke out To this end the Royal Navy developed a series of coast defence battleships starting with the Devastation class These breastwork monitors were markedly different from the other high seas ironclads of the period and were an important precursor of the modern battleship As long range monitors they could reach Bermuda unescorted for example However they were still armed with only four heavy guns and were as vulnerable to mines and obstructions and enemy monitors as the original monitors of the Union Navy proved to be during the Civil War The British prepared for an overwhelming mortar bombardment of Kronstadt by the close of the Crimean War but never considered running the smoke ridden shallow water gauntlet straight to St Petersburg with ironclads Likewise monitors proved acutely unable to overwhelm enemy fortifications single handed during the American conflict though their low profile and heavy armour protection made them ideal for running gauntlets Mines and obstructions however negated these advantages a problem the British Admiralty frequently acknowledged but never countered throughout the period The British never laid down enough Devastation class battleships to instantly overwhelm Cherbourg Kronstadt or even New York City with gunfire Although throughout the s and s the Royal Navy was still in many respects superior to its potential rivals by the early s widespread concern about the threat from France and Germany culminated in the Naval Defence Act which promulgated the idea of a two power standard that Britain should possess as many ships as the next two navies combined This standard provoked aggressive shipbuilding in the s and s
British ships did not participate in any major wars in the ironclad period The Royal Navy s ironclads only saw action as part of colonial battles or one sided engagements like the bombardment of Alexandria in Defending British interests against Ahmed Urabi s Egyptian revolt a British fleet opened fire on the fortifications around the port of Alexandria A mixture of centre battery and turret ships bombarded Egyptian positions for most of a day forcing the Egyptians to retreat return fire from Egyptian guns was heavy at first but inflicted little damage killing only five British sailors Few Egyptian guns were actually dismounted on the other hand and the fortifications themselves were typically left intact Had the Egyptians actually utilised the heavy mortars that were at their disposal they might have quickly turned the tide for the attacking British ironclads found it easy for accuracy s sake to simply anchor whilst firing perfect targets for high angle fire upon their thinly armoured topdecks
The French navy built the first ironclad to try to gain a strategic advantage over the British but were consistently out built by the British Despite taking the lead with a number of innovations like breech loading weapons and steel construction the French navy could never match the size of the Royal Navy In the s the construction of ironclads ceased for a while in France as the Jeune Ecole school of naval thought took prominence suggesting that torpedo boats and unarmored cruisers would be the future of warships Like the British the French navy saw little action with its ironclads the French blockade of Germany in the Franco Prussian War was ineffective as the war was settled entirely on land
Russia built a number of ironclads generally copies of British or French designs Nonetheless there were real innovations from Russia the first true type of ironclad armored cruiser the General Admiral of the s and a set of remarkably badly designed circular battleships referred to as popovkas for Admiral Popov who conceived the design The Russian Navy pioneered the wide scale use of torpedo boats during the Russo Turkish War of mainly out of necessity because of the superior numbers and quality of ironclads used by the Turkish navy Russia expanded her navy in the s and s with modern armored cruisers and battleships but the ships were manned by inexperienced crews and politically appointed leadership which enhanced their defeat in the Battle of Tsushima on May
The US Navy ended the Civil War with about fifty monitor type coastal ironclads by the s most of these were laid up in reserve leaving the USA virtually without an ironclad fleet Another five large monitors were ordered in the s The limitations of the monitor type effectively prevented the USA from projecting power overseas and until the s the USA would have come off badly in a conflict with even Spain or the Latin American powers The s saw the beginning of what became the Great White Fleet and it was the modern pre Dreadnoughts and armored cruisers built in the s which defeated the Spanish fleet in the Spanish American War of This started a new era of naval warfare
Ironclads were widely used in South America Both sides used ironclads in the Chincha Islands War between Spain and the combined forces of Peru and Chile in the early s The powerful Spanish Numancia participated in the Battle of Callao but was unable to inflict significant damage to the Callao defences Besides Peru was able to deploy two locally built ironclads based on American Civil War designs the Loa a wooden ship converted into a casemate ironclad and the Victoria a small monitor armed with a single pdr gun as well as two British built ironclads Independencia a centre battery ship and the turret ship Huscar Numancia was the first ironclad to circumnavigate the world arriving in Cdiz on September and earning the motto Enloricata navis que primo terram circuivit First ironclad ship to sail around the world In the War of the Pacific in both Peru and Chile had ironclad warships including some of those used a few years previously against Spain While the Independencia ran aground early on the Peruvian ironclad Huscar made a great impact against Chilean shipping delaying Chilean ground invasion by six months She was eventually caught by two more modern Chilean centre battery ironclads the Blanco Encalada and the Almirante Cochrane at the Battle of Angamos Point
Ironclads were also used from the inception of the Imperial Japanese Navy The Ktetsu Japanese literally Ironclad later renamed Azuma East had a decisive role in the Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay in May which marked the end of the Boshin War and the complete establishment of the Meiji Restoration The IJN continued to develop its strength and commissioned a number of warships from British and European shipyards first ironclads and later armored cruisers These ships engaged the Chinese Beiyang fleet which was superior on paper at least at the Battle of the Yalu River Thanks to superior short range firepower the Japanese fleet came off better sinking or severely damaging eight ships and receiving serious damage to only four The naval war was concluded the next year at the Battle of Weihaiwei where the strongest remaining Chinese ships were surrendered to the Japanese
There is no clearly defined end to the ironclad besides the transition from wood hulls to all metal Ironclads continued to be used in World War I Towards the end of the th century the descriptions battleship and armored cruiser came to replace the term ironclad
The proliferation of ironclad battleship designs came to an end in the s as navies reached a consensus on the design of battleships producing the type known as the pre Dreadnought These ships are sometimes covered in treatments of the ironclad warship The next evolution of battleship design the dreadnought is never referred to as an ironclad
Most of the ironclads of the s and s served into the s decade For instance a handful of US navy monitors laid down in the s saw active service in World War I Pre Dreadnought battleships and cruisers of the s saw widespread action in World War I and in some cases through to World War II
The example of the ironclads had some bearing on the history of the tank as ironclad warships became an inspiration for ideas of landships and other armored vehicles H G Wells in his short story The Land Ironclads published in The Strand Magazine in December described the use of large armoured cross country vehicles armed with cannon and machine guns and equipped with pedrail wheels
A number of ironclads have been preserved or reconstructed as museum ships
Parts of USS Monitor have been recovered and are being conserved and displayed at the Mariners Museum in Newport News Virginia
HMS Warrior is today a fully restored museum ship in Portsmouth England
Huscar is berthed at the port of Talcahuano Chile on display for visitors
The City class ironclad USS Cairo is currently on display in Vicksburg Mississippi
Northrop Grumman in Newport News constructed a full scale replica of USS Monitor The replica was laid down in February and completed just two months later
The Dutch Ramtorenschip Coastal ram Zr Ms Buffel is currently under display in the Maritime Museum Rotterdam
The Dutch Ramtorenschip Coastal ram Zr Ms Schorpioen is a museum ship at Den Helder
The complete recovered wooden hull of the CSS Neuse a casemate ram ironclad is on view in Kinston North Carolina and in another part of town on the Neuse River the recreated ship named CSS Neuse II is nearly built and can be visited
The hull of the casemate ironclad CSS Jackson can be seen in the National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus Georgia
The new United States Navy Zumwalt class guided missile destroyer has been described as bearing resemblance to ironclads
Little Gidding is the fourth and final poem of T S Eliot s Four Quartets a series of poems that discuss time perspective humanity and salvation It was first published in September after being delayed for over a year because of the air raids on Great Britain during World War II and Eliot s declining health The title refers to a small Anglican community in Huntingdonshire established by Nicholas Ferrar in the th century and scattered during the English Civil War
The poem uses the combined image of fire and Pentecostal fire to emphasise the need for purification and purgation According to the poet humanity s flawed understanding of life and turning away from God leads to a cycle of warfare but this can be overcome by recognising the lessons of the past Within the poem the narrator meets a ghost that is a combination of various poets and literary figures Little Gidding focuses on the unity of past present and future and claims that understanding this unity is necessary for salvation
Following the completion of the third Four Quartets poem The Dry Salvages Eliot s health declined and he stayed in Shamley Green Surrey while he recovered During this time Eliot started writing Little Gidding The first draft was completed in July but he was dissatisfied with it He believed the problems with the poem lay with his own inability to write and that precipitated by air raids on London he had started the poem with too little preparation and had written it too quickly After the first draft was written he set the poem aside and he left in September to lecture throughout Great Britain
After months of not working on the poem Eliot began to feel compelled to finish it it was not until August however that he started working on it again In total there were five drafts The poem was finished by September and published in the October New English Weekly Little Gidding was intended to conclude the Four Quartets series summarising Eliot s views expressed in this series of poems
Little Gidding was the home of an Anglican community established in by Nicholas Ferrar The Ferrar household lived a Christian life according to High Church principles and the Book of Common Prayer The religious community was dispersed during the English Civil War between Parliamentarians and Royalists but reformed ending with the death of John Ferrar in Eliot had visited the site in May
Unlike the other locations mentioned in the titles of the Four Quartets poems Eliot had no direct connection to the original Christian community As such the community is supposed to represent almost any religious community
Critics classify Little Gidding as a poem of fire with an emphasis on purgation and the Pentecostal fire The beginning of the poem discusses time and winter with attention paid to the arrival of summer The images of snow which provoke desires for a spiritual life transition into an analysis of the four classical elements of fire earth air and water and how fire is the primary element of the four Following this is a discussion on death and destruction things unaccomplished and regret for past events
While using Dante s terza rima style the poem continues by describing the Battle of Britain The image of warfare merges with the depiction of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit is juxtaposed with the air raids on London In the second section a ghost representing the poets of the past stuck between worlds begins talking to the narrator of the poem The ghost discusses change art in general and how humankind is flawed The only way to overcome the problematic condition of humanity according to the ghost is to experience purgation through fire The fire is described in a manner similar to Julian of Norwich s writing about God s love and discussed in relationship to the shirt of Nessus a shirt that burns its wearer Little Gidding continues by describing the eternalness of the present and how history exists in a pattern The poem concludes by explaining how sacrifice is needed to allow an individual to die into life and be reborn and that salvation should be the goal of humankind
In terms of renewal Eliot believed that suffering was needed for all of society before new life could begin The original Little Gidding community was built for living on monastic lines but the community was damaged and dispersed by Puritan forces during the English Civil War in The church the centre of the community was restored in and again in The image of religious renewal is combined with the image of the London air raids and the constant fighting and destruction within the world This compound image is used to discuss the connection of holy places with the Holy Spirit Pentecost communion with the dead and the repetition of history The theme is also internal to Eliot s own poems the image of the rose garden at the end Little Gidding is the image that begins Burnt Norton and the journey is made circular Also the depiction of time within the poem is similar to the way time operates within The Family Reunion
Like the other poems making up the Four Quartets Little Gidding deals with the past present and future and humanity s place within them as each generation is seemingly united In the second section there is a ghost who is the compilation of various poets including Dante Swift Yeats and others When the ghost joins the poet the narrator states Knowing myself yet being someone other This suggests that the different times merge at the same time that the different personalities begin to merge allowing a communication and connection with the dead Later in the fourth section humanity is given a choice between the Holy Spirit or the bombing of London redemption or destruction God s love allows humankind to be redeemed and escape the living hell through purgation by fire The end of the poem describes how Eliot has attempted to help the world as a poet He parallels his work in language with working on the soul or working on society
The ghost a combination of many literary figures was originally addressed in the poem as Ser Brunetto before being revised as an ambiguous you Ser Brunetto was Dante s way of addressing Brunetto Latini a former mentor whom he meets in Hell to which he has been condemned for sodomy Eliot in a letter to John Hayward dated August explained why he changed the wording
I think you will recognise that it was necessary to get rid of Brunetto for two reasons The first is that the visionary figure has now become somewhat more definite and will no doubt be identified by some readers with Yeats though I do not mean anything so precise as that However I do not wish to take the responsibility of putting Yeats or anybody else into Hell and I do not want to impute to him the particular vice which took Brunetto there Secondly although the reference to that Canto is intended to be explicit I wish the effect of the whole to be Purgatorial which is more appropriate That brings us to the reference to swimming in fire which you will remember at the end of Purgatorio where the poets are found
The theme of swimming through flames is connected to the depiction of Guido Guinizelli a poet that influenced Dante seeking such a state in Purgatorio XXVI However the depiction of swimming was transformed into an image of dancing an act that appears throughout Yeats s poetry within purgatorial flames The critic Dominic Manganiello suggests that in combining the image of dancing with purgation Eliot merges Dante s and Yeats s poetic themes
Critics such as Malcolm Cowley and Delmore Schwartz describe mixed emotions about the religiosity of the poem Cowley emphasised the mystical nature of the poem and how its themes were closer to Buddhism than Anglicanism while mentioning his appreciation of many of the passages Schwartz also mentioned the Buddhist images and his admiration for many of the lines in Little Gidding F B Pinion believed that the fourth section of the poem costs Eliot more trouble and vexation than any passage of the same length he ever wrote and is his greatest achievement in the Four Quartets E M Forster did not like Eliot s emphasis on pain and responded to the poem Of course there s pain on and off through each individual s life You can t shirk it and so on But why should it be endorsed by the schoolmaster and sanctified by the priest until the fire and the rose are one when so much of it is caused by disease and bullies It is here that Eliot becomes unsatisfactory as a seer Writing in Roger Scruton wrote that in Little Gidding Eliot achieved that for which he envies Dante namely a poetry of belief in which belief and words are one and in which the thought cannot be prized free from the controlled and beautiful language
The Portage to San Cristobal of AH is a literary and philosophical novella by George Steiner in which Jewish Nazi hunters find a fictional Adolf Hitler AH alive in the Amazon jungle thirty years after the end of World War II The book generated considerable controversy after its publication because in it Steiner who is Jewish allows Hitler to defend himself when he is put on trial in the jungle by his captors There Hitler maintains that Israel owes its existence to the Holocaust and that he is the benefactor of the Jews
The Portage to San Cristobal of AH was a finalist in the PEN Faulkner Award for Fiction It was adapted for the theatre by British playwright Christopher Hampton and was staged in London in April with Alec McCowen playing the part of Adolf Hitler It was also staged in Hartford Connecticut in the United States in and starred John Cullum as Hitler
From his base in Tel Aviv Holocaust survivor Emmanuel Lieber directs a group of Jewish Nazi hunters in search of Adolf Hitler Lieber believes that the former Fhrer is still alive and following rumours and hearsay he tracks Hitler s movements through South America until after months of wading through swamps in the Amazon jungle the search party finds the year old alive in a clearing Lieber flies to San Cristbal where he awaits the group s return with their captive But getting the old man out of the jungle alive is more difficult than getting in and their progress is further hampered by heavy thunderstorms
Meanwhile broken and incoherent radio messages between Lieber and the search party are intercepted by intelligence agents tracking their progress and rumours begin to spread across the world of Hitler s capture Debates flare up over his impending trial where it will be held and under whose jurisdiction Orosso is identified as the nearest airfield to the last known location of the search party and aircraft begin arriving at the hitherto unknown town But when the search party loses radio contact with Lieber they must make a decision do they sit out the storms and deliver their captive to Lieber later or do they try Hitler in the jungle before their prize is snatched from them by the world at large who they know will be waiting Their decision is the latter and against Lieber s advice You must not let him speak his tongue is like no other they prepare for a trial with a judge prosecution and defence attorneys selected from the members of the search party Teku a local Indian tracker is asked to observe the trial as an independent witness
The attention Hitler is receiving however renews his strength and when the trial begins he brushes aside his defence attorney and begins a long speech in four parts in his own defence
Firstly Hitler claims he took his doctrines from the Jews and copied the notion of the master race from the Chosen people and their need to separate themselves from the unclean My racism is a parody of yours a hungry imitation
Hitler justifies the Final Solution by maintaining that the Jews God purer than any other enslaves its subjects continually demanding more than they can give and blackmailing them with ideals that cannot be attained The virus of utopia had to be stopped
Hitler states that he was not the originator of evil Stalin had perfected genocide when I was still a nameless scribbler in Munich Further Hitler asserts that the number of lives lost due to his actions are dwarfed by various world atrocities including those in Russia China and Africa
Lastly Hitler maintains that the Reich begat Israel and suggests that he is the Messiah whose infamous deeds were allowed by God in order to bring His people home He closes by asking Should you not honour me who have made Zion a reality
At the end of his speech Teku is the first to react and jumps up shouting Proven only to be drowned out by the appearance of a helicopter over the clearing
Emmanuel Lieber Jewish Holocaust survivor and director of the search party to find Hitler after crawling out of a death pit in Bialka he never took the time to mend and embarked on a life consuming obsession to bring those responsible for the genocide to justice
Search party all Jewish with family ties to the Holocaust except for John Asher
Simeon search party leader and presiding judge at Hitler s trial he is Lieber s confidant and torn between leading the party into unmapped quicksand and green bogs and turning his back on the quiet mania of Lieber s conviction
Gideon Benasseraf falls ill and dies before the trial begins during one of his fever induced ramblings he suggests that Hitler is Jewish he had sought out Lieber after being released from a sanatorium and spending three years recuperating in Paris where the care free living consumed him with guilt
Elie Barach Orthodox Jew and prosecution attorney at the trial he is the moral compass of the group but his convictions are disturbed by Gideon Benasseraf s fever induced assertions that Hitler is Jewish and ends up believing that Hitler may be the second Messiah
Isaac Amsel an year old boy and witness at the trial he is the son of Isaac Amsel senior former member of the search party killed earlier in a skirmish in So Paulo he joined the party to avenge his father s death
John Asher half Jewish and reluctant defence attorney at the trial fascinated by the capture of Bormann and the rumours circulating that Hitler may be alive he had approached Nazi hunter Wiesenthal who directed him to Lieber despite being an outsider no ties to the Holocaust Lieber assigned him to the search party because of his military training and his clear headedness no metaphysical lusts no cravings for retribution
Teku local Indian tracker and independent witness at the trial previously the search party s guide who had abandoned them when they insisted on entering uncharted regions of the jungle he continued tracking them from a distance before revealing himself
Adolf Hitler now years old the former leader of the Third Reich had not died in the Fhrerbunker in Berlin but escaped to South America and hid in the Amazon jungle
George Steiner literary critic for The New Yorker and The New York Times had written about the Holocaust in some of his previous books including Anno Domini Language and Silence and In Bluebeard s Castle Many of the ideas Steiner expresses in The Portage to San Cristobal of AH were reworked from these earlier works Steiner told New York Times editor D J R Bruckner that this book arose out of his lifelong work on language Central to everything I am and believe and have written is my astonishment that you can use human speech both to bless to love to build to forgive and also to torture to hate to destroy and to annihilate
Commenting on the controversy the book generated Steiner admitted to literary journalist and critic Ron Rosenbaum author of Explaining Hitler that he too was disturbed by it adding that his fictional Hitler had gotten the better of him golem or Frankenstein like He said that it felt like the book wrote me Steiner also pointed out that the novella is not only about his thoughts on the Holocaust but also about the horrific events that took place in countries like Cambodia Vietnam El Salvador and Burundi My feeling is that one has to grapple with the abyss if one can
Steiner wrote The Portage to San Cristobal of AH in and in Geneva Switzerland and the page work originally appeared in the Spring issue of the United States literary magazine The Kenyon Review It also appeared in the Spring issue of Granta the British literary magazine Its first publication in book form with minor revisions by Steiner was in May by Faber and Faber in the United Kingdom and as requested by Steiner it was a paperback original The first United States edition was published in hardcover in April by Simon Schuster
The Portage to San Cristobal of AH was adapted for the theatre in by British playwright Christopher Hampton It was staged in April at London s Mermaid Theatre under the direction of John Dexter with Alec McCowen playing the part of Adolf Hitler McCowen won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for best actor for this performance In the production moved to the United States where it played at the Hartford Stage Company in Hartford Connecticut directed by Mark Lamos and starring John Cullum as Hitler
This book is the only work of fiction by Steiner to have been adapted for the stage
Reaction to The Portage to San Cristobal of AH was mixed Anthony Burgess in The Observer called it astonishing Christopher Booker of The Daily Telegraph described it as a powerful piece and English author A S Byatt said it was a masterpiece In Explaining Hitler Ron Rosenbaum called The Portage A Frankenstein story referring to Steiner s fictive Hitler has having taken on a life of its own Writing in Time magazine Otto Friedrich described the book a philosophic fantasy of remarkable intensity adding that by not refuting Hitler s speech Steiner deviates from the horrors of traditional Holocaust literature and ends the book on a note of bleak ambiguity
Morris Dickstein of The New York Times was more critical of the book calling it a misconceived and badly executed novel a sideshow distraction from the serious business of thinking through the unspeakable horrors of the Nazi era He described it as wearisome that is suffocate d by too much fine writing belles lettres He also complained that the characters are lifeless and while they each have detailed histories they are only verbal figments that do not separate them from one another Finally Dickstein noted that because almost all the points of Hitler s speech are drawn from some of Steiner s earlier works he unwittingly creates sympathy for Hitler by making him old and pathetic yet also lucid and brilliant at once absurdly harmless and unconvincingly dangerous
In another review in The New York Times John Leonard wrote that while the book has its strong points some wit a catholic disdain multiplicity of character and a South American swamp life that terrifies its weaknesses are that the characters are really ideas the symbols clash and there are too many echoes of better books by Kafka and Proust But Leonard s biggest criticism of the book was Hitler s speech which he called obscene and Steiner s decision to end the book at that point which Leonard said not only denies the power of art to arrange and transcend but makes me sick to my stomach
Writing in the American literary magazine Salmagundi Alvin H Rosenfeld called The Portage a breakthrough work that astonishes He was struck by the book s interplay between the landscape of swamp and jungle and the landscape of speech the former being brilliantly registered with its immense feeling of physicality and the latter even more dramatic in the way it exposes the dark underside of words and how its use and misuse reveals the true nature of a person He was particularly impressed by the depiction of Nazi hunter Emmanuel Lieber and his role as representative of the Jewish consciousness Rosenfeld noted that while Holocaust literature often either soars to expostulation and apostrophe or sinks to a dwindling sob of elegiac lament Steiner s Lieber mediates between these two extremes simultaneously records and mourns coldly enumerates yet carries an immense affect What did concern the reviewer however was the way Steiner used ideas from his earlier works that he had put them virtually verbatim into Hitler s mouth creating the impression that Steiner s understanding of Hitler were identical with the latter s self understanding Rosenfeld also questioned why the book had to end with Hitler s speech He said that Steiner s fictive Hitler plays the devil s game of language subversion making madness sound like music something the real Hitler had perfected By stopping at this point Rosenfeld felt that Steiner succumb s rhetorically to the seductive eloquence of negation which undermines his own high standards of moral intelligence But overall Rosenfeld said The Portage must be counted among the most vigorous attempts to portray the presence and meaning of Hitler forcing us to confront him in a way hardly seen before in fiction
The Portage to San Cristobal of AH was a finalist in the PEN Faulkner Award for Fiction
The book generated considerable controversy because of its apparent admiration for Hitler The controversy grew further when the faithful stage adaptation too faithful according to Steiner was performed in the United Kingdom and the United States
Hitler s speech at the end of the book disturbed many readers and critics Steiner not only lets Hitler justify his past he allows him the almost last word before the outside world invades The fact that Steiner is Jewish made this speech in particular even more contentious One critic while acknowledging that Steiner always saw Hitler as the incarnation of unprecedented and unparalleled evil felt that there was no clear distinction in the book between Steiner s own views and those of his fictional Hitler even going so far as to accuse Steiner who rejects Jewish nationalism and is a critic of Israel s treatment of the Palestinians of anti Semitism
In contrast a Time magazine article at the time felt that Steiner s intention for the Hitler speech was to use it to explore his previously stated belief that Hitler wielded language as an almost supernatural force drawing attention to Nazi hunter Emmanuel Lieber s warning from the book regarding Hitler There shall come a man who will know the grammar of hell and teach it to others He will know the sounds of madness and loathing and make them seem music
Steiner responded to criticism that Hitler s speech in this book is unchallenged by saying that it had been done before for example Satan s speech in Milton s Paradise Lost and The Grand Inquisitor s speech in Dostoyevsky s The Brothers Karamazov He also reminded the reader that Hitler s speech is balanced out earlier in the book by Lieber s long monologue on the horrors of the Holocaust Finally Steiner said that his Hitler A H is a fictive figure and that it is not he who has the last word but Teku the Indian tracker who shouts Proven Teku is also the Hebrew word used to indicate that there are issues here beyond our wisdom to answer or decide
Temnospondyli from Greek temnein to cut and spondylos vertebra is a diverse subclass of extinct small to giant tetrapods often considered primitive amphibians that flourished worldwide during the Carboniferous Permian and Triassic periods A few species continued into the Cretaceous Fossils have been found on every continent During about million years of evolutionary history they adapted to a wide range of habitats including fresh water terrestrial and even coastal marine environments Their life history is well understood with fossils known from the larval stage metamorphosis and maturity Most temnospondyls were semiaquatic although some were almost fully terrestrial returning to the water only to breed These temnospondyls were some of the first vertebrates fully adapted to life on land Although temnospondyls are considered amphibians many had characteristics such as scales claws and armour like bony plates that distinguish them from modern amphibians
Temnospondyls have been known since the early th century and were initially thought to be reptiles They were described at various times as batrachians stegocephalians and labyrinthodonts although these names are now rarely used Animals now grouped in Temnospondyli were spread out among several amphibian groups until the early th century when they were found to belong to a distinct taxon based on the structure of their vertebrae Temnospondyli means cut vertebrae as each vertebra is divided into several parts
Experts disagree over whether temnospondyls were ancestral to modern amphibians frogs salamanders and caecilians or whether the whole group died out without leaving any descendants Different hypotheses have placed modern amphibians as the descendants of temnospondyls another group of early tetrapods called lepospondyls or even as descendants of both groups with caecilians evolving from lepospondyls and frogs and salamanders evolving from temnospondyls Recent studies place a family of temnospondyls called the amphibamids as the closest relatives of modern amphibians Similarities in teeth skulls and hearing structures link the two groups
Many temnospondyls are much larger than living amphibians and superficially resemble crocodiles Others are smaller and resemble salamanders Most have broad flat heads that are either blunt brevirostrine or elongated longirostrine The skulls are rounded or triangular in shape when viewed from above and are usually covered in pits and ridges The rugged surfaces of bones may have supported blood vessels which could transfer carbon dioxide to the bones to neutralize acidic build up in the blood early semiaquatic tetrapods would have had difficulty expelling carbon dioxide from their bodies while on land and these dermal bones may have been an early solution to the problem Many temnospondyls also have canal like grooves in their skulls called sensory sulci The sulci which usually run around the nostrils and eye sockets are part of a lateral line system used to detect vibrations in water As semiaquatic animals most temnospondyls have small limbs with four toes on each front foot and five on each hind foot Terrestrial temnospondyls have larger thicker limbs and some even have claws One unusual terrestrial temnospondyl Fayella has relatively long limbs for its body and probably lived as an active runner able to chase prey
Homologues of most of the bones of temnospondyls are also seen in other early tetrapods aside from a few bones in the skull such as interfrontals internasals and interparietals that have developed in some temnospondyl taxa Most temnospondyls have tabular horns in the backs of their skulls rounded projections of bone separated from the rest of the skull by indentations called otic notches in some temnospondyls such as Zatrachys they are pointed and very prominent Among the most distinguishing features of temnospondyls are the interpterygoid vacuities two large holes in the back of the palate Another pair of holes choanae are present in front of these vacuities and connect the nasal passage with the mouth Temnospondyls often have teeth on their palates as well as in their jaws Some of these teeth are so large they are referred to as tusks In some temnospondyls such as Nigerpeton tusks in the lower jaw pierce the palate and emerge through openings in the top of the skull
Very little is known of the soft tissue of temnospondyls A block of sandstone described in from the Early Carboniferous Mauch Chunk Formation of Pennsylvania included impressions of the bodies of three temnospondyls These impressions show when alive they had smooth skin robust limbs with webbed feet and a ridge of skin on their undersides Trackways referable to small temnospondyls have also been found in Carboniferous and Permian rocks The trackways called batrachichni are usually found in strata deposited around freshwater environments suggesting the animals had some ties to the water
Unlike modern amphibians many temnospondyls are covered in small closely packed scales The undersides of most temnospondyls are covered in rows of large ventral plates During early stages of development they first have only small rounded scales Fossils show as the animals grew the scales on the undersides of their bodies developed into large wide ventral plates The plates overlap each other in a way that allows a wide range of flexibility Later semiaquatic temnospondyls such as trematosaurs and capitosaurs have no evidence of scales They may have lost scales to make movement easier under water or to allow cutaneous respiration the absorption of oxygen through the skin
Several groups of temnospondyls have large bony plates on their backs One temnospondyl Peltobatrachus has armour like plating that covers both its back and underside The temnospondyl Laidleria also has extensive plating on its back Most members of the family Dissorophidae also have armor although it only covers the midline of the back with two narrow rows of plates Other temnospondyls such as Eryops have been found with small disc like bony scutes that were in life probably embedded in the skin All of these temnospondyls were adapted to a terrestrial lifestyle Armor may have offered protection from predators in the case of Peltobatrachus The scutes may have provided stability for the spine as they would have limited flexibility and may have been connected by strong ligaments Temnospondyls such as Sclerothorax and Eryops that may have been at least partly terrestrial also have long neural spines on top of their vertebrae that would have stabilized the spine Bony scutes are also seen in plagiosaurs but unlike Peltobatrachus Laidleria Eryops and dissorophids these animals are thought to have been fully aquatic Plagiosaurs may have inherited their armor from a terrestrial ancestor as both Peltobatrachus and Laidleria have been considered close relatives of the group
Temnospondyls vertebrae are divided into several segments In living tetrapods the main body of the vertebra is a single piece of bone called the centrum but in temnospondyls this region was divided into a pleurocentrum and intercentrum Two types of vertebrae are recognized in temnospondyls stereospondylous and rhachitomous vertebrae In rhachitomous vertebrae the intercentra are large and wedge shaped and the pleurocentra are relatively small blocks that fit between them Both elements support a spine like neural arch and well developed interlocking projections called zygapophyses strengthen the connections between vertebrae The strong backbone and strong limbs of many ratchitomous temnospondyls allowed them to be partially and in some cases fully terrestrial In stereospondylous vertebrae the pleurocentra have been lost entirely with the intercentra enlarged as the main body of the vertebrae This weaker type of backbone indicates the stereospondylous temnospondyls spent more time in water
Temnospondyli was named by German palaeontologist Karl Alfred von Zittel in his second edition of Handbuch der Palaeontologie published in Temnospondyl remains were known since the early part of the th century however The earliest described temnospondyl was Mastodonsaurus named by Georg Friedrich Jaeger in Jaeger named Mastodonsaurus from a single tooth and considered it a reptile Mastodonsaurus means breast tooth lizard after the nipple like shape of the tip of the tooth
The naming of these first specimens was disputed however Leopold Fitzinger named the animal Batrachosaurus in In English palaeontologist Richard Owen referred to the genus as Labyrinthodon to describe its highly folded or labyrinthine teeth Owen thought the name Mastodonsaurus ought not to be retained because it recalls unavoidably the idea of the mammalian genus Mastodon or else a mammilloid form of the tooth and because the second element of the word saurus indicates a false affinity the remains belonging not to the Saurian but to the Batrachian order of Reptiles Owen recognized the animal was not a saurian reptile yet he also referred Jaeger s Phytosaurus to the genus Although the two genera both have similarly sized conical teeth Phytosaurus was later found to be a crocodile like reptile Additional material including skulls firmly placed Labyrinthodon as an amphibian Jaeger also named Salamandroides giganteus in basing it on partial occiput or back portion of the skull In he described a complete skull of S giganteus that had the same teeth as his Mastodonsaurus making it the first known complete skull of a temnospondyl Because Mastodonsaurus was named first it has precedence over the other names as a senior subjective synonym Batrachosaurus is still used as the name of an unrelated brachyopid temnospondyl
Mastodonsaurus and other similar animals were referred to as labyrinthodonts named like Labyrinthodon for teeth that were highly folded in cross section Owen s Labyrinthodon Jaegeri was later found at Guy s Cliffe England by paleontologist William Buckland Other specimens were found in the red sandstone of Warwickshire As more fossils were uncovered in England Owen depicted these labyrinthodonts as the highest form of batrachian and compared them to crocodiles which he considered the highest form of reptiles He also noted the large labyrinthodonts of the Keuper a unit of rocks that dates to the Late Triassic were younger than more advanced reptiles in the Magnesian and Zechstein which are Late Permian in age Owen used these fossils to counter the notion that reptiles evolved from a sequential progression from early amphibians what he called metamorphosed fishes
In addition to Mastodonsaurus some of the earliest named genera included Metopias and Rhombopholis in Zygosaurus in Trematosaurus in Baphetes and Dendrerpeton in Capitosaurus in and Dasyceps in Baphetes is now placed as an early tetrapod outside Temnospondyli and Rhombopholis is now considered a prolacertiform reptile
Later in the th century temnospondyls were classified as various members of Stegocephalia a name coined by American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in Cope placed stegocephalians in the class Batrachia the name then used for Amphibia Stegocephalia means roof headed in Greek a reference to the wide flat heads of temnospondyls and other early tetrapods During this time palaeontologists considered temnospondyls to be amphibians because they possessed three main features gill arches in juvenile skeletons indicating they were amphibious for at least the first part of their lives ribs that do not connect at the underside of the rib cage and deep pits in the skull that were interpreted as space for mucous glands
Several suborders of stegocephalians were recognized in the late th and early th centuries Animals now regarded as temnospondyls were primarily labyrinthodonts but some were classified in the Branchiosauria Branchiosaurs were small bodied and had simple conical teeth while labyrinthodonts were larger and had complex folded dentin and enamel in their teeth Branchiosauria included only a few forms such as Branchiosaurus from Europe and Amphibamus from North America that had poorly developed bones external gills and no ribs Some skeletons of Amphibamus were later found with long ribs prompting its reassignment to Microsauria although more detailed studies found it to be a temnospondyl Soft tissue such as scales and external gills were found in many well preserved branchiosaur fossils from Germany In the early th century branchiosaurs would be recognized as larval forms of temnospondyls lacking many of the typical features that define the group and is no longer recognized as a distinct group
Other animals that would later be classified as temnospondyls were placed in a group called Ganocephala characterized by plate like skull bones small limbs fish like scales and branchial arches Unlike labyrinthodonts they did not have parietal foramena small holes in their skulls behind their eye sockets Archegosaurus Dendrerpeton Eryops and Trimerorhachis were placed in this group and were considered to be the most primitive members of Reptilia Their rhachitomous vertebrae notochord and lack of occipital condyles which attached the head to the neck were features that were also shared with fishes Thus they were considered a link between early fishes and more advanced forms such as stegocephalians
Another group called Microsauria was named by Cope in Cope classified Microsauria as a subgroup of Labyrinthodontia placing many small amphibian like animals within it Among them were Dendrerpeton once placed in Ganocephala Dendrerpeton was later placed as a labyrinthodont with other temnospondyls but confusion existed for many years over the classification of small amphibians
By the end of the th century most of what are today regarded as temnospondyls were placed in the suborder Labyrinthodonta American paleontologist Ermine Cowles Case called it Labyrinthodonta vera or true labyrinthodonts The names Stegocephalia and Labyrinthodontia were used interchangeably to refer to the order in which it belonged The labyrinthodontian suborders Microsauria and Branchiosauria both of which contain temnospondyls were distinct from Labyrinthodonta Within Labyrinthodonta were the groups Rhachitomi Labyrinthodonti and Embolerimi Members of Rhachitomi such as Archegosaurus and Eryops had rhachitomous vertebrae with enlarged intercentra that displaced the pleurocentra Labyrinthodonti such as Mastodonsaurus Trematosaurus and Micropholis had lost their pleurocentra and the intercentra made up the entire body of the vertebrae Embolerimi had intercentra and pleurocentra that were of equal size Embolomeres are now identified as reptiliomorphs distantly related to temnospondyls
In von Zittel divided stegocephalians among three taxa Lepospondyli Temnospondyli and Stereospondyli He placed microsaurs in Lepospondyli a group which he characterized as having simple spool shaped vertebral centra Temnospondyli included forms with the centra divided into pleurocentra and intercentra All members of Stereospondyli had amphicoelous centra composed only of the intercentra Cope objected to von Zittel s classification considering the vertebrae of lepospondyls and stereospondyls indistinguishable because each had a simple spool shape He continued to use Ganocephala and Labyrinthodonta which he alternatively referred to as Rhachitomi to distinguish animals based on the absence or presence of occipital condyles
Temnospondyli became a commonly used name at the turn of the century Paleontologists included both embolomeres and rhachitomes in the group Cope s Ganocephala and Labyrinthodonta fell out of use In British paleontologist D M S Watson proposed that the evolutionary history of these large amphibians could be seen through changes in their vertebrae Embolomerous forms in the Carboniferous graded into rhachitomous forms in the Permian and finally into stereospondyls in the Triassic More importantly Watson began using the term Labyrinthodontia to refer to these groups The name Temnospondyli was rarely used in the decades that followed Swedish paleontologist Gunnar Sve Sderbergh removed embolomeres from the group narrowing its scope to rhachitomes and stereospondyls His classification of labyrinthodonts was based heavily on characteristics of the skull rather than the vertebrae
American paleontologist Alfred Romer brought the name Temnospondyli back into use in the later th century Sve Sderbergh used the name Labyrinthodontia in a strict sense sensu stricto to refer to Rhachitomi and Stereospondyli excluding Embolomeri Romer agreed with this classification but used the name Temnospondyli to avoid confusion with Labyrinthodontia in its wider sense sensu lato Unlike modern temnospondyl classification however Romer included the primitive Ichthyostegalia in the group
Temnospondyls first appeared in the Early Carboniferous around million years ago Mya During the Carboniferous temnospondyls included basal medium sized forms such as Dendrerpeton or large semiaquatic forms such as Cochleosaurus Other more derived temnospondyls such as the amphibamids were smaller and more terrestrial They resembled salamanders and some taxa such as the genus Branchiosaurus even retained external gills like the modern day axolotl During the latest Carboniferous and Early Permian around Mya several groups such as the dissorophids and trematopids evolved strong robust limbs and vertebrae and became adapted to life on land while others such as the eryopids developed into large semiaquatic predators The dvinosaurs a group of small aquatic temnospondyls evolved from terrestrial ancestors in the Late Carboniferous
During the Late Permian increasing aridity and the diversification of reptiles contributed into a decline in terrestrial temnospondyls but semiaquatic and fully aquatic temnospondyls continued to flourish including the large Melosaurus of Eastern Europe Other temnospondyls such as archegosaurids developed long snouts and a close similarity to crocodiles although they lacked the armor characteristic of the latter group These temnospondyls included the largest known amphibian the m long Prionosuchus of Brazil
As temnospondyls continued to flourish and diversify in the Late Permian Mya a major group called Stereospondyli became more dependent on life in the water The vertebrae became weak the limbs small and the skull large and flat with the eyes facing upwards During the Triassic period these animals dominated the freshwater ecosystems evolving in a range of both small and large forms During the Early Triassic Mya one group of successful long snouted fish eaters the trematosauroids even adapted to a life in the sea the only known amphibians to do so with the exception of the modern crab eating frog Another group the capitosauroids included medium and large sized animals to m to ft in length with large and flat skulls that could be over a meter long in the largest forms such as Mastodonsaurus These animals spent most or all their lives in water as aquatic predators catching their prey by a sudden opening of the upper jaw and sucking in fish or other small animals
In the Carnian stage of the Late Triassic Mya capitosauroids were joined by the superficially very similar Metoposauridae Metoposaurids are distinguished from capitosauroids by the positioning of their eye sockets near the front of their skulls Another group of stereospondyls the plagiosaurs had wide heads with external gills and adapted to life at the bottom of lakes and rivers By this time temnospondyls had become a common and widespread component of semiaquatic ecosystems Some temnospondyls such as Cryobatrachus and Kryostega even inhabited Antarctica which was covered in temperate forests at the time
Triassic temnospondyls were often the dominant semiaquatic animals in their environments Large assemblages of metoposaurs with hundreds of individuals preserved together have been found in the southwestern United States They have often been interpreted as mass death events caused by droughts in floodplain environments Recent studies show these dense assemblages were instead probably the result of currents accumulating dead individuals in certain areas These environments seem to have had little diversity as they were inhabited almost exclusively by metoposaurs
The Triassic Jurassic extinction event around Mya led to the extinction of most Mesozoic temnospondyls The brachyopoids survived as well as a few capitosauroids and trematosauroids While the latter two groups soon became extinct brachyopoids persisted and grew to large sizes during the Jurassic Among brachyopoids the brachyopids flourished in China and the chigutisaurids became common in Gondwana The most recent known temnospondyl was the giant chigutisaurid Koolasuchus known from the Early Cretaceous of Australia It survived in rift valleys that were too cold in the winter for crocodiles that normally would have competed with them Koolasuchus was one of the largest of the brachyopoids with an estimated weight of kg lb
Originally temnospondyls were classified according to the structure of their vertebrae Early forms with complex vertebrae consisting of a number of separate elements were placed in the suborder Rachitomi and large Triassic aquatic forms with simpler vertebrae were placed in the suborder Stereospondyli With the recent growth of phylogenetics this classification is no longer viable The basic rhachitomous condition is found in many primitive tetrapods and is not unique to one group of temnospondyls Moreover the distinction between rhachitomous and stereospondylous vertebrae is not entirely clear Some temnospondyls have rhachitomous semirhachitomous and sterospondylous vertebrae at different points in the same vertebral column Other taxa have intermediate morphologies that do not fit into any category Rachitomi is no longer recognized as a group but Stereospondyli is still considered valid Below is a simplified taxonomy of temnospondyls showing currently recognized groups
Family Intasuchidae placement is uncertain
In one of the earliest phylogenetic analyses of the group Gardiner recognized five characteristics that made Temnospondyli a clade a bone at the back of the skull the parasphenoid is connected to another bone on the underside of the skull the pterygoid large openings called interpterygoid vacuities are present between the pterygoids the stapes a bone involved in hearing is connected to the parasphenoid and projects upward the cleithrum a bone in the pectoral girdle is thin and part of the vertebra called the interdorsal attaches to the neural arch Additional features were given by Godfrey et al including the contact between the postparietal and exoccipital at the back of the skull small projections uncinate processes on the ribs and a pelvic girdle with each side having a single iliac blade These shared characteristics are called synapomorphies
Temnospondyls are placed as basal tetrapods in phylogenetic analyses with their exact positioning varying between studies Depending on the classification of modern amphibians they are either included in the crown group Tetrapoda or the stem of Tetrapoda Crown group tetrapods are descendants of the most recent common ancestor of all living tetrapods and stem tetrapods are forms that are outside the crown group Modern amphibians have recently been suggested as descendants of temnospondyls which would place them within crown Tetrapoda Below is a cladogram from Ruta et al placing Temnospondyli within crown Tetrapoda
Other studies place modern amphibians as the descendants of lepospondyls and place temnospondyls in a more basal position within the stem of Tetrapoda Below is a cladogram from Laurin and Reisz placing Temnospondyli outside crown Tetrapoda
Most phylogenetic analyses of temnospondyl interrelationships focus on individual families One of the first broad scale studies of temnospondyl phylogeny was conducted by paleontologist Andrew Milner in A study made a supertree of all temnospondyl families combining the family level trees of previous studies The following cladogram is modified from Ruta et al
Temnospondyli Edopoidea Dvinosauria Euskelia Eryopoidea Dissorophoidea Limnarchia Archegosauroidea Stereospondyli Rhytidostea Brachyopoidea Capitosauria Trematosauria Metoposauroidea
The most basal group of temnospondyls is the superfamily Edopoidea Edopoids have several primitive or plesiomorphic features including a single occipital condyle and a bone called the intertemporal that is absent in other temnospondyls Edopoids include the Late Carboniferous genus Edops and the family Cochleosauridae Dendrerpetontidae has also been included in Edopoidea and is the oldest known temnospondyl family Balanerpeton woodi is the oldest species having been present over million years ago during the Visan stage of the Early Carboniferous Recent analyses place Dendrerpetontidae outside Edopoidea in a more derived position Other primitive temnospondyls include Capetus and Iberospondylus Saharastega and Nigerpeton both described in from Niger are also primitive yet come from the Late Permian They are almost million years younger than other basal temnospondyls implying a long ghost lineage of species that are not yet known in the fossil record
In paleontologists Adam Yates and Anne Warren produced a revised phylogeny of more derived temnospondyls naming several new clades Two major clades were Euskelia and Limnarchia Euskelia includes the temnospondyls that were once called rhachitomes and includes two subfamilies the Dissorophoidea and the Eryopoidea Dissorophoids include small mostly terrestrial temnospondyls that may be the ancestors of modern amphibians Eryopoids include larger temnospondyls like Eryops The second major clade Limnarchia includes most Mesozoic temnospondyls as well as some Permian groups Within Limnarchia are the superfamily Archegosauroidea and the most derived temnospondyls the stereospondyls
Yates and Warren also named Dvinosauria a clade of small aquatic temnospondyls from the Carboniferous Permian and Triassic They placed Dvinosauria within Limnarchia but more recent studies disagree on their position For example a study places them even more basal than euskelians while a study keeps them as basal limnarchians
Within Stereospondyli Yates and Warren erected two major clades Capitosauria and Trematosauria Capitosaurs include large semiaquatic temnospondyls like Mastodonsaurus with flat heads and eyes near the back of the skull Trematosaurs include a diversity of temnospondyls including large marine trematosauroids aquatic plagiosaurs brachyopoids that survived into the Cretaceous and metoposauroids with eyes near the front of their heads In paleontologists Rainer Schoch and Andrew Milner named a third major clade of stereospondyls the Rhytidostea This group included more primitive stereospondyls that could not be placed in either Capitosauria or Trematosauria and included groups like Lydekkerinidae Rhytidosteidae and Brachyopoidea While Capitosauria and Trematosauria are still widely used Rhytidostea is not often supported as a true clade in recent analyses Rhytidosteids and brachyopoids are now grouped with trematosaurians but lydekkerinids are still considered to be a primitive family of stereospondyls
A new phylogeny of temnospondyls was offered by paleontologist Rainer Schoch in It supported many of the clades that were found by Yates and Warren but it did not find support for their division of derived stereospondyls into Euskelia and Limnarchia Eryopids were found to be more closely related to stereospondyls than to dissorophoids which were grouped with dvinosaurs The clade including Eryopidae and Stereospondylomorpha was named Eryopiformes In addition Schoch named the clade containing all temnospondyls except edopoids Eutemnospondyli and reinstated the name Rhachitomi for the clade containing all temnospondyls except edopoids and dendrerpetontids Below is the cladogram from Schoch s analysis
Modern amphibians frogs salamanders and caecilians are classified in Lissamphibia Lissamphibians appear to have arisen in the Permian Molecular clock estimates place the first lissamphibian in the Late Carboniferous but the first member of Batrachia frogs and salamanders but not caecilians is estimated to have appeared in the Middle Permian using the same technique Using fossil evidence there are three main theories for the origin of modern amphibians
One is that they evolved from dissorophoid temnospondyls Another is that they evolved from lepospondyls most likely the lysorophians A third hypothesis is that caecilians descended from lepospondyls and frogs and salamanders evolved from dissorophoids
Recently the theory that temnospondyls were the ancestors of all lissamphibians has gained wide support The skull morphology of some small temnospondyls has been compared to those of modern frogs and salamanders but the presence of bicuspid pedicellate teeth in small paedomorphic or immature temnospondyls has been cited as the most convincing argument in favor of the temnospondyl origin of lissamphibians Seen in lissamphibians and many dissorophoid temnospondyls pedicellate teeth have calcified tips and bases During the development of most tetrapods teeth begin to calcify at their tips Calcification normally proceeds downward to the base of the tooth but calcification from the tip stops abruptly in pedicellate teeth Calcification resumes at the base leaving an area in the center of the tooth uncalcified This pattern is seen in living amphibians and fossils
The dissorophoid family Amphibamidae is thought to be most closely related to Lissamphibia In an amphibamid called Gerobatrachus hottoni was named from Texas and was nicknamed the frogamander for its frog like head and salamander like body It was thought to be the most closely related temnospondyl to lissamphibians and was placed as the sister taxon of the group in a phylogenetic analysis Another species of amphibamid called Doleserpeton annectens is now thought to be even more closely related to lissamphibians Unlike Gerobatrachus Doleserpeton was known since and the presence of pedicellate teeth in its jaws has led some paleontologists to conclude soon after its naming that it was a relative of modern amphibians It was first described as a protolissamphibian and the specific name annectens means connecting in reference to its inferred transitional position between temnospondyls and lissamphibians The structure of its tympanum a disk like membrane that functions like an ear drum is similar to that of frogs and has also been used as evidence for a close relationship Other features including the shape of the palate and the back of the skull the short ribs and the smooth skull surface also point to it being a closer relative of lissamphibians than is Gerobatrachus Below is a cladogram modified from Sigurdsen and Bolt showing the relationships of Gerobatrachus Doleserpeton and Lissamphibia
Although the earliest temnospondyls were primarily semiaquatic they had the ability to feed on land Later eryopoids and dissorophoids some well adapted to terrestrial life also fed on land Some eryopoids became better adapted toward life in water and shifted their diets toward aquatic organisms The first primarily aquatic feeders were archegosaurs in the Permian Trematosaurs and capitosaurs became independently aquatic and also returned to this type of feeding
Most aquatic stereospondyls have flattened heads When feeding they probably opened their mouths by lifting their skulls instead of lowering their lower jaws The jaw mechanics of the plagiosaurid Gerrothorax is well known and is one of the most highly adapted Gerrothorax is thought to have lifted its skull to around above horizontal through the flexing of the atlanto occipital joint between the occipital condyles of the skull and the atlas vertebra of the neck As the skull is raised the quadrate bone pushes forward and causes the lower jaw to protrude outward Other stereospondyls probably also lifted their skulls but they are not as well adapted for such movement DMS Watson was the first to suggest skull lifting as a means of feeding in temnospondyls He envisioned that Mastodonsaurus a much larger temnospondyl than Gerrothorax was able to make the same movement Paleontologist AL Panchen also supported the idea in suggesting that Batrachosuchus also fed in this way At the time it was thought that these temnospondyls lifted their heads with strong jaw muscles but it is now thought that they used larger muscles in the neck that were attached to the large pectoral girdle Plagiosuchus a close relative of Gerrothorax also has a hyobranchial skeleton that muscles may have attached to Plagiosuchus has very small teeth and a large area for muscle attachment behind the skull suggesting that it could suction feed by rapidly opening its mouth
Unlike semiaquatic temnospondyls terrestrial temnospondyls have skulls that are adapted for biting land living prey The sutures between the bones of the skull in the dissorophoid Phonerpeton are able to withstand a high degree of compression Compressive forces would have been experienced when biting down on prey Earlier aquatic tetrapods and tetrapod ancestors differ from temnospondyls like Phonerpeton in that their skulls were also built to withstand tension This tension would have been experienced during suction feeding underwater Temnospondyls like Phonerpeton were among the first tetrapods that were almost exclusively terrestrial and fed by biting
Temnospondyls like all amphibians reproduced in aquatic environments Most temnospondyls probably reproduced through external fertilization Like most living frogs female temnospondyls would have laid masses of eggs in water while males released sperm to fertilize them Several fossils were described from the Early Permian of Texas in that may be egg masses of dissorophoid temnospondyls They were the first known fossils of amphibian eggs The fossils consist of small disks with thin membranes that are probably vitelline membranes and halo like areas surrounding them that are most likely mucous coatings They are attached to plant fossils suggesting that these temnospondyls laid eggs on aquatic plants much like modern frogs The mucous membranes show that the eggs were laid by amphibians not fish their eggs lack mucous but the type of amphibian that laid them cannot be known because no body fossils are preserved with the eggs The eggs are thought to be from dissorophoids because they are likely to be close relatives of modern amphibians and probably had similar reproductive strategies They are also the most common amphibians from the deposit in which the eggs were found
One temnospondyl the dvinosaur Trimerorhachis may have brooded young in an area between the gills called the pharyngeal pouch Small bones belonging to younger Trimerorhachis individuals have been found in these pouches The living Darwin s Frog is also a mouth brooder and would be the closest modern analogue to Trimerorhachis if it cared for its young in this way An alternative possibility is that Trimerorhachis was cannibalistic eating its young like many amphibians do today If this was the case the bones of these smaller individuals were originally located in the throat and were pushed into the pharyngeal pouch as the animal fossilized
Body impressions of Early Carboniferous temnospondyls from Pennsylvania suggest that some terrestrial temnospondyls mated on land like some modern amphibians They reproduced through internal fertilization rather than mating in water The presence of three individuals in one block of sandstone shows that the temnospondyls were gregarious The head of one individual rests under the tail of another in what may be a courtship display Internal fertilization and similar courtship behavior are seen in modern salamanders
While most types of temnospondyls are distinguished on the basis of features in mature specimens several are known from juvenile and larval specimens Metamorphosis is seen in dissorophoids eryopids and zatrachydids with aquatic larvae developing into adults capable of living on land Several types of dissorophoids do not fully metamorphose but retain features of juveniles such as gills and small body size in what is known as neoteny Dvinosaurians and the plagiosaurid Gerrothorax were also neotenic because they retained gills but they are only known from adult specimens
Temnospondyl larvae are often distinguished by poorly developed bones and the presence of a hyobranchial apparatus a series of bones that gills would attach to in life However some fully mature temnospondyls also possess hyobranchial bones but did not have external gills A dense covering of scales is also seen in larvae and adults Major body changes occur in metamorphosis including the reshaping and strengthening of skull bones the thickening of postcranial bones and an increase in body size
Temnospondyls like Sclerocephalus are known from both large adult specimens and small larvae showing an extreme change in body shape In these species the shape and proportions of skull bones change in the early stages of development The ornamentation on the surface of the skull roof also develops at this time Small regularly spaced pits are the first to form followed by larger ridges As development continues the external gills disappear Small teeth that once covered the palate are lost The postcranial skeleton does not develop at the same rate as the skull with ossification the replacement of cartilage by bone happening more slowly Vertebrae and limb bones are poorly developed ribs and fingers are absent in the early stages and the scapulocoracoid and ischium are entirely absent through most of development Once maturity is reached most bones have fully formed and growth rate slows The bones of some temnospondyls like Dutuitosaurus show growth marks possibly an indication that growth rate varied with the change in seasons Fossils of temnospondyls like Metoposaurus and Cheliderpeton show that individuals grew larger past maturity The oldest individuals usually have more pitting on their skulls with deeper sulci
One group of temnospondyls the Branchiosauridae is also known from larval specimens Branchiosaurids like Branchiosaurus and Apateon are represented by many fossils preserving skin and external gills An entire growth series is exhibited in the wide range of sizes among specimens but the lack of terrestrially adapted adult forms suggests that these temnospondyls were neotenic Unlike other temnospondyls their postcranial skeletons developed quickly but were still partly cartilaginous when fully mature Adults likely had an aquatic lifestyle similar to juveniles Recently large specimens of Apateon gracilis were described with adaptations toward a terrestrial lifestyle indicating that not all branchiosaurs were neotenic
While most temnospondyls are aquatic in early stages of life most metoposaurids appear to have been terrestrial in their juvenile stage Like other Mesozoic temnospondyls adult metoposaurids were adapted to a semiaquatic lifestyle Their bones are not highly developed for movement on land The cross sectional thickness of limb bones in adult metoposaurids shows that they could not withstand the stress of terrestrial locomotion Juvenile individuals have bones that are thick enough to withstand this stress and could probably move about on land To maintain a terrestrial lifestyle a temnospondyl s limb bones would have to thicken with positive allometry meaning that they would grow at a greater rate than the rest of the body This is not the case in metoposaurids meaning that as their bodies grew larger they became less adapted toward a terrestrial lifestyle
Temnospondyls and other early tetrapods have rounded otic notches in the back of the skull that project into the cheek region In life the otic notch would have been covered by a membrane called the tympanum which is seen as a disk like area in living frogs The tympanum is involved in hearing and is similar to the ear drum of more advanced tetrapods It was traditionally thought that the tympanum developed very early in tetrapod evolution as a hearing organ and progressed to form the ear drum of amniotes Thus temnospondyls possessed a hearing system supposedly ancestral to that of living amphibians and reptiles
Frogs and all other living tetrapods have a rod like bone called the stapes that aids in hearing by transferring vibrations from the ear drum or homologous tympanum to the inner ear Temnospondyls also have a stapes which projects into the otic cavity The stapes likely evolved from the hyomandibula of lobe finned fishes The positioning of the stapes and the shape of the otic region suggests that the tympani of temnospondyls and frogs are homologous but the tympani of these amphibians are no longer considered homologous with the hearing systems of reptiles birds and mammals Therefore ear structures in temnospondyls were not ancestral to those of all other tetrapods
The ability of the tympanum and stapes to effectively transmit vibrations is called impedance matching Early tetrapods like temnospondyls have thick stapes with poor impedance matching so it is now thought that they were not used for hearing Instead these thick stapes may have functioned to support the tissue that covers the otic notch Early temnospondyls like Dendrerpeton could not hear airborne sound but would have been able to detect vibration in the ground Later temnospondyls like Doleserpeton had otic regions adapted to hearing Doleserpeton has a structure in the inner ear called the perilymphatic duct which is also seen in frogs and is associated with hearing Its stapes is also a better transmitter of sound The hearing system of Doleserpeton and related temnospondyls was able to detect airborne sound and may have been ancestral to that of living amphibians
Osbert de Bayeux floruit to was a medieval English cleric and archdeacon in the Diocese of York A relative of Thurstan the Archbishop of York Osbert probably owed his ecclesiastical positions to this relative After Thurstan s death Osbert was opposed to one of the candidates for the archbishopric William fitzHerbert and worked to secure fitzHerbert s deposition and replacement by Henry Murdac After Murdac s death in Osbert tried to prevent the return of fitzHerbert but these attempts were unsuccessful When fitzHerbert died suddenly in Osbert was accused of murdering the newly returned archbishop Although he was never convicted of the murder in either a secular or an ecclesiastical court he was stripped of his clerical status and became a layman before He died after perhaps even after
Osbert was first mentioned in the historical record between and when he appears in a charter which although likely a forgery probably contains an authentic witness list This document lists him as Osbert archdeacon which means that he probably held the archdeaconry of Richmond He was the nephew of Thurstan who was Archbishop of York from to Presumably he owed his position as archdeacon to his uncle and was probably appointed at a young age A charter of Thurstan s dating to around names Osbert explicitly as Thurstan s nephew
Osbert was opposed to the election of William fitzHerbert as Archbishop of York and supported William s rival and successor Henry Murdac Although he remained a supporter of Murdac after he did oppose Murdac s interventions in Selby Abbey where Murdac had deposed one abbot and appointed another In Osbert deposed Murdac s choice as abbot of Selby and appointed another abbot Originally Osbert had supported Elias Paynel Murdac s choice for abbot but then changed his stance and helped with the deposition
After Murdac s death in Osbert was opposed to William s return as archbishop but was unsuccessful in his attempts to prevent William s reappointment William died a week after his return to York however and Osbert along with Robert of Ghent the Dean of York secured the quick election of the new archbishop Roger de Pont L vque
Osbert was accused of murdering William specifically by poisoning him through the communion chalice A fellow cleric Symphorian who had been a chaplain of the deceased archbishop brought murder charges against Osbert Symphorian obtained a hearing on the charges at a royal council presided over by King Stephen of England at Michaelmas in but Stephen s subsequent death prevented a resolution Osbert attempted to have the trial switched to an ecclesiastical court and was supported in his efforts by Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury A trial was finally held in and Osbert s accuser did not produce any witnesses but Osbert was unable to prove his innocence prompting the transfer of the case to a papal court No record of any judgment exists but Osbert apparently appeared before two popes Adrian IV and Alexander III A further appeal to the papal court was referred to papal judges delegate between and
The case attracted commentary by two contemporary writers John of Salisbury who was a secretary for Theobald added information about Osbert in a letter to Alexander III on unrelated business In the section of the letter John pointed out to the pope that no matter what others might say about Osbert he had failed to secure other clergy willing to swear that he was innocent Another contemporary Gilbert Foliot who was Bishop of Hereford wrote to the pope to remind him that although Osbert s accuser had offered to prove his accusations by undergoing a trial by ordeal this was essentially meaningless since canon law forbade the clergy from the ordeal
Osbert was no longer archdeacon by as his successor is attested by that point Osbert however continued to call himself archdeacon even though he held land as a secular lord including lands in Lacy and Skipton He also acted as a steward for Hugh de Tilly Osbert was still alive in as he was a witness to a document at York then and may have been alive as late as when Hugh Bardulf was responsible for the farm of Osbert s lands as the record of that transaction in the escheat roll is unclear if Osbert was alive at that time or dead
Osbert had two sons William de Bayeux and Turstin de Baius Osbert was a benefactor to a number of monasteries including Drax Priory Pontefract Priory and Gisborough Priory He also gave land to a hospital in York and to the Templars and Hospitallers
The Dvorak technique developed between and by Vernon Dvorak is a widely used system to estimate tropical cyclone intensity which includes tropical depression tropical storm and hurricane typhoon intense tropical cyclone intensities based solely on visible and infrared satellite images Within the Dvorak satellite strength estimate for tropical cyclones there are several visual patterns that a cyclone may take on which define the upper and lower bounds on its intensity The primary patterns used are curved band pattern T T shear pattern T T central dense overcast CDO pattern T T central cold cover CCC pattern banding eye pattern T T and eye pattern T T
Both the central dense overcast and embedded eye pattern use the size of the CDO The CDO pattern intensities start at T equivalent to minimal tropical storm intensity mph km h The shape of the central dense overcast is also considered The eye pattern utilizes the coldness of the cloud tops within the surrounding mass of thunderstorms and contrasts it with the temperature within the eye itself The larger the temperature difference is the stronger the tropical cyclone Once a pattern is identified the storm features such as length and curvature of banding features are further analyzed to arrive at a particular T number The CCC pattern indicates little development is occurring despite the cold cloud tops associated with the quickly evolving feature
Several agencies issue Dvorak intensity numbers for tropical cyclones and their precursors including the National Hurricane Center s Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch TAFB the NOAA NESDIS Satellite Analysis Branch SAB and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center at the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command in Pearl Harbor Hawaii
The initial development of this technique occurred in by Vernon Dvorak using satellite pictures of tropical cyclones within the northwest Pacific ocean The system as it was initially conceived involved pattern matching of cloud features with a development and decay model As the technique matured through the s and s measurement of cloud features became dominant in defining tropical cyclone intensity and central pressure of the tropical cyclone s low pressure area Use of infrared satellite imagery led to a more objective assessment of the strength of tropical cyclones with eyes using the cloud top temperatures within the eyewall and contrasting them with the warm temperatures within the eye itself Constraints on short term intensity change are used less frequently than they were back in the s and s The central pressures assigned to tropical cyclones have required modification as the original estimates were hPa inHg too low in the Atlantic and up to hPa inHg too high in the northwest Pacific This led to the development of a separate wind pressure relationship for the northwest Pacific devised by Atkinson and Holliday in then modified in
As human analysts using the technique lead to subjective biases efforts have been made to make more objective estimates using computer programs which have been aided by higher resolution satellite imagery and more powerful computers Since tropical cyclone satellite patterns can fluctuate over time automated techniques use a six hour averaging period to lead to more reliable intensity estimates Development of the objective Dvorak technique began in which performed best with tropical cyclones that had eyes of hurricane or typhoon strength It still required a manual center placement keeping some subjectivity within the process By an advanced objective Dvorak technique was developed which utilized banding features for systems below hurricane intensity and to objectively determine the tropical cyclone s center A central pressure bias was uncovered in relating to the slope of the tropopause and cloud top temperatures which change with latitude that helped improve central pressure estimates within the objective technique
In a developing cyclone the technique takes advantage of the fact that cyclones of similar intensity tend to have certain characteristic features and as they strengthen they tend to change in appearance in a predictable manner The structure and organization of the tropical cyclone are tracked over hours to determine if the storm has weakened maintained its intensity or strengthened Various central cloud and banding features are compared with templates that show typical storm patterns and their associated intensity If infrared satellite imagery is available for a cyclone with a visible eye pattern then the technique utilizes the difference between the temperature of the warm eye and the surrounding cold cloud tops to determine intensity colder cloud tops generally indicate a more intense storm In each case a T number an abbreviation for Tropical Number and a Current Intensity CI value are assigned to the storm These measurements range between minimum intensity and maximum intensity The T number and CI value are the same except for weakening storms in which case the CI is higher For weakening systems the CI is held as the tropical cyclone intensity for hours though research from the National Hurricane Center indicates that six hours is more reasonable The table at right shows the approximate surface wind speed and sea level pressure that corresponds to a given T number The amount a tropical cyclone can change in strength per hour period is limited to T numbers per day
Within the Dvorak satellite strength estimate for tropical cyclones there are several visual patterns that a cyclone may take on which define the upper and lower bounds on its intensity The primary patterns used are curved band pattern T T shear pattern T T central dense overcast CDO pattern T T banding eye pattern T T eye pattern T T and central cold cover CCC pattern Both the central dense overcast and embedded eye pattern utilize the size of the CDO The CDO pattern intensities start at T equivalent to minimal tropical storm intensity miles per hour km h The shape of the central dense overcast is also considered The farther the center is tucked into the CDO the stronger it is deemed Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained winds between miles per hour km h and miles per hour km h can have their center of circulations obscured by cloudiness within visible and infrared satellite imagery which makes diagnosis of their intensity a challenge
The CCC pattern with its large and quickly developing mass of thick cirrus clouds spreading out from an area of convection near a tropical cyclone center within a short time frame indicates little development When it develops rainbands and cloud lines around the tropical cyclone weaken and the thick cloud shield obscures the circulation center While it resembles a CDO pattern it is rarely seen
The eye pattern utilizes the coldness of the cloud tops within the surrounding mass of thunderstorms and contrasts it with the temperature within the eye itself The larger the temperature difference is the stronger the tropical cyclone Winds within tropical cyclones can also be estimated by tracking features within the CDO using rapid scan geostationary satellite imagery whose pictures are taken minutes apart rather than every half hour
Once a pattern is identified the storm features such as length and curvature of banding features are further analyzed to arrive at a particular T number
Several agencies issue Dvorak intensity numbers for tropical cyclones and their precursors These include the National Hurricane Center s Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch TAFB the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration s Satellite Analysis Branch SAB and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center at the Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center in Pearl Harbor Hawaii
The National Hurricane Center will often quote Dvorak T numbers in their tropical cyclone products The following example is from discussion number of Tropical Depression eventually Hurricane Wilma of the Atlantic hurricane season
BOTH TAFB AND SAB CAME IN WITH A DVORAK SATELLITE INTENSITY ESTIMATE OF T KT HOWEVER OFTENTIMES THE SURFACE WIND FIELD OF LARGE DEVELOPING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS LIKE THIS ONE WILL LAG ABOUT HOURS BEHIND THE SATELLITE SIGNATURE THEREFORE THE INITIAL INTENSITY HAS ONLY BEEN INCREASED TO KT
Note that in this case the Dvorak T number in this case T was simply used as a guide but other factors determined how the NHC decided to set the system s intensity
The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies CIMSS at the University of Wisconsin Madison has developed the Objective Dvorak Technique ODT This is a modified version of the Dvorak technique which uses computer algorithms rather than subjective human interpretation to arrive at a CI number This is generally not implemented for tropical depressions or weak tropical storms The China Meteorological Agency CMA is expected to start using the standard version of Dvorak in the near future The Indian Meteorological Department IMD prefers using visible satellite imagery over infrared imagery due to a perceived high bias in estimates derived from infrared imagery during the early morning hours of convective maximum The Japan Meteorological Agency JMA uses the infrared version of Dvorak over the visible imagery version Hong Kong Observatory and JMA continue to utilize Dvorak after tropical cyclone landfall Various centers hold on to the maximum current intensity for hours though this rule is broken when rapid weakening is obvious
Citizen science site Cyclone Center uses a modified version of the Dvorak technique to categorize post tropical weather
Satellite Images of Selected Tropical Storms and Associated T Number
The most significant benefit of the use of the technique is that it has provided a more complete history of tropical cyclone intensity in areas where aircraft reconnaissance is neither possible nor routinely available Intensity estimates of maximum sustained wind are currently within miles per hour km h of what aircraft are able to measure half of the time though the assignment of intensity of systems with strengths between moderate tropical storm force miles per hour km h and weak hurricane or typhoon force miles per hour km h is the least certain Its overall precision has not always been true as refinements in the technique led to intensity changes between and of up to miles per hour km h The method is internally consistent in that it constrains rapid increases or decreases in tropical cyclone intensity Some tropical cyclones fluctuate in strength more than the T numbers per day limit allowed by the rule which can work to the technique s disadvantage and has led to occasional abandonment of the constraints since the s Systems with small eyes near the limb or edge of a satellite image can be biased too weakly using the technique which can be resolved through use of polar orbiting satellite imagery Subtropical cyclone intensity cannot be determined using Dvorak which led to the development of the Hebert Poteat technique in Cyclones undergoing extratropical transition losing their thunderstorm activity see their intensities underestimated using the Dvorak technique This led to the development of the Miller and Lander extratropical transition technique which can be used under these circumstances
New York State Route B NY B was a state highway in central New York in the United States It served as a connector between NY its parent route in the Cayuga County village of Weedsport and NY in the Onondaga County town of Elbridge NY B was assigned c replacing New York State Route a route assigned as part of the renumbering of state highways in New York The NY B designation was removed in and replaced by County Route B CR B in Cayuga County and CR in Onondaga County
NY B began at an intersection with its parent route NY in the Cayuga County village of Weedsport The highway went eastward intersecting with NY less than miles km later Much of Weedsport was urbanized with the highway passing residential homes and businesses as it progressed eastward through the village The highway intersected with CR B before leaving Weedsport and entering the town of Brutus as Brutus Road
In Brutus NY B continued to the east through the rural town intersecting CR A and passing the Weedsport Rural Cemetery before turning to the southeast After a short distance the highway went through an isolated area of homes where it intersected with CR and CR A NY B continued on intersecting several local highways before crossing into Onondaga County and terminating at an intersection with NY in the town of Elbridge
What became NY B was originally designated as NY as part of the renumbering of state highways in New York NY was renumbered to NY B c allowing the NY designation to be transferred to another highway in Orange County NY B remained unchanged until January when the NY B designation was removed
Ownership and maintenance of NY B s former routing was gradually transferred to the counties it went through namely Cayuga and Onondaga The first section to be transferred was the portion within Onondaga County which was given to the county on April and designated as CR The Cayuga County section of former NY B was transferred to the county one year later on April and designated as CR B for the state route that preceded it
Benjamin Paul Ben Amos born April is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bolton Wanderers Born in Macclesfield Cheshire Amos began his career with Crewe Alexandra s youth academy but joined Manchester United at the age of He has spent time on loan at Peterborough United Molde and Oldham Athletic Additionally Amos is an England youth international having represented his country at every level from Under to Under
Amos was born in Macclesfield Cheshire and was a member of the Crewe Alexandra academy until he was released at the age of While at Crewe he also played for another local team Bollington United as a centre midfielder One year later Amos was playing for his local team against the team at the top of the table and they needed to win the match to win the league Amos team s goalkeeper was injured during the game and as the tallest on the team Amos was put in goal however he had also been the team s regular penalty taker all season so when they were awarded a penalty he went all the way up the pitch to take the kick He scored and his team went on to win the game together with the league title After the game his parents told him that a Manchester United scout had been watching him and that he had been invited for trials Amos joined Manchester United at the age of
In his first season at Manchester United Amos became a regular starter for the club s Under team playing in out of matches in the season Amos was named as an unused substitute for the Under side for the first time on January for a league game against Manchester City His first appearance for the Under s came exactly nine months later on October coming on as a substitute for Danny Rose after starting goalkeeper Ron Robert Zieler was sent off in a defeat to Bolton Wanderers He was regularly named as an unused substitute during the season including for two reserve team matches but became a frequent starter for the Under s in after signing a trainee contract in July However he missed the final of the FA Youth Cup with a dislocated shoulder
He retained his place in the Under team for in addition to making his debut for the reserve team against Wigan Athletic on November and during the season he impressed enough to be selected to go on the first team s summer tour of South Africa Amos was named as a substitute for all three matches of the tour but did not play En route back from South Africa United stopped off in Nigeria to play against Portsmouth on July with Amos replacing Tomasz Kuszczak after minutes He made his competitive first team debut on September in a win at home to Middlesbrough in the third round of the League Cup On December Amos travelled to Japan with the Manchester United squad for the FIFA Club World Cup having been called up as a late replacement for Ben Foster who had suffered a hand injury while training
On October Amos signed for the Championship team Peterborough United on a month s loan as cover for Peterborough s suspended first choice goalkeeper Joe Lewis He made his only appearance on October in a defeat against Barnsley After returning to Manchester United Amos was again sent out on loan in March this time to Norwegian side Molde FK where he remained on loan until June
Following the departure of Ben Foster from Manchester United to Birmingham City United manager Alex Ferguson declared that Amos would be Manchester United s third choice goalkeeper for the season behind Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak He made his first appearance of the season on October starting in goal for United s win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the fourth round of the League Cup
In United s final Champions League group match on December Amos was picked to start against Valencia at Old Trafford Pablo Hernndez scored Valencia s only goal past him after minutes of the match the first goal United had conceded in the Champions League that season as the two sides played out a draw
With the signing of Danish goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard Manchester United allowed Amos to join Oldham Athletic on loan for the remainder of the season on January although he would continue to train with Manchester United once a week He made his debut against Swindon Town the next day and kept a clean sheet However three days later he conceded all six goals in a defeat at home to Southampton he allowed Adam Lallana s yard shot underneath his body for the second goal and he was rounded by Lee Barnard for the sixth
On March Lindegaard was ruled out for five weeks following a knee injury so Amos was recalled from Oldham to cover for Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak
Amos made his first start of the season in a third round League Cup tie at Elland Road against Leeds United He kept a clean sheet as United cruised through to the next round winning He played again in the following round away at Aldershot Town a game which United also won and advanced to the quarter finals He was in goal again for United s League Cup game in a defeat against Championship club Crystal Palace on November It also seemed that he had moved above last season s second choice Tomasz Kuszczak in the pecking order but was now third choice behind Anders Lindegaard and David de Gea He made his first Premier League start in a home win against Stoke City on January keeping a clean sheet on his debut
On May Amos signed a three year contract extension with Manchester United which will keep him at the club until at least
On July Amos joined Championship team Hull City on a season long loan from Manchester United Before the loan deal was completed he had joined Hull on their pre season training camp in Portugal He made his debut on August in penalty shoot out victory over Rotherham United in the first round of the Football League Cup However after appearances including two in the League Cup Amos returned to Manchester United on January
On November Amos joined League One team Carlisle United on a month long loan from Manchester United
On January he joined Championship club Bolton Wanderers on a month s loan to provide competition for Andy Lonergan after dm Bogdn was ruled out with an ankle injury picked up in training On February he made his Bolton debut as a substitute for the injured Lonergan as Wanderers lost to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground He played nine Championship games for Bolton before his loan expired on April
Ben Amos returned to Manchester United after his loan spell at Bolton Wanderers but on June it was announced on Manchester United website that Ben Amos has been released from the club along with four other players
On July Amos returned to Bolton Wanderers following his release from Manchester United signing a four year contract with the club
Amos is an England youth international having played for his country at the Under Under Under Under Under and Under levels He was called up to the Under squad in for their friendly match against Iceland but he was an unused substitute
Amos attended Fallibroome High School where he earned GCSEs at grade C or above
Clayton Edward Kershaw born March is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball MLB A left handed starting pitcher Kershaw has played in the major leagues since and his career earned run average ERA and Walks and hits per innings pitched average WHIP are the lowest among starters in the live ball era with a minimum of innings pitched With his Career Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings Pitched average Which is the second lowest in MLB History a three time Cy Young Award winner the National League Most Valuable Player and Los Angeles Dodgers All Time Leader in walks and hits per innings pitched and hits allowed per nine innings pitched Kershaw is considered by many to be the best pitcher in MLB
Kershaw was drafted seventh overall in the MLB draft He worked his way through the Dodgers farm system in just one full season and reached the majors at years old When he debuted in he was the youngest player in MLB a title he held for one full year In he won the pitching Triple Crown and the National League Cy Young Award becoming the youngest pitcher to accomplish either of these feats since Dwight Gooden in Kershaw pitched a no hitter on June becoming the nd Dodger to do so Being a left handed strikeout pitcher and playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers Kershaw has often been compared to Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax He became the first pitcher in history to lead MLB in ERA for four consecutive years when he did so in the through seasons
Off the field Kershaw is an active participant in volunteer work He and his wife Ellen launched Kershaw s Challenge and wrote the book Arise to raise money to build an orphanage in Zambia He has been honored with the Roberto Clemente Award and the Branch Rickey Award for his humanitarian work
Kershaw was born in Dallas Texas on March His parents divorced when he was and he was raised by his mother He played in youth sports leagues as a child including Little League Baseball
Kershaw attended nearby Highland Park High School where he played baseball and was also the center for quarterback Matthew Stafford on the football varsity After a growth spurt and further development of his pitches he established himself as an elite high school prospect in when he posted a record with an earned run average ERA of and recorded strikeouts in innings pitched In a playoff game against Northwest High School of Justin Texas Kershaw pitched an all strikeout perfect game He struck out all batters he faced in the game which was shortened because of the mercy rule He also pitched for USA Baseball s Junior National Team in the Pan Am Championship Kershaw was selected by USA Today as High School Baseball Player of the Year and was also the Gatorade National Player of the Year for baseball
Entering the Major League Baseball MLB draft Kershaw was considered the top high school pitcher available The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Kershaw with the seventh overall pick in the draft He had committed to Texas A M University but turned down the scholarship offer to sign with the Dodgers with a bonus estimated at million The bonus was the largest to any Dodgers draft pick at the time and was eventually topped by Zach Lee in the draft
Kershaw began his career with the Gulf Coast League GCL Dodgers He pitched in innings in which he struck out batters walking only while compiling a record of with a ERA He featured a fastball that topped out at miles per hour km h and he was rated as the top prospect in the GCL and the Dodgers second best prospect by Baseball America behind third baseman Andy LaRoche
Kershaw was promoted to the Great Lakes Loons in where he recorded a record of with a ERA He was selected to play on the East Team in the Midwest League All Star Game and on the USA team in the All Star Futures Game On August he was promoted to the Double A Jacksonville Suns in the Southern League where he produced a record and ERA in five starts and was selected as the top prospect in the Dodgers organization heading into the season
During spring training in a game against the Boston Red Sox Kershaw gained much attention for throwing a curveball to Sean Casey that started behind Casey but at the end looped into the strike zone and struck him out looking Kershaw was and had a ERA with strikeouts through innings pitched in his first stint of the year with the Suns He was then called up to the majors on May but optioned back to Jacksonville on July
Kershaw pitched innings during his second trip to Jacksonville two starts and one seven inning relief appearance winning two games During this stretch he allowed only two runs earned runs lowering his ERA to He was recalled on July
On May the Dodgers bought Kershaw s minor league contract and he was added to the active roster Sportswriter Tony Jackson called Kershaw s debut the most anticipated start by a Dodgers pitcher since Hideo Nomo s major league debut during the season He made his debut on May starting against the St Louis Cardinals He struck out the first batter he faced Skip Schumaker the first of seven strikeouts in the game in which he pitched six innings and allowed two runs When he debuted Kershaw was the youngest player in MLB a title he held for one full year
Kershaw won his first major league game against the Washington Nationals on July He pitched six plus shutout innings allowing four hits a walk and he struck out five Kershaw finished his rookie season with a ERA in games starts He also pitched two innings out of the bullpen for the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series NLCS against the Philadelphia Phillies
On April Kershaw pitched seven innings striking out batters while allowing only one hit a solo home run against the rival San Francisco Giants He was the youngest Dodger to ever strikeout or more batters in a game since Sandy Koufax did it in the season On May Kershaw did not allow a hit against the Florida Marlins through innings then gave up a lead off double to Florida s Cody Ross In despite an record he led the major leagues in opposing batting average opposing slugging percentage and hits per nine innings He also posted an ERA of and strikeouts Kershaw also walked batters which was second most in the National League NL
Kershaw made his playoff starting debut against the St Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series NLDS He went innings striking out walking and ended up getting a no decision the Dodgers went on to win the game in the th inning At years old he started the opener of the NLCS against the Philadelphia Phillies and was the third youngest pitcher to ever start a playoff series opener behind only Fernando Valenzuela in the NLDS and Rick Ankiel in the NLDS
Kershaw started the season by posting a ERA in April but did so by walking batters in innings On May he had his worst start of his career against the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium throwing just pitches in innings while retiring only four of the batters he faced including the pitcher He was booed loudly upon being pulled from the game Kershaw said after the game I didn t give our team any kind of chance It s just not a good feeling to let your teammates down let everybody down It stings it hurts I ve got to figure things out
Kershaw rebounded his next start by pitching an inning two hitter and out dueling the then undefeated Ubaldo Jimnez He credited his control of the slider being the major turning point for him Later in the season he was suspended for five games after hitting Aaron Rowand of the Giants with a pitch in a game on July The incident occurred after both teams were given a warning following Giants ace Tim Lincecum hitting Matt Kemp earlier in the game He threw his first career complete game shutout on September also against San Francisco and finished the season with a record of and a ERA in starts pitching innings and recording strikeouts
After finishing the season strong the Dodgers named Kershaw as the Opening Day Starter for the season On May he pitched the second complete game shutout of his career striking out while winning a two hitter against the Florida Marlins he also had two singles and an RBI scoring twice in the game He produced his third career shutout on June a two hit strikeout effort against the Detroit Tigers Kershaw became the first Dodgers starter to strike out the side in the th inning since Sandy Koufax s perfect game In his next start on June Kershaw pitched another complete game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim He became the first Dodger starter to have back to back complete game victories since Jeff Weaver in the season and the first Dodger to have double digit strikeouts in consecutive starts since Chan Ho Park in the season He was awarded the National League Player of the Week award for the week of June as a result of those two starts Midway through June Kershaw had amassed career victories a ERA and career strikeouts in innings According to the Elias Sports Bureau Kershaw was the first year old pitcher to have that many victories an ERA that low and an average of more than one strikeout per inning since ERA became an official statistic in
Kershaw was selected to the National League team for the Major League Baseball All Star Game his first All Star selection In the month of July Kershaw was with a ERA and NL leading strikeouts earning him the National League Pitcher of the Month Award On August he struck out Matt Holliday of the St Louis Cardinals for his th strikeout of the season and became the th Dodger pitcher to record back to back strikeout seasons and the first since Chan Ho Park did it in the season
Kershaw finished the season by leading the NL with wins strikeouts and a ERA winning the NL pitching Triple Crown the first Triple Crown winner since Jake Peavy of the San Diego Padres and the first Dodger since Sandy Koufax won it in the season Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers won the American League Triple Crown the same season marking the first major league season since to feature Triple Crown winning pitchers in both leagues Kershaw s wins were the most by a Dodger pitcher since Orel Hershiser won during the season His ERA was the lowest by a Dodger since Hershiser s in the season his strikeouts were the most by a Dodger since Koufax s in and his innings pitched were the most since Chan Ho Park pitched in Since when Koufax did it Peavy and Kershaw are only two pitchers in the National League have led the league in wins strikeouts ERA and WHIP walks plus hits per inning pitched Kershaw also became just the second lefthander to have a plus strikeouts in a season before the age of joining Vida Blue
After the season Kershaw was awarded the Warren Spahn Award as the best left handed pitcher in the Players Choice Award for Most Outstanding National League pitcher the Gold Glove Award as the top fielding pitcher in the NL and the Sporting News TSN National League Pitcher of the Year He was additionally selected as the starting pitcher for the TSN NL All Star Team On November he was honored with the National League Cy Young Award making him the youngest Cy Young winner since Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets He was the th Dodger pitcher to win the award the first since ric Gagn in the season
On February Kershaw and the Dodgers agreed on a two year million contract The contract was the second highest for a player in his first year of arbitration after Tim Lincecum s million year contract in
Kershaw was the Dodgers Opening Day starter for the second year in a row where he pitched three innings of shutout ball against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park before being removed from the game due to flu like symptoms On April he was able to last through eight innings for his second win of the season against the Washington Nationals The win was also his th straight home win tying him with Ed Roebuck June August and Orel Hershiser September October for the longest home winning streak since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles Kershaw won the National League s Player of the Week Award for the week of May after he made two starts during that week and pitched scoreless innings including his fourth career shutout Kershaw was selected to appear in the Major League Baseball All Star Game the second straight year he made the team On August he went over innings on the season becoming the th Los Angeles Dodger pitcher with three or more seasons of or more innings and the first since Hershiser did it five times from to Kershaw also became just the fifth Dodger pitcher with three straight strikeout seasons
Kershaw finished with a record a ERA leading the league strikeouts and innings pitched coming second in both categories He became the first pitcher to lead the league in ERA in consecutive seasons since Arizona s Randy Johnson in This was also marked his fourth year in a row with a sub ERA making him the first to do this since Randy Johnson from He finished second for the NL Cy Young behind R A Dickey receiving two first place votes
Kershaw made his third straight opening day start for the Dodgers in the season the first Dodger starter to do so since Derek Lowe In that opening day start he pitched a complete game four hit shutout over the Giants and also hit his first career home run He was the first pitcher to throw a shutout and hit a home run on opening day since Bob Lemon of the Cleveland Indians did so against the Chicago White Sox on April Kershaw picked up his th career strikeout on April when he struck out Yonder Alonso of the Padres He was the second youngest Dodger to reach that mark behind only Fernando Valenzuela On May Kershaw passed the inning mark for his career His ERA of at the time was the fifth best of the live ball era at the inning mark and the best career mark He also threw pitches that day the most of his career and the most by a Dodger pitcher since Odalis Prez in the season
Kershaw was selected to the Major League Baseball All Star Game his third straight selection In July he compiled a record and ERA in six starts and was awarded his second National League Pitcher of the Month Award On September Kershaw picked up his th strikeout of joining Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale as the only starters in Dodgers history with at least consecutive seasons of more than strikeouts
Kershaw finished the season with a record innings pitched a career high and a Major League best ERA and WHIP He was the third player in history to lead the Majors in ERA three years in a row joining Greg Maddux and Lefty Grove His ERA was the first sub ERA since Roger Clemens did it in the season and the lowest overall since Pedro Martnez in the season He was only the third Dodger pitcher to have an ERA under in five consecutive seasons Koufax and Nap Rucker
Kershaw struck out batters in seven innings in the first game of the National League Division Series That was the third most strikeouts by a Dodger pitcher in the playoffs behind only Koufax in the World Series and Carl Erskine in the World Series His six straight strikeouts in the game tied a MLB postseason record set by Tim Belcher in the second game of the World Series He picked up his first career postseason victory in that game
Kershaw won the Warren Spahn Award for the second time he had won the award which honors the best left handed pitcher in the Major Leagues He was also selected to the Sporting News NL All Star team the fourth Dodger pitcher to be named to the team twice after Koufax Valenzuela and Don Newcombe On November he won the NL Cy Young Award for the second time in three seasons He became just the sixth pitcher in history to finish in the top two in voting three seasons in a row
After the season Kershaw and the Dodgers agreed on a seven year million contract extension The deal was the richest in MLB history for a pitcher eclipsing the seven year million contract signed by Justin Verlander the previous year The average annual value of million was also the largest ever for a baseball player beating the million Roger Clemens received in and the year million contract that Alex Rodriguez signed that same year
Kershaw made his fourth straight opening day start for the Dodgers in only the fourth Dodger ever to do so This season the game was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Australia Before his second start Kershaw felt some pain in his back and was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his career He did not rejoin the Dodgers until early May On June he pitched a complete game no hitter against the Colorado Rockies and struck out a career high batters The only batter to reach base was due to an error in the top of the seventh inning costing Kershaw a perfect game He is the only pitcher in MLB history with strikeouts in a game while allowing no hits and no walks Kershaw was with an ERA in June and was awarded with his third career Pitcher of the Month award He was selected to the National League squad at the Major League Baseball All Star Game his fourth straight selection He was the sixth Dodger pitcher and the first since Fernando Valenzuela to make the All Star team four years in a row
Kershaw had a inning scoreless inning streak that ended in the top of the sixth inning on July when with two outs Chase Headley homered to left field at Dodger Stadium Kershaw s streak was at the time tied for the fifteenth longest scoreless inning streak in MLB history He won the pitcher of the month award again in July the third Dodger along with Don Sutton and Burt Hooton to win it two months in a row He was with a ERA in the month with strikeouts and only walks He picked up his th strikeout of the season on September the fifth year in a row he had reached that number trailing only the six seasons in a row for Sandy Koufax among Dodger starters He also became just the fourth pitcher since to have at least five strikeout seasons through an age season Bert Blyleven Walter Johnson and Sam McDowell are the others
Kershaw finished the season with a ERA in starts He led the National League in numerous categories once again such as ERA ERA Wins Win WHIP IP GS SO Strikeout to walk ratio complete games FIP and Wins Above Replacement for both pitchers and all NL players He also finished third in strikeouts despite missing most of the first month of the season He was the first pitcher in history to win four consecutive ERA titles Many experts called his season one of the best pitching seasons in recent memory
However in his first start of the playoffs in Game of the Division Series against the Cardinals Kershaw became the first pitcher in history to strike out while allowing eight runs He had cruised through the first six innings while allowing only two hits both solo homers and surrendered six runs in the seventh He did tie Koufax for the only Dodgers pitchers with multiple double digit strikeout games in the playoffs He was also the first pitcher in history to give up at least seven runs in back to back postseason starts his previous one was Game of the National League Championship Series Pitching on short rest in Game he would again be dominant but again would take the loss after giving up a run home run to Matt Adams in the th inning It was the first home run Kershaw had allowed in his career to a left handed batter off his curveball
Kershaw was honored after the season with player of the year awards from both The Sporting News and Baseball America He won three awards at the Players Choice Awards including Outstanding NL Pitcher Player of the Year and the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award He also won his third and second straight Warren Spahn Award On November he was awarded his third Cy Young Award in four seasons a unanimous vote The following day he was elected as the NL MVP the first National League pitcher to win the award since Bob Gibson in and the first Dodgers player to win the award since Kirk Gibson in
Kershaw made his fifth straight opening day start in the first Dodgers pitcher to do so since Hall of Famer Don Sutton started seven in a row from through He recorded his th career strikeout on May when he fanned Drew Stubbs of the Colorado Rockies Kershaw picked up his th career win on May against the Rockies He became the nd pitcher in franchise history and the second youngest active pitcher to reach that mark Kershaw won his sixth career NL player of the week award for the week of June when he allowed only two runs on baserunners in innings while striking out in two starts that week Kershaw did not make the initial NL roster for the All Star Game though he was included on the Final Vote ballot which he lost to Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez However he was added to the roster to replace Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer who was unavailable due to pitching the Sunday before the game It became his fifth straight all star selection joining Sandy Koufax and Fernando Valenzuela as the only Dodgers pitchers to accomplish that feat Kershaw struck out a season high batters in eight shutout innings on July against the Washington Nationals He became the first Dodgers starter with back to back games of at least strikeouts since Chan Ho Park in and the first Dodgers pitcher with back to back games of double digit strikeouts and no walks since Dazzy Vance in He shared the NL player of the week honors with his teammate Zack Greinke for the week of July and won NL pitcher of the month for July
Kershaw picked up his th strikeout of the season on August tying Hideo Nomo s season for the fastest to that mark in Dodgers history at innings This was the sixth straight strikeout season for Kershaw tying Sandy Koufax for the most in Dodgers franchise history On October Kershaw became the th player in Major League history to strike out batters in a season the first player since Randy Johnson did it in He finished the season with a record a ERA and strikeouts in innings
In Game One of the National League Division Series Kershaw struck out in innings but allowed three runs for his fifth straight postseason loss He and New York Mets starter Jacob deGrom were the first pair of starters to each throw at least strikeouts in the same postseason game in MLB history He rebounded in game four earning the win on three days rest by allowing one run and three hits against eight strikeouts in seven innings on October Kershaw finished third in the National League Cy Young Award voting behind Jake Arrieta and teammate Zack Greinke In mid December Kershaw participated in an expedition to Cuba composed of MLB officials and players including former Dodgers manager Joe Torre It was the first visit by MLB since and one anticipated as an important step to help normalize relations with the United States that had begun to ease earlier in the year
Kershaw made his sixth straight opening day start in as the Dodgers won It also marked the first time the Dodgers had won six straight opening day games all of which he started On May against the New York Mets he struck out while pitching a three hit complete game shutout He set an MLB record with six consecutive starts with at least strikeouts and no more than one walk and a club record with six consecutive starts with at least strikeouts He picked up his th strikeout on May while only walking five batters within that period That was the lowest walk total for a pitcher reaching strikeouts in the modern era beating Cliff Lee who had seven walks in the season On June Kershaw was placed on the day disabled list due to back pain He received an MRI which revealed that there was a mild herniated disc in the back and received an epidural injection to treat the pain He was named to the All Star team but was unable to pitch in the game due to his injury On July the Dodgers shut down Kershaw for an indefinite period of time He continued to feel discomfort in his back after a simulated game
Kershaw s pitching style relies on deception He keeps the ball hidden so that it is hard for the batter to pick up the ball and has a consistent overhand delivery on all of his pitches Out of the windup Kershaw lowers his right foot vertically with a slight pause before moving it forward toward the plate The motion was described during the National League Division Series as a kickstand move drawing comparison with one setting a kickstand on a bicycle Out of the stretch he uses a slide step as it makes it difficult for the base runner at first base to get a read on him He has stated many times that he has modeled his pitching mechanics after his favorite pitcher growing up Roger Clemens
Kershaw s repertoire includes a four seam fastball that sits anywhere from miles per hour km h to miles per hour km h and tops out at miles per hour km h with late movement a slider at miles per hour km h miles per hour km h a curveball between miles per hour km h miles per hour km h and a seldom thrown changeup under As of late in the season he is believed to be experimenting with the use of a cutter He is also known for having one of the better pickoff moves to first base and is considered one of the better fielding pitchers in the game
According to many teammates Kershaw is a noted perfectionist AJ Ellis describes his preparation and perfectionism during bullpens before each start
Three fastballs when I m standing up I sit and three fastballs down the middle Then three fastballs either side Three changeups away Fastball inside Three curveballs to the middle Fastball inside Three sliders to the middle Then he goes to the stretch position Two fastballs inside two fastballs away two changeups one fastball inside two curveballs one fastball inside two sliders Back to the windup and one fastball inside one fastball away Thirty four pitches in all
Notes Through season Per Baseball Referencecom
Kershaw grew up in Dallas Texas and attended school with quarterback Matthew Stafford and fellow pitchers Jordan Walden and Shawn Tolleson One of his favorite players growing up was former Texas Rangers first baseman Will Clark and the main reason he wears number is to honor Clark
He is the great nephew of astronomer Clyde Tombaugh the discoverer of Pluto Kershaw s mother born Marianne Tombaugh is the daughter of Clyde Tombaugh s younger brother His father Christopher George Kershaw was a musician and won a Clio Award for his work The elder Kershaw remarried after his divorce from Marianne and died in
On December Kershaw married his girlfriend of seven years Ellen Melson On January Ellen gave birth to the couple s first child daughter Cali Ann He is a Methodist with strong religious faith
Kershaw made a cameo appearance in Prince a Season episode of New Girl which originally aired following FOX s telecast of Super Bowl XLVIII
Prior to the season Kershaw visited Zambia with his wife as part of a Christian mission organized by Dallas based Arise Africa After the trip Kershaw announced his dream of building an orphanage in Lusaka Zambia which he called Hope s Home after year old Hope an HIV positive child Kershaw met while in Zambia To accomplish his goal Kershaw pledged a donation of per strikeout recorded in With Kershaw s career high of strikeouts thrown during the season he donated toward his goal When Kershaw won the Players Choice Award he donated to Hope s Home He and his wife returned to Zambia in Kershaw donated for every strikeout in the season to Kershaw s Challenge calling that season s incarnation of the project Strike Out To Serve Seventy percent of the money raised in went to Arise Africa with percent each going to the Peacock Foundation in Los Angeles Mercy Street in Dallas and I Am Second In Kershaw continued to support the children of Zambia with partnership with CURE International raising funds to pay for children s surgeries and new medical equipment for CURE hospital in Lusaka Kershaw has continued his partnership with CURE International in setting a goal of funding surgeries for CURE s hospital in the Dominican Republic
In addition to Hope s Home and Kershaw s Challenge he has also helped with other programs in Los Angeles such as helping Habitat for Humanity demolish and rehabilitate a house in Lynwood California He is also a supporter of the Peacock Foundation which provides animal assisted interventions and activities for at risk youth by partnering with mental health practitioners public service agencies and community organizations
Kershaw and his wife Ellen co authored a book named Arise Live Out Your Faith and Dreams on Whatever Field You Find Yourself about their Christian faith and their humanitarian efforts The book was released on January through Regal Press
Kershaw is a celebrity endorser for wwwFantasyDraftcom Wilson Sporting Goods glove Under Armour shoes Muscle Milk and Subway
Josepha Petrick Kemarre born ca or ca date uncertain is an Anmatyerre speaking Indigenous Australian from Central Australia Since first taking up painting around her works of contemporary Indigenous Australian art have been acquired by several major collections including Artbank and the National Gallery of Victoria Her paintings portray bush plum dreaming and women s ceremonies known as Awelye One of her paintings sold at a charity auction for A Josepha Petrick s works are strongly coloured and formalist in composition and regularly appear at commercial art auctions in Australia Her art appears to have survived the huge contraction of the primary art market in Australia since There is no existing Catalogue raisonn of Josepha Petrick s artworks to date no fakes have been cited
Josepha Petrick Kemarre is an Anmatyerre speaking Indigenous Australian born around or at the Santa Teresa Mission near Alice Springs in Australia s Northern Territory
When Josepha Petrick began painting for Mbantua Gallery in central Australia she indicated that her name was Josepha rather than Josie and that this was how she henceforth wished to be known however Mbantua s biography is the only source that has used that version of her name
After marrying Robin Petyarre brother of artist Gloria Petyarre Josepha Petrick moved to the region of Utopia north east of Alice Springs which is where she was living when she began painting around They had seven children one of whom Damien Petrick went on to become an artist like his mother By Josie Petrick s husband had died and Petrick was dividing her time between Alice Springs and Harts Range to its north east
Contemporary Indigenous art of the western desert began in when Indigenous men at Papunya created murals and canvases using western art materials assisted by teacher Geoffrey Bardon Their work which used acrylic paints to create designs representing body painting and ground sculptures rapidly spread across Indigenous communities of central Australia particularly after the introduction of a government sanctioned art program in central Australia in By the s and s such work was being exhibited internationally The first artists including all of the founders of the Papunya Tula artists company were men and there was resistance among the Pintupi men of central Australia to women also painting However many of the women wished to participate and in the s many of them began to paint In the western desert communities such as Utopia Kintore Yuendumu Balgo and on the outstations people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale
Josepha Petrick began painting about or as part of the contemporary Indigenous art movement that had begun at Papunya in the s By her work was being collected by both private and public institutions such as Charles Sturt University and in a work was purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria Her career received a significant boost when her work was included in the National Gallery of Victoria s Landmarks exhibition and its catalogue her painting was printed opposite that of Yannima Tommy Watson who was by this time famous particularly for his contribution to the design of a new building for the Muse du quai Branly Petrick s paintings have been included at exhibitions in several private galleries in Melbourne and Hong Kong as well as at the Australian embassy in Washington in
In a commissioned work by Petrick was exhibited at Shalom College at the University of New South Wales as part of a charity fundraising exhibition It sold for A As of the end of the highest recorded auction price for an item of Petrick s work was set in May An image based on a triptych by Petrick Bush Berries appears on the cover of a book on the visual perception of motion Motion Vision
Central Australian artists frequently paint particular dreamings or stories for which they have responsibility or rights These stories are used to pass important knowledge cultural values and belief systems from generation to generation Paintings by Petrick portray two different groups of dreamings rendered in two distinct styles Bush plum dreaming represents a plant of the central Australian desert which is a source of physical and spiritual sustenance reminding the local Indigenous people of the sacredness of their country These paintings are undertaken with red blue and orange dots that represent the fruit at different stages in its development She also paints women s ceremonies Awelye and dreamings and these are created using rows of coloured dots and include representations of women s ceremonial iconography
Journalist Zelda Cawthorne described Petrick as one of the finest contemporary Aboriginal artists Art consultant Adrian Newstead has ranked her as amongst the country s top Indigenous artists noting that she has become known for innovative works that create a sense of visual harmony through fine variegated fields of immaculately applied dotting Her style is described by Indigenous art writers Birnberg and Kreczmanski as an interesting modern interpretation of landscape
Petrick s work is held in a variety of public and private collections including Artbank the Charles Sturt University Collection the Holmes a Court Collection and the National Gallery of Victoria
Head VI is an oil on canvas painting by the Irish born English figurative artist Francis Bacon the last of six panels making up his Head series It shows a bust view of a single figure modeled on Diego Velzquez s Portrait of Innocent X Bacon applies forceful expressive brush strokes and places the figure within a glass cage structure behind curtain like drapery This gives the effect of a man trapped and suffocated by his surroundings screaming into an airless void
Head VI was the first of Bacon s paintings to reference Velzquez whose portrait of Pope Innocent X haunted him throughout his career and inspired his series of screaming popes a loose series of which there are around surviving individual works Head VI contains many motifs that were to reappear in Bacon s work The hanging object which may be a light switch or curtain tassel can be found even in his late paintings The geometric cage is a motif that appears as late as his masterpiece Study for a Self Portrait Triptych
Head VI was first exhibited in November at the Hanover Gallery in London in a showing organised by one of the artist s early champions Erica Brausen At the time Bacon was a highly controversial but respected artist best known for his Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion which made him the enfant terrible of British art Head VI drew a mixed reaction from art critics John Russell later Bacon s biographer at the time dismissed it as a cross between an alligator shorn of its jaws and an accountant in pince nez who has come to a bad end In Lawrence Gowing wrote that the shock of the picture when it was seen with a whole series of heads was indescribable It was everything unpardonable The paradoxical appearance at once of pastiche and iconoclasm was indeed one of Bacon s most original strokes Art critic and curator David Sylvester described it as a seminal piece from Bacon s unusually productive period and one of Bacon s finest popes
Bacon s output is characterised by sequences of images He told Sylvester that his imagination was stimulated by sequences and that images breed other images in me His series were not always planned or painted in sequence sometimes paintings are grouped for convenience but vary in execution and tone The idea for the head series came after he returned penniless late in from a stay in Tangier In the previous three years he had been unable to find a voice the last surviving canvas from this period is his Painting Although he continued to paint he was a ruthless self critic given to slashing canvases with blades and no works survive from between and the winter of Gallerist Erica Brausen offered Bacon the opportunity of a solo show for the opening of her new Hanover Gallery He agreed but had nothing in reserve to hang In following years Brausen became perhaps the most important of Bacon s early champions she arranged this showing his debut solo exhibition publicised him widely and organised viewings for international buyers
Already years old Bacon viewed the exhibition as his last chance and applied himself to the task with determination Because he had destroyed all his out of the last three years he had little choice but to present new works He did not have a grand plan when he agreed to the show but eventually found themes that interested him in his Head I of the previous year and executed five progressively stronger variants in the final weeks before the November exhibition completing the series barely in time for the opening
The paintings depict isolated figures enclosed in spaces that are undefined overwhelmingly claustrophobic reductive and eerie Coming early in Bacon s career they are uneven in quality but show a clear progression especially in how they utilise and present ideas he was still clearly developing and coming to terms with Head I actually begun in the winter of and Head II show formless pieces of flesh that broadly resemble human heads they have half open eyes and a pharynx though it is positioned much higher than would be expected in a human Heads III IV and V show fully formed busts recognisable as men and are characterised by a haunted atmosphere These two broad ideas coalesce in Head VI which is as physiologically tortured as the first two paintings and as spectral as the middle three In Head VI the figure has developed and is now shown wearing vestments the first indication in Bacon s work of the influence of Velzquez while the focus has become the open mouth and the study of the human scream
Bacon said that chance played a significant role in his work and that he often approached a canvas without having a clear idea of what might emerge This was especially the case in the mid to late s a period when he was drinking heavily and spending most nights in Soho casinos and poker rooms The following morning he would often approach his canvas in a bad mood of drinking under tremendous hangovers and drink I sometimes hardly knew what I was doing He incorporated his appetite for chance into his work an image often would morph mid way through into something quite different from what he had first intended He actively sought out this freedom and felt it crucial to his progression as an artist To him lifestyle and art were intertwined he said that perhaps the drink helped me to be a bit freer This is very evident in the series which began as a rather morbid study of a collapsed head but evolved over the six surviving panels into a reworking of Velzquez masterpieces and arrived at an image that was to preoccupy Bacon for the subsequent years
The series marks Bacon s first attempt at depicting lone figures in rooms For him the key aspect was that it appeared that the subject felt isolated unobserved and had abandoned the need to present an outward face He believed that under these circumstances all pretence falls away and the social being becomes the sum of its neuroses which Bacon attempted to convey by reducing the subject to its bare bones features a mouth ears eyes a jaw According to Russell the view out front ceases to be the only one and our person is suddenly adrift fragmented and subject to strange mutation Russell observed that while the depiction of figures in rooms is common through all eras of painting the figures are always posed and usually seemingly aware that they are being portrayed This conceit is abandoned in Bacon s series
Head I completed late in is considered more successful than Head II Although it is well regarded critically Head II is seen as something of a creative cul de sac while Heads III IV and V are usually considered as merely intermediate steps towards Head VI It is exceptional in Bacon s oeuvre that works of their relative poor quality survive he was ruthlessly self critical and often slashed or abandoned canvasses before they were completed When pressed again by Brausen in to produce works for a New York show that she had been publicising for a year he was full of doubt and destroyed most of what he had been working on including several other popes
Brausen commissioned another showing to be held in for which Bacon painted three large popes modelled on Velzquez s portrait The gallery advertised the show as Francis Bacon Three Studies from the Painting of Innocent X by Velzquez but in the end Bacon was dissatisfied with the works and destroyed them before the show opened
The figure is clearly identifiable as a pope from his clothing It seems trapped and isolated within the outlines of an abstract three dimensional glass cage This framing device described by Sylvester as a space frame was to feature heavily throughout the artist s career A cord hangs from the upper edge of the glass case falling just in front of the pope s face and partially covering his eyes It is too indistinctly drawn to identify with certainty but given the presence of similar objects in Bacon s later works may be either the end of a hanging light switch or the tassel of a curtain the hanging cord was to become a signature for the artist Apart from its symbolic meaning it has a compositional function framing the painting with a further set of vertical lines Such an object reappears most prominently in the centre panel of his Triptych May June where it is clearly a dangling light bulb For Bacon these elements were intended to make the figure waver in and out of sight for the viewer alluding to the fact that bulbs can be on or off curtains open or closed
The figure s mouth is opened wide as if screaming an expression Bacon took from a still he kept of the nurse screaming in Sergei Eisenstein s Odessa Steps massacre sequence in his silent film Battleship Potemkin In the broadcaster Melvyn Bragg asked Bacon about the still and observed that in his earlier career the artist seemed preoccupied with the physicality of the human mouth Bacon replied I had always thought that I would be able to make the mouth with all the beauty of a Monet landscape though I never succeeded in doing so When Bragg asked why he thought he had failed Bacon said It should be all much more colour should have got more of the interior of the mouth with all the colours of the interior of the mouth but I didn t happen to get it His interest in the mouth was further stimulated by a medical textbook of diseased oral cavities bought in a second hand bookshop kept in his studio and to which he often referred to
The glass cage might imply a vacuum that the figure s voice is unable to escape as if it is screaming in silence Rueful later in life Bacon said that he had wanted to paint the scream more than the horror I think if I had really thought about what causes somebody to really scream it would have made the scream more successful The work evokes memories of the Second World War The glass enclosure of his Chicago Study for a Portrait is often seen as prophesying photographs of Adolf Eichmann trial before a Jerusalem District Court when he was held within a similar cage Bacon strongly resisted literal comparisons though and stated that he used the device so he could frame and really see the image for no other reason I know it s been interpreted as being many other things Other critics saw similarities between the glass case and the radio booths of late s broadcasters who warned against the impending calamity Denis Farr notes that Bacon was sympathetic to George Orwell and referred in interviews to Orwellian shouting voices and trembling hands convey ing the harsh atmosphere of an interrogation
The so called space frame had already been used by Alberto Giacometti in the s and the two artists became friends in the s However Giacometti had by used it only in surrealist contexts before Bacon s adaption and in turn influenced his use in The Cage of A similar two dimensional construct is found in Henry Moore s works notably his Maguette for King and Queen constructed three years after Bacon s Head It is difficult to untangle how these artists influenced and informed each other What is notable is that Bacon continued to use the motif with intervals until the end of his life Sylvester suggests his finest example is the Three Studies of the Male Back
The full length golden curtain like folds painted in heavy brush strokes are in part influenced by Degas but also similar to Titian s Portrait of Cardinal Filippo Archinto Bacon adapts the Old Master s device to isolate and distance the sitter from the viewer the black ground paint is visible through the folds making the separation all the more affecting Bacon had already used similar forms in his Chicago panel and they were to become a feature of his most acclaimed s works especially in his screaming popes He became fascinated with the veil or curtain as a motif in painting and collected many reproductions of works by Titian and Degas in which it is employed He had begun his career as an interior decorator and designer of furniture and rugs in the mid s and later said that he liked rooms hung all round with just curtains hung in even folds Veils or curtains appear in Bacon s earliest works notably the Study from the Human Body always in portraits and always in front of rather than behind the figure
Head VI is closely modelled on Velzquez s c Portrait of Innocent X today in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery Rome Bacon cautiously avoided seeing the original even when he spent three months in Rome in Critics speculate he was afraid of being disappointed or thought that an intimate knowledge of the painting would dull his imagination Yet his fascination was all consuming and he reproduced variants of it obsessively for almost two decades an examination and homage described as without parallel in the history of art Bacon s approach differs to Velzquez s in a number of ways both artists were expressive yet Bacon s broad brush strokes and freedom with paint contrast with Velzquez s tight and controlled treatment He adapts Velzquez s positioning of the pope to place him above the viewer s point of view elevating and distancing him This was already a common technique in commercial promotional photography but in Bacon s hands Schmied argues the angle places the pope on a kind of stage for the viewer to coldly observe
Although Bacon revered Velzquez s portrait he did not try and reproduce the earlier painting In interviews he said that he saw flaws in Velzquez s work and that he viewed that social structure and order as according to art historian Wieland Schmied obsolete and decayed Bacon s approach was to elevate his subject so he could knock him down again thereby making a sly comment on the treatment of royalty in both old master and contemporary painting Yet Velzquez s influence is apparent in many aspects of the painting The sitter s pose closely echoes the original as does the violet and white colouring of his cope which is built up through broad thick brush strokes The influence can be further seen in the gold coloured ornaments on the back of the seat that extend on both sides of the figure Art historian Armin Zweite describes the work as a mixture of reverence and subversion that pays tribute to Velzquez while at the same time deconstructs his painting
Sylvester detects the influence of late works by Titian in other aspects especially in the deep and rich colouring Velzquez s portrayals of Philip IV and agrees with identification of pastels of Edgar Degas as a source He believes Bacon borrowed from Degas the use of parallel heavy folds to create the illusion of what Degas described as shuttering as seen in the earlier artist s After the Bath Woman drying herself Sylvester makes a further direct link between the folds and the transparent veil in Titian s Portrait of Cardinal Filippo Archinto He believes the folds serve to push the viewer back creating a distance from the subject an effect he sees as similar to the separation between and orchestra and setting others view the folds as more closely resembling the bars of a prison Sylvester describes them as an accentuation of background verticals into stripes that are made to appear as if they pass through the sitter In his Interviews with Francis Bacon series of books he asked Bacon why he found the effect so poignant The artist replied Well it means that the sensation doesn t come straight out at you but slides slowly and gently through the gaps
When asked why he was compelled to revisit the Velzquez so often Bacon replied that he had nothing against popes per se but merely sought an excuse to use these colours and you can t give ordinary clothes that purple colour without getting into a sort of false fauve manner Schmied sees Head VI as a reaction against Velzquez and a commentary on how the papacy is obsolete and decayed with a pope resistant to both modernisation and secularisation To him the figure seems to resist the maltreatment of image and tries to halt the impending collapse of the established work order He screams and grimaces clutching at arms of his throne Sylvester notes that Bacon was impressed by Picasso s figuration and handling of paint especially in Picasso s s works and suggests that the white blobs around the pope s cape may be influenced by the Woman in a Slip Seated in an Armchair
When Bacon undertook the series late in he was something of a two hit wonder He had success in with Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion and to a lesser extent with Painting both of which were highly regarded but viewed as sensationalist The exhibition was a success and marked his critical breakthrough Until then he had been highly regarded but capable of only occasional brilliance The full show established him in the minds of critics as according to Michael Peppiatt more of a force to be reckoned with in the contemporary scene While some found his images horrifying and unnerving they wrote about him all the same sealing his reputation as the enfant terrible of post war British art The critic for The Observer wrote The recent paintings horrifying as they are cannot be ignored Technically they are superb and the masterly handling of large areas of pearly grey flushed with a sudden pink or green only makes me regret the more that the artist s gift should have been brought to subjects so esoteric
Most critics focused on Heads I and VI remarking favourably on the progression between the two While some found the inherent violence of the paintings distasteful Brausen was a skilled publicist and turned the bad press into notoriety and brought Bacon s work to national attention Peppiatt notes that the exhibition showed Bacon no longer needed sensationalist material to make an impact and was now capable of creating an intense emotional response through more subtle means and had found a way of presenting the human condition in the way he had sought by presenting his sitter in a vestigial setting a cage or behind a parted curtin the rest the most essential lay in the manipulation of the infinitely suggestive medium of oil paint After the showing Bacon gradually became less the outsider with an occasional image of horrifying brilliance and more a force to be reckoned with on the contemporary scene His reputation and the value of his panels rose dramatically and after the showing he was sought after by European American and African collectors and galleries commanding prices as high as for single works unusual for a contemporary British artist of the time
Head VI was first exhibited at the Hanover Gallery London in It was acquired by the Arts Council s Hayward Gallery in The Hayward has loaned it out a number of times since including for major retrospectives at the Grand Palais Paris in and the Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin in
In May the National Gallery took on loan Velzquez s Innocent X portrait and hung it alongside four Bacon paintings Head VI Pope I Pope and Pope Peppiatt believes that Bacon would have disapproved of such a showing with a work he considered one of the finest ever painted but writes that two including Head VI stood up to it and even enhanced its authority as one of the most penetrating studies of human nature and human power
Imagism was a movement in early th century Anglo American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear sharp language
Imagism has been described as the most influential movement in English poetry since the activity of the Pre Raphaelites As a poetic style it gave Modernism its start in the early th century and is considered to be the first organized Modernist literary movement in the English language Imagism is sometimes viewed as a succession of creative moments rather than any continuous or sustained period of development Ren Taupin remarked that It is more accurate to consider Imagism not as a doctrine nor even as a poetic school but as the association of a few poets who were for a certain time in agreement on a small number of important principles
The Imagists rejected the sentiment and discursiveness typical of much Romantic and Victorian poetry in contrast to their contemporaries the Georgian poets who were generally content to work within that tradition In contrast Imagism called for a return to what were seen as more Classical values such as directness of presentation and economy of language as well as a willingness to experiment with non traditional verse forms Imagists use free verse
Imagist publications appearing between and featured works by many of the most prominent modernist figures both in poetry and in other fields The Imagist group was centered in London with members from Great Britain Ireland and the United States Somewhat unusually for the time a number of women writers were major Imagist figures
A characteristic feature of Imagism is its attempt to isolate a single image to reveal its essence This feature mirrors contemporary developments in avant garde art especially Cubism Although Imagism isolates objects through the use of what Ezra Pound called luminous details Pound s Ideogrammic Method of juxtaposing concrete instances to express an abstraction is similar to Cubism s manner of synthesizing multiple perspectives into a single image
Well known poets of the Edwardian era of the s such as Alfred Austin Stephen Phillips and William Watson had been working very much in the shadow of Tennyson producing weak imitations of the poetry of the Victorian era They continued to work in this vein into the early years of the th century As the new century opened Austin was still the serving British Poet Laureate a post which he held up to In the century s first decade poetry still had a large audience volumes of verse published in that time included Thomas Hardy s The Dynasts Christina Rossetti s posthumous Poetical Works Ernest Dowson s Poems George Meredith s Last Poems Robert Service s Ballads of a Cheechako and John Masefield s Ballads and Poems Future Nobel Prize winner William Butler Yeats was devoting much of his energy to the Abbey Theatre and writing for the stage producing relatively little lyric poetry during this period In the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Rudyard Kipling
The origins of Imagism are to be found in two poems Autumn and A City Sunset by T E Hulme These were published in January by the Poets Club in London in a booklet called For Christmas MDCCCCVIII Hulme was a student of mathematics and philosophy he had been involved in the setting up of the club in and was its first secretary Around the end of he presented his paper A Lecture on Modern Poetry at one of the club s meetings Writing in A R Orage s magazine The New Age the poet and critic F S Flint a champion of free verse and modern French poetry was highly critical of the club and its publications From the ensuing debate Hulme and Flint became close friends In Hulme left the Poets Club and started meeting with Flint and other poets in a new group which Hulme referred to as the Secession Club they met at the Eiffel Tower restaurant in London s Soho to discuss plans to reform contemporary poetry through free verse and the tanka and haiku and the removal of all unnecessary verbiage from poems The interest in Japanese verse forms can be placed in a context of the late Victorian and Edwardian revival of interest in Chinoiserie and Japonism as witnessed in the s vogue for William Anderson s Japanese prints donated to the British Museum performances of Noh plays in London and the success of Gilbert and Sullivan s operetta The Mikado Direct literary models were available from a number of sources including F V Dickins s Hyak nin is shiu or Stanzas by a Century of Poets Being Japanese Lyrical Odes the first English language version of the Hyakunin isshu a th century anthology of waka the early th century critical writings and poems of Sadakichi Hartmann and contemporary French language translations
The American poet Ezra Pound was introduced to the group in April and found that their ideas were close to his own In particular Pound s studies of Romantic literature had led him to an admiration of the condensed direct expression that he detected in the writings of Arnaut Daniel Dante and Guido Cavalcanti amongst others For example in his series of essays I gather the limbs of Osiris Pound writes of Daniel s line pensar de lieis m es repaus it rests me to think of her from the canzone En breu brizara l temps braus You cannot get statement simpler than that or clearer or less rhetorical These criteria of directness clarity and lack of rhetoric were to be amongst the defining qualities of Imagist poetry Through his friendship with Laurence Binyon Pound had already developed an interest in Japanese art by examining Nishiki e prints at the British Museum and he quickly became absorbed in the study of related Japanese verse forms
In an article in La France the French critic Remy de Gourmont described the Imagists as descendants of the French Symbolistes and in a letter to the French critic and translator Ren Taupin Pound was keen to emphasise another ancestry for Imagism pointing out that Hulme was indebted to a Symbolist tradition linking back via William Butler Yeats Arthur Symons and the Rhymers Club generation of British poets to Mallarm and the Symbolist source was amplified further in Taupin s study published in in which he concluded however great the divergence of technique and language between the image of the Imagist and the symbol of the Symbolists there is a difference only of precision In Pound edited the poetry of another s poet Lionel Johnson for the publisher Elkin Mathews In his introduction he wrote
In Pound introduced two other poets to the Eiffel Tower group his former fiance Hilda Doolittle who had started signing her work HD and her future husband Richard Aldington These two were interested in exploring Greek poetic models especially Sappho an interest that Pound shared The compression of expression that they achieved by following the Greek example complemented the proto Imagist interest in Japanese poetry and in during a meeting with them in the British Museum tea room Pound told HD and Aldington that they were Imagistes and even appended the signature HD Imagiste to some poems they were discussing
When Harriet Monroe started her Poetry magazine in she had asked Pound to act as foreign editor In October he submitted thereto three poems each by HD and Aldington under the Imagiste rubric published in the November second issue thereof with a note which described Aldington as one of the Imagistes This note along with the appendix note The Complete Works of T S Hulme in Pound s book also published in Autumn entitled Ripostes are considered to be first appearances of the word Imagiste later anglicised to Imagists in print
Aldington s poems Choricos To a Greek Marble and Au Vieux Jardin were in the November issue of Poetry and HD s Hermes of the Ways Priapus and Epigram appeared in the January issue Imagism as a movement was launched Poetry s April issue published what came to be seen as Imagism s enabling text the haiku like poem of Ezra Pound entitled In a Station of the Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd
Petals on a wet black bough
The March issue of Poetry contained A Few Don ts by an Imagiste and the essay entitled Imagisme both written by Pound with the latter being attributed to Flint The latter contained this succinct statement of the group s position
Direct treatment of the thing whether subjective or objective
To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation
As regarding rhythm to compose in sequence of the musical phrase not in sequence of the metronome
Pound s note opened with a definition of an image as that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time Pound goes on to state It is better to present one Image in a lifetime than to produce voluminous works His list of don ts reinforced his three statements in Imagism while warning that they should not be considered as dogma but as the result of long contemplation Taken together these two texts comprised the Imagist programme for a return to what they saw as the best poetic practice of the past FS Flint commented we have never claimed to have invented the moon We do not pretend that our ideas are original
The preface to Some Imagist Poets comments Imagism does not merely mean the presentation of pictures Imagism refers to the manner of presentation not to the subject
Determined to promote the work of the Imagists and particularly of Aldington and HD Pound decided to publish an anthology under the title Des Imagistes It was first published in Alfred Kreymborg s little magazine The Glebe and was later published in by Alfred and Charles Boni in New York and by Harold Monro at the Poetry Bookshop in London It became one of the most important and influential English language collections of modernist verse Included in the thirty seven poems were ten poems by Aldington seven by HD and six by Pound The book also included work by FS Flint Skipwith Cannell Amy Lowell William Carlos Williams James Joyce Ford Madox Ford Allen Upward and John CournosMax Michelson was also another included in the important anthology by William Pratt The Imagist Poem Modern Poetry in miniature
Pound s editorial choices were based on what he saw as the degree of sympathy that these writers displayed with Imagist precepts rather than active participation in a group as such Williams who was based in the United States had not participated in any of the discussions of the Eiffel Tower group However he and Pound had long been corresponding on the question of the renewal of poetry along similar lines Ford was included at least partly because of his strong influence on Pound as the younger poet made the transition from his earlier Pre Raphaelite influenced style towards a harder more modern way of writing The inclusion of a poem by Joyce I Hear an Army which was sent to Pound by WB Yeats took on a wider importance in the history of literary modernism as the subsequent correspondence between the two led to the serial publication at Pound s behest of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in The Egoist Joyce s poem is not written in free verse but in rhyming quatrains However it strongly reflects Pound s interest in poems written to be sung to music such as those by the troubadours and Guido Cavalcanti The book met with little popular or critical success at least partly because it had no introduction or commentary to explain what the poets were attempting to do and a number of copies were returned to the publisher
The following year Pound and Flint fell out over their different interpretations of the history and goals of the group arising from an article on the history of Imagism written by Flint and published in The Egoist in May Flint was at pains to emphasise the contribution of the Eiffel Tower poets especially Edward Storer Pound who believed that the Hellenic hardness that he saw as the distinguishing quality of the poems of HD and Aldington was likely to be diluted by the custard of Storer was to play no further direct role in the history of the Imagists He went on to co found the Vorticists with his friend the painter and writer Wyndham Lewis
Around this time the American Imagist Amy Lowell moved to London determined to promote her own work and that of the other Imagist poets Lowell was a wealthy heiress from Boston whose brother Abbott Lawrence Lowell was President of Harvard University from She loved Keats and cigars She was also an enthusiastic champion of literary experiment who was willing to use her money to publish the group Lowell was determined to change the method of selection from Pound s autocratic editorial attitude to a more democratic manner This new editorial policy was stated in the Preface to the first anthology to appear under her leadership In this new book we have followed a slightly different arrangement to that of our former Anthology Instead of an arbitrary selection by an editor each poet has been permitted to represent himself by the work he considers his best the only stipulation being that it should not yet have appeared in book form The outcome was a series of Imagist anthologies under the title Some Imagist Poets The first of these appeared in planned and assembled mainly by HD and Aldington Two further issues both edited by Lowell were published in and These three volumes featured most of the original poets also including imagist poetry by the American poet John Gould Fletcher with the exception of Pound who had tried to persuade her to drop the Imagist name from her publications and who sardonically dubbed this phase of Imagism Amy gism
Lowell persuaded D H Lawrence to contribute poems to the and volumes making him the only writer to publish as both a Georgian poet and an Imagist Marianne Moore also became associated with the group during this period However with World War I as a backdrop the times were not easy for avant garde literary movements Aldington for example spent much of the war at the front and the anthology effectively marked the end of the Imagists as a movement
In Walter Lowenfels jokingly suggested that Aldington should produce a new Imagist anthology Aldington by now a successful novelist took up the suggestion and enlisted the help of Ford and HD The result was the Imagist Anthology edited by Aldington and including all the contributors to the four earlier anthologies with the exception of Lowell who had died Cannell who had disappeared and Pound who declined The appearance of this anthology initiated a critical discussion of the place of the Imagists in the history of th century poetry
Of the poets who were published in the various Imagist anthologies Joyce Lawrence and Aldington are now primarily remembered and read as novelists Marianne Moore who was at most a fringe member of the group carved out a unique poetic style of her own that retained an Imagist concern with compression of language William Carlos Williams developed his poetic along distinctly American lines with his variable foot and a diction he claimed was taken from the mouths of Polish mothers Both Pound and HD turned to writing long poems but retained much of the hard edge to their language as an Imagist legacy Most of the other members of the group are largely forgotten outside the context of the history of Imagism
Despite the movement s short life Imagism would deeply influence the course of modernist poetry in English Richard Aldington in his memoir writes I think the poems of Ezra Pound DH Lawrence and Ford Madox Ford will continue to be read And to a considerable extent T S Eliot and his followers have carried on their operations from positions won by the Imagists
On the other hand Wallace Stevens found shortcomings in the Imagist approach Not all objects are equal The vice of imagism was that it did not recognize this With its demand for hardness clarity and precision and its insistence on fidelity to appearances coupled with its rejection of irrelevant subjective emotions Imagism had later effects that are demonstratable in T S Eliot s Preludes and Morning at the Window and in D H Lawrence s animal and flower pieces The rejection of conventional verse forms in the nineteen twenties owed much to the Imagists repudiation of the Georgian Poetry style
The influence of Imagism can be seen clearly in the work of the Objectivist poets who came to prominence in the s under the auspices of Pound and Williams The Objectivists worked mainly in free verse Clearly linking Objectivism s principles with Imagism s Louis Zukofsky insisted in his introduction to the Objectivist issue of Poetry on writing which is the detail not mirage of seeing of thinking with the things as they exist and of directing them along a line of melody Zukofsky was a major influence on the Language poets who carried the Imagist focus on formal concerns to a high level of development Basil Bunting another Objectivist poet was a key figure in the early development of the British Poetry Revival a loose movement that also absorbed the influence of the San Francisco Renaissance poets
Imagism influenced a number of poetry circles and movementsWith the Imagists Free verse became a discipline and acquired status as a legitimate poetic form In the s especially with the Beat generation the Black Mountain poets and others associated with the San Francisco Renaissance In his seminal essay Projective Verse Charles Olson the theorist of the Black Mountain group wrote ONE PERCEPTION MUST IMMEDIATELY AND DIRECTLY LEAD TO A FURTHER PERCEPTION his credo derived from and supplemented the Imagists
Among the Beats Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg in particular were influenced by the Imagist emphasis on Chinese and Japanese poetry William Carlos Williams was another who had a strong effect on the Beat poets encouraging poets like Lew Welch and writing an introduction for the book publication of Ginsberg s Howl
Operation Eastern Exit was the codename given to the military evacuation of the United States embassy in Mogadishu the capital of Somalia in January In late December violence quickly enveloped the city as armed militants began clashing with government soldiers On January the US Ambassador to Somalia James Keough Bishop contacted the Department of State requesting an evacuation of the embassy which was approved the following day United States Central Command began planning and mobilizing forces that evening The initial plan was to evacuate with a military transport plane through the Mogadishu International Airport but this was later abandoned A helicopter evacuation via the USS Guam and USS Trenton was the remaining option
On the morning of January a person Marine and Navy SEAL security detail was dispatched from Guam aboard two CH E Super Stallion helicopters to secure the embassy and prepare for the main evacuation The two helicopters returned to Guam with the first evacuees Throughout the day foreign diplomats and civilians sought refuge at the embassy Four waves of five CH Sea Knight helicopters each evacuated the embassy compound shortly after midnight on January The evacuees were transported to Muscat Oman where they disembarked on January In total diplomats and civilians from countries were evacuated including heads of missions eight ambassadors and four chargs d affaires
In the late s there was increasing rebellion against the rule of Somali President Siad Barre a military dictator who maintained tight control of power and had a record of human rights abuses By what began as civil disobedience evolved into a civil war with several militias organized to overthrow the central government
In July the embassy moved to a new acre ha compound miles km from the previous embassy and James K Bishop was appointed as the United States ambassador to Somalia Ambassador Bishop had significant experience in crisis management at US embassies In he was at the US Embassy in Beirut Lebanon when the Six Day War erupted About Americans were evacuated in hours Bishop was one of diplomats and soldiers that remained in the city As deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa from Bishop chaired several task forces for crises and gained experience in the State Department s operations center as evacuations were carried out during several coups d etat During his previous assignment as Ambassador to Liberia Bishop was overseeing the voluntary evacuation of embassy staff and civilians as a civil war in Liberia spread when he left in March Soon after returning to Washington to prepare for his new appointment to Somalia he was appointed to a taskforce to deal with the crisis in Liberia which included a gradual evacuation of American civilians and a rapid closure of the embassy in August
On August before leaving the US to take up his post in Mogadishu Ambassador Bishop visited United States Central Command the military command for the Middle East and northeast Africa where he spent most of the day with its commander Gen Norman Schwarzkopf Ambassador Bishop aware of the ongoing strife believed the odds were better than even that we would have to leave Mogadishu under less than favorable circumstances Ambassador Bishop understood from his past experiences in Beirut and Liberia the importance of being prepared to deal with emergencies and spent the afternoon working with military experts to review the embassy s Emergencies and Evacuation E E plan until he was satisfied that Central Command realized that it might have to conduct an evacuation from Mogadishu and was prepared to do that In its analysis of Operation Eastern Exit the Center for Naval Analyses cited the Ambassador Bishop s previous experience and clear understanding of his role in the operation as one of the reasons Operation Eastern Exit went so well
Hours after Ambassador Bishop s visit to Central Command Iraq invaded Kuwait In the US negotiated access to an airport and port in both Mogadishu and Berbera because of limited access the US had to locations in the Persian Gulf area maintaining this access was a main interest for the Mogadishu embassy to pursue as the US mobilized to intervene in Kuwait
An increasing level of criminal violence prompted Ambassador Bishop to request the voluntary evacuation of dependents eg children and spouses of staff and non essential staff in early December although fighting between the government and the United Somali Congress a rebel militia remained no less than about miles km away The voluntary evacuation later became a mandatory evacuation By December the number of official US personnel in the city was reduced from to around the same time fighting between the government and rebels came within about miles km of Mogadishu
On December violence escalated an order of magnitude as militants entered Mogadishu which was quickly enveloped by a general state of lawlessness On December diplomats including many stationed in offices elsewhere in the city were collected and housed in the embassy compound except two volunteers who remained in the embassy s K residential apartments located across Afgoy Road from the embassy The volunteers in the K building would be needed as look outs for the embassy compound s main gate On the morning of December the defense attach was nearly killed when his vehicle was sprayed with bullets and that evening a soldier at a roadblock shot the tires of a vehicle carrying another defense official Attempts by the US and other nations diplomats in particular the Italian embassy to negotiate a ceasefire for foreigners to leave were unsuccessful Afgoy Road became a shooting gallery preventing those in safe havens outside the embassy from reaching it On New Year s Day the first American civilians began to seek refuge at the embassy
Ambassador Bishop requested an evacuation of the American community on January indicating that the evacuation could be with the planned Italian French or German evacuation efforts but preferred an evacuation by the US military The State Department authorized the evacuation on January and on that day Ambassador Bishop specifically requested an evacuation by the US military thereby initiating Operation Eastern Exit Ambassador Bishop had spent a considerable amount of time discussing contingency plans for evacuation with other diplomatic posts Ultimately ten heads of missions eight ambassadors and two chargs d affaires along with their staff sought refuge in the US embassy compound and were evacuated
Ambassador Bishop had visited Central Command in August where he worked with military experts to update the embassy s E E plan The first notice that an evacuation of the Mogadishu embassy would be needed came on the morning of January when the top naval commander at Central Command sent a message to his naval operations staff Better have Amphib crowd take a look at a helo NEO of Mogadishu time distance to get there from Masirah OP area Following the ambassador s January evacuation request the commander of Central Command ordered Air Force aircraft to the region the movement of amphibious ships to Mogadishu and requested United States Special Operations Command to prepare for a noncombatant evacuation operation
The initial plan was to evacuate via Mogadishu International Airport Soon after the evacuation request the United States Air Force deployed C transport planes and an AC for gunfire support to Nairobi Kenya awaiting clearances to enter Somalia and the ability to safely transfer evacuees from the embassy to the airport However the US and other foreign embassies were unable to contact anyone within the government to obtain clearances It also became apparent that the rebels had an ineffective command and control structure making it impossible to negotiate any ceasefire or guarantee of safe passage Likewise government troops faced a command and control problem reports indicated that army units were separating along clan lines in some cases soldiers shot officers of a different clan when given orders they disagreed with Thus it became clear that safe passage to the airport would not be possible Several other nations also had aircraft mobilized to reach Mogadishu but faced the same problems of landing and transit of evacuees to the airport
On January several incidents including a couple exchanges of gunfire suggested that the embassy s security detail was insufficient to hold off armed Somalis until the USS Guam and USS Trenton arrived with their helicopters and soldiers at that time scheduled to arrive on January The embassy had just six Marine guards whose job was limited to protecting the chancery Ambassador Bishop made an urgent request to Washington for two platoons of soldiers to parachute into the embassy to defend it until the ships arrived The request was denied but the Ambassador was told that an advance element from the vessels would reach the embassy the following morning
USS Guam and USS Trenton began transit from the coast of Oman towards Mogadishu at Oman time on January The commander of Amphibious Group Two had initially proposed a seven ship Amphibious Task Group composed of vessels anchored at Masirah Island off Oman and Dubai and including four amphibious ships so that the full range of amphibious capabilities would be available for the operation However intervention in Kuwait seemed imminent and the commander of naval forces at Central Command did not want to divert that many ships from the Persian Gulf thus the decision to send two of the closest ships Although the two vessels were selected by mid afternoon on January the transfer of some personnel from Dubai to Masirah caused a delay of eight to ten hours Guam and Trenton carried forces from the th Marine Expeditionary Brigade including a detachment of CH E Super Stallion helicopters the largest helicopters operated by the US military and two squadrons of CH Sea Knight helicopters
Planning began in earnest as the ships got underway with a combined command center on Guam On the morning of January the task force s command questioned why they were not given the option of an amphibious landing and requested a tank landing ship be added to the task force the request was denied A warrant officer who had previously served as a Marine Security Guard at the Mogadishu embassy during the mid s was found Despite Ambassador Bishop s planning with Central Command the task force was provided outdated information The former MSG told planners that a new embassy had been planned and was under construction several years prior In fact the new embassy was located further inland and after receiving updated information task force commanders determined that a beach landing requiring troops to fight their way across the city was too risky Initial plans had the ships launch their helicopters at on January However in response to indications from Ambassador Bishop that conditions in Mogadishu were deteriorating planners considered nautical mile km mi and later nautical mile km mi flights with the CH Es while the ships were still located in the northern Arabian Sea The situation in Mogadishu stabilized somewhat and the mission was delayed until January
On the evening of January the final execute order was issued for a launch of two CH E Super Stallions to arrive at the embassy at dawn The soldiers selected for the security detail were issued weapons and ammunition Two Marine Corps KC refueling tankers were mobilized closer to the operation from Bahrain to Oman to refuel the helicopters en route to Mogadishu and the two helicopters transferred from Trenton to Guam
Two CH E Super Stallions carrying a man security detail Marines and nine Navy SEALs departed Guam at nautical miles km mi from the embassy and were expected to arrive at They performed two aerial refuelings During the first refueling a pipe burst on one of the helicopters dousing soldiers in fuel and nearly forcing a return to the Guam problems with the helicopters navigation system also complicated the refueling rendezvous The helicopters arrived in Mogadishu at dawn crossing the coast just south of the harbor at feet m in altitude on a route that was planned to avoid areas of more intense violence reported in the northern parts of the city On their arrival in Mogadishu the crew of the helicopters were using an outdated map which showed the embassy in an isolated area Furthermore they had been told the embassy could be discerned by its white stucco perimeter wall and golf course The embassy was in fact surrounded by new development and the crew saw white stucco walls around many buildings in the city The helicopters were flying too low to spot a strobe light which was placed on the embassy s water tower the highest point within the embassy compound and the golf course in the embassy compound had a black oil coated surface not the familiar green grass that the helicopter crew would recognizeAfter breaking radio silence their only direct communication with the embassy was unencrypted to contact the embassy they were able to discern it and land at As they arrived a group of about to Somalis were attempting to enter the embassy compound via ladders on the wall but scattered as the helicopters arrived
The security detail moved to establish a perimeter around the embassy compound and the Air Force s AC arrived to provide overhead support Ambassador Bishop gave the security detail clear instructions on the rules of engagement they could only use deadly force if people came over the embassy compound s walls with obvious hostile intent He also identified three zones of defense stating a preference to retreat to the third zone before the use of deadly force
the Chancery Joint Administrative Office JAO building Marine House and the helicopter landing zone HLZ
the chancery and JAO buildings the two safehaven buildings where the evacuees were held
Ambassador Bishop clearly explained his rationale to the security detail which was to avoid any impression that they were intervening in the violence in Mogadishu He feared that the embassy would be targeted by organized attacks if any group involved in the clashes got the impression that the US was intervening in the conflict To this effect he requested the Voice of America and BBC broadcast announcements that the forces were present only to evacuate the embassy and would not interfere in the conflict The Marines who had been doused in fuel during the refueling were able to take a shower and wash their clothes
After an hour on the ground the helicopters left with the first evacuees including all American civilians and four heads of mission Evacuees were provided blankets on one of the flights to remain warm Complications with the only in flight refueling on the return nearly prevented refueling which would have forced the helicopters to divert to the Somali desert and await a rescue At the helicopters arrived on Guam and unloaded the evacuees
No threats came upon the embassy during the day although truckloads of armed Somalis frequently drove by the embassy along Afghoy Road Only one incident seemed to directly target the embassy A sniper and a spotter were positioned on the embassy s water tower the highest structure in the compound and came under fire they were ordered to not return fire and soon thereafter ordered to leave their position on the water tower
The Office of Military Cooperation just one and a half blocks from the embassy required evacuation Despite its proximity to the embassy an armed convoy was needed to evacuate persons trapped there by the unrest A convoy of vehicles with several Marines and SEALs left the embassy at and returned ten minutes later with persons from the OMC four Americans a Filipino and Kenyans This was the only excursion outside the embassy by the security detail Throughout the day foreign diplomats contacted the embassy desiring to be evacuated the US welcomed these requests but required all of them to find their own transportation to the embassy
A Somali officer who had a previous relationship with the embassy Major Siad agreed to travel to rescue the German charg d affaires and British ambassador junior staff from the British embassy had previously come to the US embassy The Soviet Union was unable to land a plane in Mogadishu the previous day and the Soviet ambassador asked Ambassador Bishop if he and his staff could be rescued Ambassador Bishop a tennis partner of his Soviet counterpart agreed but only if they found their own way to the embassy Seeing the helicopters on the morning of January they realized the Americans would not remain in the city much longer At the request of Ambassador Bishop Major Siad agreed to transport the Soviets but only if he was paid enough the US embassy paid Major Siad who returned with the Soviet ambassador and of his staff The brother of President Barre who was also a Major General and Chief of Police showed up at the embassy in the afternoon with members of his family requesting to be evacuated but was turned away after a vocal conversation with the ambassador
The operation did not include soldiers to handle the evacuation control center ECC which was set up in the JAO A person force consisting primarily of soldiers to handle the ECC was planned for insertion with the CH E Super Stallions after they had returned to the Guam However this was cancelled over objections from the commander of the security detail The deficit was partially handled by embassy staff who assisted a few soldiers from the security detail The evacuees were grouped into person sticks to be loaded onto the helicopters and were limited to one piece of luggage apiece Some attempted to bring more resulting in problems coordinating their evacuation Furthermore many evacuees had pets they wanted to bring which were not allowed Most pets were killed by their owners some were given poison Meanwhile the soldiers were allowed to consume anything they wanted from the embassy s commissary such as candy sodas and souvenirs most had been stationed on ships for several months They were also allowed use or take anything they needed from the embassy the medic filled several bags with medical supplies to return to the ship
As evening approached work began to prepare the HLZ for the main evacuation The area was used as a parking lot and several vehicles were left without keys by staff that had already been evacuated Some cars had to be broken into to be moved Chemical lights were placed in the HLZ in a NATO Y pattern The entire mission would be conducted with night vision goggles which required all lights in the embassy compound to be turned off
The main evacuation occurred in the early morning hours of January and consisted of four waves of five CH helicopters The timing of this phase was determined by range of the CH Sea Knight which lack aerial refueling capability the ships were about nautical miles km mi away during this phase An AC was sent from Saudi Arabia to provide gunfire support during the evacuation and two UH Iroquois helicopters were on standby to provide gunfire support but were not deployed
The first wave departed Guam at As the second wave landed Major Siad arrived at the embassy gate accompanied by two truckloads of soldiers and held a grenade in one hand and a radio in the other His request to speak with the ambassador was granted Major Siad demanded that the evacuation cease immediately because the Somali government had not granted the US permission to carry out such a military operation He claimed that he would radio soldiers to shoot down the helicopters if the operation continued The second and third waves were able to depart without incident as the ambassador negotiated with the Major who finally agreed to settle the matter for several thousand dollars in cash and keys to the ambassador s armored car Ambassador Bishop remained engaged in conversation with the Major until he reached the helicopter landing zone to depart with the final wave to prevent the Major from reneging on the deal The final wave departed the embassy at and landed on Guam at twenty minutes later Ambassador Bishop declared the evacuation complete
Armed looters were observed entering the embassy compound as the final wave departed The doors of the chancery the main building of the embassy were reportedly blown open by RPGs within two hours of the embassy s evacuation Somali employees of the embassy known as foreign service nationals FSNs could not be evacuated Ambassador Bishop tried unsuccessfully to have these employees airlifted to safer parts of Somalia Many of the FSNs had sought refuge in the embassy with their families and about were hired as guards and protected the embassy throughout the ordeal Local banks had been closed for some time and the embassy was unable to pay the FSNs The Ambassador left the FSNs with keys to the commissary and warehouse on the embassy compound and they were permitted to take anything they needed
A total of evacuees were taken from the embassy including heads of missions eight ambassadors and four chargs d affaires and Americans including Ambassador Bishop and embassy staff The heads of mission were the ambassadors of the United States Kenya Nigeria Soviet Union Sudan Turkey United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom and the chargs of the embassies of Germany Kuwait Oman and Qatar
Rather than disembark in nearby Mombasa as originally thought by the evacuees the ships were ordered back to Oman a five day journey The sailors and marines made way for the evacuees to share living quarters When the chaplain of Guam asked crew to sign up as guides for the evacuees while aboard the vessel two hundred signed up within an hour and some of the sailors even dressed up as clowns to ease the ordeal for children At the request of the ambassadors a formal session with the ships senior officers was held to express their thanks On January the evacuees were offloaded at Muscat Oman That afternoon the American evacuees were flown to Frankfurt Germany from where they continued home
The Claxton Shield was the th Claxton Shield tournament the premier baseball competition in Australia and was held from November to February It was hailed as the precursor to the new Australian Baseball League that will start in the place of the Claxton Shield in late to early The Victoria Aces defeated South Australia two games to nil in the championship series to win the tournament this was the nd time the Claxton Shield had been awarded to a Victorian team The competition was sponsored by Domino s Pizza
At the conclusion of the regular season the Victoria Aces finished in first place with a record earning home field advantage for the three game championship series South Australia hosted the three game semi final series against the New South Wales Patriots Both teams finished with a record The Perth Heat and Queensland Rams both failed to qualify for the finals
In June it was announced that the rights to the Claxton Shield had been sold to a new Australian Baseball League ABL with ownership split between Major League Baseball s percent share and the percent share owned by the Australian Baseball Federation The tournament was considered preparation for the inaugural ABL season starting in It varied from the Claxton Shield by expanding the season to include ten rounds Since an uneven number five teams were involved four teams paired off for each round and played a three game series while the remaining team took a bye During the season each team had two bye rounds and played two rounds against each other team one at home and one away In total the schedule allowed for regular season games per team before a postseason similar to the edition the first place team directly qualified for the championship series and played against the winner of a playoff series between the second and third place teams
During the regular season games were played on a Friday night and a doubleheader on Saturday in each doubleheader one of the two games was shortened to seven innings The exception to this was when Perth played their home games they played on a Thursday night instead of a doubleheader on Saturday Each postseason series was scheduled for a Friday Saturday and Sunday
The series allowed each team to make use of a man active roster Exceptions were made in two cases that allowed teams active rosters to expand to players both times for the same reason Two games during the season had to be postponed because of poor weather Both games involved teams meeting for the first time during the season make up games were scheduled at the start of the return series between the teams and this resulted in two four game series In both cases the teams had a man roster for the make up game and an expanded man roster for the originally scheduled series
The Claxton Shield was contested between five teams from around Australia In previous years many of the teams had played their home games at multiple venues This season each team held their home games at only one venue There was one scheduled exception to this at the start of the season the New South Wales Patriots final home series against the Perth Heat was held at Gilchrist Oval whereas all of their other home games were held at Blacktown Baseball Stadium
As a result of poor attendance at Geelong Baseball Park game one of the fifth round series between New South Wales and the Victoria Aces was moved to La Trobe University Melbourne Although the Geelong games had attracted crowds of no more than the moved game had an attendance of Though no further regular season games were moved the finals series hosted by the Aces was held at La Trobe University as well
The venues are as follows
A game postponed from Round held in Round was played with Victoria Aces as the away team and Queensland Rams as the home team despite being played at Geelong Baseball Park Geelong Victoria
A game postponed from Round held in Round was played with South Australia as the away team and Victoria Aces as the home team despite being played at Norwood Oval Adelaide South Australia
The Queensland Rams were the first team to be eliminated from contention for the finals after being swept four games to nil by the Victoria Aces in round The following round saw South Australia clinch a position in the finals despite finishing the round in second position It was not until the final round that the last two spots in the finals were decided the Aces clinched top spot by sweeping the Perth Heat which combined with the New South Wales Patriots sweep of the Rams eliminated Perth from contention and secured the last finals spot for the Patriots
The Claxton Shield made use of the same finals structure as had been used in the season The top three teams at the conclusion of the ten rounds of regular season games qualified The second and third place teams faced in each other in a best of three series hosted by the second place team The winner of that series then faced the first place team for a best of three series South Australia hosted the New South Wales Patriots at Norwood Oval Adelaide while the Victoria Aces hosted the championship series at La Trobe University Melbourne In the finals the home team and away team alternated during each of the series As a result South Australia was officially the away team for game two of its series against New South Wales as was Victoria in the championship series
After defeating the Patriots two games to one in the semi final series South Australia progressed to the championship series against the Aces There they were defeated two games to nil After game two of the championship series Victoria s Matthew Blackmore was named both Claxton Shield Final Series MVP and Pitcher of the Year
At the conclusion of the finals series the winner of two awards were announced Matthew Blackmore won both the Pitcher of the Year award and the Finals Series MVP award At the Baseball Australia Diamond Awards held on March at the Hotel Grand Chancellor Adelaide Wayne Lundgren was announced as the th winner of the Helms Award the Claxton Shield s Most Valuable Player award Lundgren was the first pitcher to win since Runners up by two votes were Paul Mildren and Michael Collins
Independiente is the thirteenth Spanish language studio album by Guatemalan singer songwriter Ricardo Arjona released on September Recorded in the United States and Mexico it was produced by Arjona with Dan Warner Lee Levin and Puerto Rican singer songwriter Tommy Torres The album the first independent release by Arjona after he was signed by Sony Music in and Warner Music in was issued by his own label Metamorfosis
Composed and written in a year the record marks Arjona and Torres fourth collaboration For Independiente Arjona returns to his trademark sound after his stylistic departure for Poquita Ropa While producing the latter he had used fewer instruments to simplify his sound having introduced what had been called a stripped down acoustic effort in his music Independiente has been compared to his earlier recordings Historias and Animal Nocturno
Independiente became Arjona s fourth number one album on the Billboard Top Latin Albums where it debuted for the week ending October For thirteen non consecutive weeks it topped the Latin Pop Albums chart and reached number one on the Mexican Albums Chart It is his fifth consecutive album to chart on the Billboard reaching number sixty five and his fourth album to chart in Spain peaking at number sixty eight Within one week after its release Independiente was certified gold in Chile the United States and Mexico and certified platinum in Venezuela and Argentina
Five singles have been released from the album The lead single El Amor became a commercial success in several Latin American countries and was number one on the Billboard Latin Songs and Latin Pop Songs charts It was followed by Fuiste T featuring Gaby Moreno which reached number one on the Latin Pop Songs number two on the Latin Songs charts and topped several other national charts Mi Novia Se Me Est Poniendo Vieja was released in May Te Quiero in July and Si Tu No Existieras in November To promote Independiente Arjona embarked on his Metamorfosis World Tour
In Arjona wanted to change his musical style after experimenting with using as few instruments as possible he obtained a sound similar to an a capella performance simplifying his sound and introduced what he called a stripped down acoustic effort to his music This was heard on his twelfth studio album Poquita Ropa Arjona produced the album with Dan Warner who has worked with Shakira Celine Dion and Christina Aguilera When promoting the album Arjona said songs are like women they get things up and are so concerned about this that they forget that the less clothes more beauty The songs are often overwhelmed by ourselves because we saturate them with arrangements looking to exalt their qualities and we end up hiding them Poquita Ropa became the first album since Adentro which Arjona recorded without Torres
Weeks before the release of Independiente Arjona issued a letter raising the issue of his past relationships with recording companies He revealed the circumstances of his first contract a producer friend of mine told them the record label that if they did not sign me in they won t sign two artists he had at that time Arjona further explained that he received the minimum royalty percentage from his most successful albums Independiente is Arjona s first independent release through his own label Metamorfosis a company he created to refocus his career The company is presided by Arjona and several friends including photographer director Ricardo Caldern Universal Music Mxico executive Humberto Calderon and BMG s Miriam Sommerz and is based in Miami and Mexico City Arjona commented that his independence represented compromise more than freedom stating that Inside the word Independent even when it sounds like extreme freedom there s a big amount of compromise and the responsibility of being able to administrate in the best way possible such independence Billboard notes that although other groups have released independent albums following contracts with major labels Arjona is the most important Latin pop artist to do so Although the album is marketed within the new label distribution was handled by Warner Music
Independiente marked Arjona s fourth collaboration with Torres The latter was a composer and producer also receiving background vocal credit The musicians first worked together in when Arjona released his tenth studio album Adentro He stated that he first tested Torres by sending him the hookiest and darkest tracks on the album Acompaame A Estar Solo and Iluso Torres then went all out on the first demo hiring a full band that included a string orchestra In Quin Dijo Ayer Torres produced the singles Quin and Quiero and provided background vocals on the remastered versions of Arjona s past hits In to Piso Torres produced several tracks one was the lead single Como Duele considered Arjona s biggest hit in years by Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic
The album was composed over a one year period Most of its production was handled by three producers familiar with Arjona s work Dan Warner Lee Levin and Dan Rudin Tommy Torres also produced three tracks the lead single El Amor second single Fuiste T and Hay Amores Victor Patrn produced two songs Caudillo and the piano version of Mi Novia Se Me Est Poniendo Vieja and Julio Chvez aided in the production of Reconciliacin Arjona wrote all the songs except El Amor which was co written with Torres The album was recorded and produced in several cities in the United States and Mexico Independiente was mixed at the Blue Grotto in Nashville Tennessee and mastered by Tom Coyne and Aya Merrill at Sterling Sound in New York City With Torres return to producing Arjona regained the classic trademark sound which Torres helped develop since
Independiente opens with Lo Que Est Bien Est Mal a Latin pop song and the only track composed by Dan Warner instead of Arjona who wrote the lyrics El Amor was motivated by Arjona s desire to examine those big dark events within love that nobody talks about he continued the dark sides of love are extremely fundamental to understand its great value Arjona added So many good things abould love has been shown that somebody had to turn it around and tell the bad ones In a February interview Arjona stated that El Amor was the most tawdry song he had released to date explaining that their choice of the song was a contradiction because it was not the song which could better represent the entire album He described it as very strong and a bit dark The single marked Arjona s return to his signature mainstream sound after the Cuban music influenced Poquita Ropa s lead single Puente a mixture of salsa and merengue which failed to make an impact in the United States
The album includes Fuiste T a duet with Guatemalan singer Gaby Moreno Its instrumentation consists of piano violin guitars drums and other percussion Although Arjona stated that he had the possibilities to record this song with very well known people he expressed his happiness with Moreno revealing that the possibilities of doing it with her for me are a celebration He described Moreno as incredibly talented a countrywoman and a fantastic human being Arjona named Fuiste T as one of the most important songs on the album Mi Novia Se Me Est Poniendo Vieja took two years to complete and Arjona dedicated it to his mother Noem Morales He stated that he wrote it as a gift for my mom on Mother s Day and that he thought the idea of including it on the album was very good As with his single Seora De Las Cuatro Decadas on s Historias at first he never thought to include the song on an album Caudillo evokes the image of some friends Arjona had at college he asserted that he appears constantly there because sometimes we transform ourselves into a contradiction of all those things we fought in those moments It s the history of a student leader that becomes a president Arjona dedicated the album to his father who died in
Independiente was first digitally released in some South American countries on September as a special edition dubbed the Cono Sur Edition This version included a different mix of Reconciliacin On September the digital download for the standard edition of the album was released in several Latin American and European countries On October the album was officially released as a digital download and compact disc in most of these same markets as well as North America an iTunes edition was released as a digital download on the iTunes music store This version included an album only video entitled Independiente In Germany the album was first available on the Kiwi label on October and on October through Warner Music In Canada and Spain the compact disc version of the album was available on October
Arjona appeared on a television special in to promote Independiente The special featured guest appearances by Gaby Moreno Ricky Muoz of the Mexican band Intocable and Paquita la del Barrio Broadcast by Televisa the program showcased the fourteen songs on Independiente Muoz said that he was happy to do things for Ricardo Arjona elaborating that they met each other some time ago and it was a very special situation The show was later rebroadcast on November by Canal de las Estrellas
The first single from Independiente is El Amor released on August In the United States it reached number one on the Billboard Top Latin Songs chart Arjona s fourth number one on that chart following Desnuda Cuando and El Problema and number one on the Billboard Latin Pop Songs chart It was also a hit in Latin America reaching number one in Argentina Mexico Colombia Venezuela Chile Costa Rica Panama and Guatemala The music video for El Amor filmed in black and white was released on September It was directed by Ricardo Caldern who also directed Arjona s music video for Como Duele and filmed in Mexico City The second single from the album is Fuiste T a duet with Guatemalan singer Gaby Moreno The music video for the song was shot in Guatemala around the tropical areas of Antigua Guatemala Ro Dulce the Atitln lake Semuc Champey and the Tikal ruins and directed by Argentine director Joaqun Cambre Arjona commented that this video recreates the battle on the couple when someone starts to talk is the beginning of the end Fuiste T reached number two on the Billboard Top Latin Songs and number one on the Latin Pop Songs charts
Mi Novia Se Me Est Poniendo Vieja was released as the third single Arjona wrote the song for his mother Noem Morales The music video for the song released in April was filmed at Universal Studios in Los Angeles It features Arjona and his son Ricardo Arjona Jr and was directed by Robert Garca The song was used by American telecommunications corporation AT T for a Nokia Lumia smartphone commercial featuring Arjona and was released in music stores in May The fourth single from the album Te Quiero was released in July The music video for the song was filmed during Arjona s concerts at Vlez Stadium in Buenos Aires Argentina during his Metamorfosis World Tour It marks Arjona s first music video taken from a live performance The song reached number ten in Mexico and number one on both the Billboard Latin Songs and Latin Pop Songs chart Si Tu No Existieras was released in November as the set s fifth and final single and was intended to promote the re release of the album The song which music video was similar to that of Te Quiero managed to peak at number in Mexico
Beginning on January in Toluca Mexico Arjona embarked on a world tour to promote the album The Metamorfosis World Tour was announced in December and visited the Americas The show consisted of four theatrical sets on a revolving stage Arjona performed on each in turn as it relateed to each song Fellow Guatemalan singer songwriter Gaby Moreno appeared in several performances joining Arjona for Fuiste T The tour was praised by critics and fans Natalie Torres of Dia a Dia reported Arjona knows how to handle his girls with a mix of attitudes from a rough male and seductive lyrics
Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that Arjona is one of Latin pop s finest lyricists observant nuanced sometimes wry sometimes melancholy and especially fond of the play of opposites He added unlike some of his fellow Latin pop stars Mr Arjona is no saccharine lover boy The tour broke records for ticket sales commercial gross and attendance In Buenos Aires it was the most popular show at Velez Stadium with a total attendance of more than for four consecutive sold out concerts In Guatemala City Arjona was the first artist with two consecutive sold out concerts at Mateo Flores Stadium with a combined attendance of more than As of October the tour has been performed for close to one million people in more than eight countries
Independiente debuted at the top of the Billboard Top Latin Albums for the week ending October and remained at that position the following week It was the third album by Arjona to remain for more than a week at number one after Galera Caribe and to Piso Independiente became his fourth chart topper following Poquita Ropa For its third week it fell to number two replaced by Chino Nacho s Supremo The album also debuted at number one on the Latin Pop Albums chart for the week ending October becoming Arjona s fifth album to do so It remained at number one the following week for its third week it was replaced by Supremo The album reached number one again for the week ending November and later for the week ending February For its second run it remained three weeks at the top before being replaced by Man s Drama y Luz for a week for its third run at number one it remained at the top spot for five weeks For the week ending June Independiente returned again to number one
For the week it debuted atop both the Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums charts Independiente also appeared as number on the Billboard It is Arjona s fifth consecutive album to chart on that list following Adentro Quin Dijo Ayer to Piso and Poquita Ropa although it has only charted higher than Adentro In Mexico Independiente debuted at number one for the week ending October The following week it fell to number two replaced at the top by Espinoza Paz Canciones Que Duelen For its third week the album fell to number three In Argentina Independiente debuted at number one for the week ending October it remained at the top position for a single week dropping to number five the following week The album also charted on Spain reaching number The following week it fell off the chart but later re entered reaching its peak at number Independiente is Arjona s fourth album to chart in Spain following Adentro to Piso and Poquita Ropa On the year end charts Independiente was the th best selling album on the Latin Albums chart and the th best seller on the Latin Pop Albums chart In Mexico it was the th best selling album of
Independiente was certified platinum by the Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers in recognition of copies sold It was also certified gold and platinum by the Mexican Association of Producers of Phonograms and Videograms for copies shipped In the United States Independiente was certified Latin platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for copies shipped In Venezuela the album was certified double platinum for more than copies sold It was certified gold in Chile for copies shipped and in Colombia for copies sold As of November Independiente has sold copies in the United States
David Jeffries of Allmusic gave the album a mildly positive review citing Arjona s return to his more mainstream style after the stripped down acoustic effort Poquita Ropa He compared as did Arjona and other critics the production values and musical style of Independiente with past albums Animal Nocturno and Historias Finally he stated that Returning fans will revel in this combination of freedom and growth and appreciate the return of producer Tommy Torres the man who has been behind the boards for quite a few of Arjona s most popular releases referring to Torres absence from the production of Poquita Ropa
A contributor to the Colombian website CMI commented that listening to Independiente is a labyrinth to go through each song is a huge path that seems to have no end because it involves imagination it invites you to dream to charm to bewitch But neither leaves behind the problematic requirements of love its loopholes hideouts and concerns as well as its bad times in this joke that s life Independiente was nominated at the Premios Juventud of for the Lo Toco Todo I Play It All award On September the album received two nominations at the th Annual Latin Grammy Awards Album of the Year and Best Singer songwriter album On December Independiente received a nomination for Pop Album of the Year at the Premios Lo Nuestro awards It also received a nomination for Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album at the Grammy Awards of Arjona does not win the latter award since with Adentro in a shared win with Mexican singer Julieta Venegas In February Independiente received a nomination for Latin Pop Album of the Year at the Billboard Latin Music Awards of
All songs written and composed by Ricardo Arjona except where noted
Credits are taken from Independiente liner notes
The Pacific typhoon season was a slightly below average yearlong period of tropical cyclogenesis exhibiting the development of tropical depressions of which became named storms of those became typhoons Though every month with the exception of February and March featured tropical activity most storms developed from May through October During the season tropical cyclones affected the Philippines Japan China the Korean Peninsula Indochina and various islands in the western Pacific
The season ran year round with the first storm Yanyan developing west of the Marshall Islands on January In April Typhoon Kujira became one of the longest lasting Pacific typhoons in history and attained climatological records for its unusually early impacts Typhoon Imbudo in July caused several deaths and extensive damage across the Philippines and China In September Typhoon Maemi became one of the costliest typhoons in recorded history after striking South Korea Maemi was also the most intense tropical cyclone of the season with a minimum barometric pressure of mbar hPa inHg In late November Typhoon Lupit devastated areas of Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia The season closed with the dissipation of a tropical depression east of the Philippines on December
The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean north of the equator and west of the International Date Line Storms that form east of the date line and north of the equator are called hurricanes see Pacific hurricane season Tropical Storms formed in the entire west Pacific basin are assigned a name by the Tokyo Typhoon Center Tropical depressions in this basin monitored by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center JTWC have the W suffix added to their number Tropical depressions that enter or form in the Philippine area of responsibility are assigned a name by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration or PAGASA This can often result in the same storm having two names
On March meteorologists from the University College London at the Tropical Storm Risk TSR Consortium issued an extended range forecast for the typhoon season noting the likelihood of near average tropical cyclone activity as a result of projected neutral sea surface temperatures The forecast indicated the potential for tropical storms compared to the and year average of and storms respectively The following month the group raised their forecast for tropical storms to indicating a slightly above average season Over next two months however fluctuations in sea surface temperatures particularly those in the Central Pacific caused the group to revise their predictions downward and indicated the probability for a slightly below average typhoon season in their June forecast A rise in sea surface temperatures in the following months prompted the forecasting group to once again raise their forecasts to indicate a near average season in their final August forecast update which predicted tropical storms The group was very accurate in their forecasts with their April and August forecasts being the most accurate
Similarly meteorologists working with the City University of Hong Kong issued a seasonal projection on April indicating the likelihood of a normal or below normal season with total tropical cyclones tropical storms and typhoons As with the TSR the group primarily based their forecast numbers on the prevailing status of the El Nio Southern Oscillation The City University of Hong Kong revised their forecasts on June indicating a slight increase of total tropical cyclones to The group was also accurate in their forecasts for the entirety of the Northwest Pacific though their specialized forecasts for the South China Sea were substantially off
During the year the Japan Meteorological Agency JMA issued advisories on tropical cyclones west of the International Date Line to the Malay Peninsula and north of the equator this was due to the agency s status as the official Regional Specialized Meteorological Center as designated by the World Meteorological Organization in The JMA issued forecasts and analyses four times a day beginning at UTC and continuing every six hours The JMA issued forecasts based on a climatological tropical cyclone forecast model The agency estimated minute sustained winds and barometric pressure based on the Dvorak technique and numerical weather prediction The JTWC also issued warnings on storms within the basin operating from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to represent the interests of the United States Armed Forces in the Indian and Pacific Oceans
Throughout the season sea surface temperatures within the western equatorial Pacific were above normal including those in the South China Sea Areas of convection persisted year round in the lower latitudes particularly around the Philippines Atmospheric divergence was also prevalent in the same regions resulting in enhanced tropical cyclogenesis east of the Philippines in the mean region of development of tropical systems during the year was more southwest than the year average In the JMA monitored tropical cyclones of at least tropical storm intensity of those reached typhoon intensity Though the number of tropical storms was below average the ratio between tropical storms and typhoons was greater than normal The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration PAGASA monitored three additional cyclones of at least tropical storm intensity that were not monitored by the JMA
The season began with the formation of Tropical Storm Yanyan on January After its dissipation five days later no tropical cyclones of at least tropical storm intensity developed over the next two months This period of inactivity ended with the formation of Typhoon Kujira in mid April Kujira was one of the longest lived Pacific storms on record and was the first typhoon with minute sustained winds of at least km h mph in April since Typhoon Isa in Tropical activity was enhanced from May to June and during this period the JMA monitored four tropical storms while the PAGASA monitored a fifth storm off the eastern Philippines Three of the four tropical storms monitored by the JMA approached or hit Japan including Typhoon Soudelor which brought heavy rainfall and wind across the Ryukyu Islands and the Korean Peninsula
Tropical activity once again declined towards the second half of June and first half of July The second half of July however featured the development of typhoons Imbudo and Koni which both tracked westward across the Philippines before striking areas near Saipan and other regions of southeastern China Imbudo caused the deaths of people and US million in damage August was a highly active month for tropical cyclogenesis with a total of six tropical storms monitored by the JMA JTWC and PAGASA This included typhoons Krovanh and Dujuan which also struck southeastern China Typhoon Etau earlier in the month made landfall in Japan resulting in deaths
Activity was somewhat below average in September with only one tropical cyclone making landfall Maemi However Maemi was the strongest tropical cyclone of the season and was the costliest with roughly US billion in damage mostly in South Korea Tropical cyclogenesis and activity continued to decline after August with October featuring only three tropical storms However two Ketsana and Parma reached typhoon intensity both stayed away from land November featured less storms but was climatologically average with two typhoons developing The second typhoon Lupit devastated portions of Yap State resulting in approximately million in damage In December the JTWC and PAGASA monitored a sole tropical system east of the Philippines though the JMA did not monitor or classify any tropical cyclones during the month
In storm information below wind speed advisories differ from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center JTWC to the JMA as the JTWC uses the United States criteria of minute mean to designate maximum sustained winds while the JMA uses the minute mean wind criteria to designate tropical cyclone maximum sustained winds This difference generally results in JTWC maximum winds appearing higher than the maximum winds described by the JMA for the same cyclone
On January the JTWC began monitoring the disturbance that would eventually develop into Yanyan near the International Date Line As the system tracked westward it gradually moved into a more favorable environment for tropical cyclogenesis On January surface observations indicated that the low pressure area had developed a closed low level circulation center indicative of a tropical cyclone satellite imagery remained inconclusive Nonetheless the JMA classified the pressure area as a tropical depression west of the Marshall Islands at UTC on January The JTWC would follow suit by classifying the storm as such at UTC later that day At the time the depression was tracking west northwest under the influence of a subtropical ridge to the north Over the next day the system waned in convective activity before resuming its previous track and accelerating At UTC on January the JTWC upgraded the system to tropical storm intensity though the storm remained nameless as the JMA continued to classify it as a tropical depression
Throughout January the tropical storm would again oscillate in strength resulting in a brief downgrade by the JTWC to tropical depression intensity However an increase in deep convection resulted in its reclassification as a tropical storm at UTC that day followed by the JMA upgrading the system to tropical storm intensity at UTC on January As such the storm received the name Yanyan At roughly the same time the tropical cyclone began to stall east of the Mariana Islands and curve sharply northeastward Whilst the JTWC indicated that Yanyan peaked in strength late on January with minute sustained winds of km h mph the JMA considered the system to have maintained the same intensity throughout its stint as a tropical storm Steered by the same nearby subtropical ridge Yanyan would continue to track towards the northeast into a less favorable tropical cyclone environment The JMA downgraded Yanyan to tropical depression at UTC on January before the storm transitioned into an extratropical cyclone as its low level circulation center decoupled from the primary mass of convection due to strong wind shear At UTC both the JTWC and JMA discontinued the monitoring of Yanyan
Kujira developed from a broad area of disturbed weather as a tropical depression on April well removed from any landmasses Shortly after development Kujira quickly intensified in its early stages and was upgraded to a tropical storm just two days after cyclogenesis Strengthening slowed afterwards though the storm attained typhoon intensity on April Intensification continued and late on April Kujira reached its peak intensity with winds of km h mph and a minimum barometric pressure of mbar hPa inHg Following peak intensity Kujira would begin to track northwest and oscillate in strength cresting an additional two times in intensity On April the typhoon was downgraded to tropical storm intensity and began to track erratically for several days east of Taiwan However on April Kujira would resume a northward track and begin to weaken and on April was downgraded to tropical depression strength as it made landfall on Kyushu Following landfall Kujira transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on April which persisted until crossing the International Dateline towards the end of April
Shortly after developing Kujira caused two fatalities in Pohnpei in addition to minor agricultural and infrastructural damage similar effects were felt in Guam Several days later the typhoon prompted cyclone warnings and other precautionary measures in the Philippines after forecasts indicated the potential for strong winds and rain However ultimately any effects in the archipelago associated with Kujira remained minimal The typhoon also prompted warning products in Taiwan making it the first April typhoon since to cause such a feat Unlike in the Philippines however Kujira would bring significant rainfall to Taiwan Effects from the typhoon were most significant in Japan particularly in the Ryukyu Islands Strong winds rain and waves caused US million in agricultural damage on Ishigaki Island One person was killed due to injuries resulting from the waves In Kyushu heavy rainfall peaking at mm in in ita Prefecture was reported Overall despite its distance away from land and weak intensity at the time of its sole landfall Kujira resulted in three fatalities
Midday on May the JTWC began to monitor an area of persistent disturbed weather associated with a broad low pressure area southwest of Chuuk Within highly conductive conditions the disturbance quickly organized and became classified as a tropical depression at UTC the following day In its initial stages the depression tracked slowly northeastwards However a shortwave trough forced a weakness in a nearby ridge allowing for the storm to take a more streamlined northward path At UTC on May the JMA upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Chan hom Following the system s naming Chan hom temporarily meandered towards the northwest before resuming its northeasterly track The next day the storm began to develop an eye this was reflected with an upgrade by the JMA to typhoon status at UTC on May Gradual intensification followed and at UTC that day Chan hom reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of km h mph and a minimum pressure of mbar hPa inHg
Following peak intensity Chan hom began to intake dry air beginning on May At roughly the same time the typhoon began to weaken and accelerate towards the northeast Conditions continued to worsen as the storm moved further north and as the cyclone passed east of Minamitorishima it was downgraded to tropical storm classification By this time Chan hom had lost much of its convection due to wind shear Early on May Chan hom had fully transitioned into an extratropical cyclone and these remnants continued to track towards the northeast These extratropical remnants dissipated south of the Aleutian Islands the following day Early in the typhoon s existence Chan hom posed a potential threat to Guam but remained well east of the island However after passing to the northeast winds from the typhoon fanned volcanic ash from the recently erupting Anatahan volcano towards the island prompting precautionary measures in Guam Ashfalls were reported on the island forcing the cancellation of several flights As a tropical storm Chan hom caused some damage to homes and crops on Chuuk mostly due to heavy rains brought forth by the storm Offshore a ton fishing vessel the Nien Feioch sank during the storm The ship was valued at million
Tropical Storm Linfa developed as a tropical depression just off the western coast of Luzon on May The disturbance quickly intensified to reach tropical storm intensity a few hours after cyclogenesis However intensification leveled off as Linfa executed a small clockwise loop before a subsequent landfall on Luzon on May Due to land interaction the storm temporarily weakened and decoupled before reforming in the Philippine Sea Afterwards Linfa began reintensifying and reached its peak intensity on May with maximum sustained winds of km h mph and a barometric pressure of mbar hPa inHg Following its peak the tropical storm began to deteriorate and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on May these extratropical remnants continued to track northward through Japan before dissipating in the Sea of Okhotsk on June
The erratic and slow movement of Linfa off the western Philippines was the catalyst for extreme rainfall and flooding killing persons in the archipelago Precipitation peaked at mm in near Dagupan Rising floodwaters resulted in the temporary shutdown of government offices and numerous mudslides In addition strong winds caused widespread power outages Overall damage from Linfa in the Philippines amounted to million US million The floods also displaced people in families and destroyed homes Linfa and its extratropical remnants later brought torrential rainfall and widespread flooding to Japan particularly in southwestern regions Rainfall there peaked at mm in Flood damage was worst in Kchi and Tokushima Prefectures where several buildings were destroyed by floodwater Other locations in Japan experienced considerable agricultural damage as well as numerous landslides Overall Linfa caused roughly million in damage much of which occurred in Japan though the entirety of deaths associated with the cyclone took place in the Philippines
In late May an area of disturbed weather began to persist in the South China Sea The JTWC began to monitor the storm cluster on May The following day the JMA reclassified the system as a tropical depression initially the system remained highly disorganized due to the lack of deep convection Persistent moderate wind shear and dry air prevented the cyclone from strengthening significantly in the storm s early stages These conditions abated as the depression tracked northeast and at UTC on June the JMA upgraded the system to Tropical Storm Nangka Throughout the course of the day Nangka continued to strengthen as it accelerated northeast and peaked in strength with a barometric pressure of mbar hPa inHg and maximum sustained winds of km h mph making it a severe tropical storm
However upon moving through the Bashi Channel conditions began to deteriorate due to increased wind shear weakening the system and resulting in its downgrade to tropical depression status by the JMA at UTC on June Nangka continued to become increasingly disorganized as it moved further north and late that day the depression transitioned to an extratropical cyclone The resulting remnants continued to track well east of Japan before dissipating on June Due to its track away from landmasses damage remained minimal however as Nangka passed to the south and east of Japan the storm brought light rainfall to the country peaking at mm in in Minamidait Okinawa
A tropical disturbance persisted in the monsoon trough northwest of Pohnpei on June and moved westward without development due to wind shear On June the shear decreased enough to allow the convection to organize and the next day the JMA classified it as a tropical depression northeast of Palau On June the JMA upgraded it to Tropical Storm Soudelor to the east of the Philippines and PAGASA gave it the local name Egay Soudelor moved to the northwest and later to the north parallel to the eastern Philippines and on June the JMA upgraded it to typhoon status The storm rapidly intensified to the east of Taiwan as it developed a well defined eye and while doing so passed over the Japanese island of Iriomote jima at around UTC on June At UTC on June the JTWC estimated peak minute winds of km h mph while the JMA estimated peak minute winds of km h mph Increased shear weakened the typhoon to tropical storm strengthen on June and later that day the JMA declared the storm as extratropical near the Oki Islands The extratropical remnants of Soudelor continued to the northeast crossing northern Japan on June and dissipating on June
While offshore the Philippines Soudelor dropped heavy rainfall that caused flooding and left thousands homeless The storm caused million PHP million USD in damage and deaths On the Japanese island of Iriomote jima where wind gusts reached km h mph It also affected Taiwan where floods covered highways and caused mudslides In Japan the storm caused widespread power outages although damage was minimal and there were injuries In South Korea there was million in damage and two deaths
On July the JMA estimated that a tropical depression formed and the next day the JTWC initiated advisories on Tropical Depression W about km mi east of Yap A subtropical ridge near Okinawa steered the nascent depression to the west northwest for much of its duration With warm waters and favorable upper level conditions the depression quickly organized first to Tropical Storm Imbudo on July and to typhoon status two days later when PAGASA begin issuing advisories on Typhoon Harurot Around that time Imbudo was rapidly intensifying developing a well defined eye At UTC on July the JMA estimated peak minute sustained winds of km h mph and the same time the JTWC estimated minute sustained winds of km h mph making it a super typhoon Imbudo maintained peak winds for about hours before undergoing an eyewall replacement cycle At UTC on July Imbudo struck northern Luzon with minute winds estimated at km h mph by the JTWC It weakened over land but re intensified in the South China Sea striking southern China near Yangjiang Guangdong on July Imbudo rapidly weakened dissipating on July
In the Philippines officials evacuated over people Imbudo was the strongest typhoon to strike since Typhoon Zeb five years prior The typhoon left widespread areas flooded for several days Damage was heaviest in the Cagayan Valley where over people were displaced by the storm In Isabela high winds wrecked most of the banana crop and severely damaged other crops Throughout the Philippines Imbudo damaged or destroyed houses causing P billion PHP million USD in damage There were deaths in the country In southern China in Yangjiang more than people evacuated ahead of the storm and more than half of the trees in the city fell due to strong winds High winds killed a man in Hong Kong after knocking him off a platform Throughout Guangdong Imbudo destroyed houses and caused eight deaths Heavy rains spread across southern China peaking at mm in at Hepu County in Guangxi province There people died from the storm Overall damage in China was about billion CNY million USD
Koni originated from a tropical depression situated within the monsoon trough to the east of the Philippines on July Tracking westward intensification was slow and the system remained a tropical depression as it moved across the central Philippines on July Upon moving into the South China Sea conditions allowed for quicker strengthening and the cyclone reached tropical storm status on July before reaching its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of km h mph making it a severe tropical storm However atmospheric conditions began to deteriorate as Koni made landfall on Hainan on July weakening the system The tropical storm continued to weaken as it moved over the Gulf of Tonkin prior to a final landfall near Hanoi Vietnam the following day Tracking inland the combination of land interaction and wind shear caused Koni to dissipate over Laos on July
Shortly after development Koni tracked through the Philippines killing two people After moving into the South China Sea turbulence produced by the storm resulted in an aviation incident involving a commercial airliner off the western Philippines Three of the plane s occupants received minor injuries In Hainan Koni caused heavy rainfall peaking at mm in at a station on Wuzhi Mountain The rains resulted in the collapse of homes and an estimated CN million US million in direct economic losses Effects were worst in Vietnam where three people were killed Widespread power outages occurred and strong winds resulted in agricultural and infrastructural damage particularly in Vietnam s northern provinces
Morakot spawned from an area of disturbed weather in the Philippine Sea on July Tracking northwest favorable conditions allowed for the intensification of the system to tropical storm strength on August Morakot reached peak intensity later that day with winds of km h mph and a minimum barometric pressure of mbar hPa inHg This intensity was held for several hours until less conducive atmospheric conditions slightly weakened the system this was followed by Morakot making landfall on southern Taiwan on August Subsequently the storm weakened and moved into the Taiwan Strait before making its final landfall near Quanzhou China the next day The storm quickly weakened over the Chinese mainland and dissipated entirely several hours after landfall
In Taiwan where Morakot first made landfall heavy rainfall resulted in flooding Commercial flights schools and rail service in some areas was cancelled in advance of the storm Precipitation there peaked at mm in over a period of nearly two days in Taitung County Crop damage also resulted from the rainfall and was estimated at over NT million US million In China record rainfall was reported The worst impacted city was Quanzhou where losses due to Morakot reached CN million US million and one death was reported Power outages were also widespread across southeastern China Due to preexisting drought conditions cloud seeding operations took place in order to artificially generate added rainfall such operations resulted in moderate precipitation over the targeted area Overall Morakot caused roughly million in damage and three deaths
A tropical depression developed on August southeast of Guam and gradually intensified while moving to the northwest becoming a tropical storm on August and a typhoon a day later Etau formed an eye and became a large storm by the time it approached Okinawa on August The typhoon attained peak winds of km h mph before weakening slightly while turning to the northeast Etau made landfall on the Japanese island of Shikoku on August and later moved across portions of Honshu and Hokkaido After weakening to tropical storm status the cyclone became extratropical on August and dissipated three days later
While passing northeast of the Philippines the typhoon caused light damage in the archipelago The eye crossed over Okinawa where Etau left people without power and caused injuries Near where Etau first struck Japan Muroto reported a peak wind gust of km h mph at the time the third strongest on record there The typhoon also dropped torrential rainfall peaking at mm in The combination of winds and rainfall caused landslides particularly on Hokkaido Nationwide Etau killed people destroyed houses and caused billion JPY million USD in damage
Krovanh originated from a tropical disturbance within the monsoon trough east of Chuuk State on August Despite rather favorable conditions the initial tropical depression did not intensify significantly and degenerated into a remnant low on August However these remnants were able to reorganize and the system was reclassified as a tropical cyclone a day later Intensification was rather rapid upon the storm s reformation the depression reached tropical storm status on August and then typhoon intensity two days later Shortly after Krovanh made landfall on Luzon at peak intensity with winds of km h mph The typhoon emerged into the South China Sea as a much weaker tropical storm though it was able to restrengthen over warm waters Once again at typhoon intensity Krovanh clipped Hainan before moving over the Leizhou Peninsula on its way to a final landfall near Cm Ph Vietnam on August Quick weakening due to land interaction occurred as Krovanh moved across northern Vietnam where the storm met its demise the following day
Krovanh first struck the Philippines resulting in heavy rainfall and displacing approximately families The flooding caused severe damage and killed one person Krovanh s effects were much more severe in China In Hong Kong eleven people were injured and isolated flooding occurred as a result of the typhoon s outer rainbands However Guangdong Province Hainan Province and Guangxi were the Chinese regions most extensively impacted The typhoon brought record wind gusts into Guangxi In those three regions combined homes were estimated to have collapsed and a large swath of farmland was damaged Two people were killed in China and economic losses approximated to billion US million Due to its positioning and track of all areas in Vietnam only the country s more northern regions were impacted by Krovanh Flash flooding occurred in earnest in those regions and homes were flattened One person was killed and five others were injured in Vietnam Overall the typhoon was responsible for the deaths of four persons
The monsoon trough spawned several tropical disturbances in the middle of August one of which became Tropical Depression Lakay near the Philippines On August an area of convection persisted on the southern side of a circulation developing into a tropical depression east of Luzon It moved quickly northward and later to the northwest in an area generally unfavorable for strengthening such as the presence of wind shear and land interaction On August the JMA upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Vamco to the east of Taiwan Later that day the circulation passed just km mi north of Taipei although the convection was exposed that time On August the JMA assessed Vamco as dissipating in the Taiwan Strait although the JTWC continued advisories until the storm moved ashore in southeastern China
Rainfall in Taiwan reached mm in in Ilan County On the island the storm left several hundred houses without power due to a lightning strike On mainland China rainfall peaked at mm in in Wenzhou Zhejiang which were largely beneficial in easing drought conditions while winds gusted to km h mph The storm damaged or destroyed houses and flooded ha acres of paddy fields causing million CNY million USD in damage
On August a tropical depression developed about km mi northwest of Guam which initially drifted to the southwest before turning to the northwest On August the JMA upgraded it to Tropical Storm Dujuan and that day PAGASA began issuing advisories on Tropical Storm Onyok The storm quickly intensified into a typhoon after developing an eye in the center On September the JMA estimated Dujuan attained peak minute winds of km h mph and the JTWC assessed peak minute winds of km h mph While near peak intensity the center of Dujuan passed about km mi south of the southern tip of Taiwan The typhoon weakened steadily and was a severe tropical storm by the time it made landfall on September just east of Hong Kong The JTWC estimated landfall winds of km h mph making it the strongest typhoon to strike the Pearl River Delta since Typhoon Hope in Dujuan rapidly weakened while continuing westward through China dissipating on September over Guangxi
In the Philippines Dujuan interacted with the monsoon to produce heavy rainfall killing one person While in the vicinity Dujuan produced gusts of km h mph on Yonaguni a Japanese subdivision of Okinawa Heavy rainfall in Taiwan reached mm in in Pingtung County and winds peaked at km h mph on Orchid Island before the anemometer was destroyed The caused about NT NWD million USD in crop damage and killed three people Damage was minor in Hong Kong and four fishermen were missing and presumed drowned after their boat sank On the Chinese mainland strong winds left of the city of Shenzen without power and killed construction workers due to a half finished building collapsing Across Guangdong the typhoon damaged crops and destroyed homes were destroyed Overall damage in China was estimated at billion CNY million USD and across Guangdong the typhoon killed people
Typhoon Maemi formed on September from the monsoon trough in the western Pacific Ocean It slowly intensified into a tropical storm while moving northwestward and Maemi became a typhoon on September That day it quickly intensified due to favorable conditions developing a well defined eye and reaching peak maximum sustained winds of km h mph While near peak intensity Maemi was decelerating and began turning to the north northeast The eyewall soon after passed over the Japanese island of Miyako jima on September producing the fourth lowest pressure on record in Japan after a pressure of mbar inHg was recorded With warm waters Maemi was able to maintain much of its intensity before it made landfall just west of Busan South Korea on September On Jeju Island Maemi produced a peak wind gust of km h mph and a minimum pressure of mbar inHg both setting records for the country and making it the most powerful typhoon to strike South Korea since record keeping began in the country in The typhoon became extratropical in the Sea of Japan the next day although the remnants persisted for several more days bringing strong winds to northern Japan
The typhoon first affected the Ryukyu Islands of Japan On Miyako jima strong winds damaged buildings and of residents lost power Maemi dropped heavy rainfall there including rates of mm in in an hour and mm in in hours the latter setting a record One person died on Miyako jima after being struck by flying glass Elsewhere in Japan the storm caused flights to be canceled while rainfall induced landslides blocked roads There were two other deaths in Japan and damage totaled billion JPY million USD Damage was heaviest in South Korea notably where it moved ashore Winds in Busan near the landfall location reached km h mph the second highest on record There the port sustained heavy damage causing disruptions to exports in the months following the storm Nationwide the high winds destroyed about houses and damaged homes and businesses leaving people homeless About million lost power and widespread crop damage occurred resulting in the worst rice crop in years Across South Korea Maemi killed people and overall damage totaled trillion won billion USD
In the middle of September the monsoon trough spawned a rapidly organizing disturbance east northeast of Luzon with weak wind shear and favorable conditions On September the JMA classified it as a tropical depression and the JTWC initiated advisories the next day The system moved to the northwest due to the subtropical ridge to the northeast and later to the north On September the JMA upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Choi wan the same day that PAGASA classified it as Tropical Storm Roskas An eastward moving trough turned the storm to the northeast bringing the track over Okinawa and Amami shima on September Choi wan continued gradually intensifying becoming a typhoon on September to the southeast of Japan That day the JMA estimated peak winds of km h mph and the JTWC estimated peak minute winds of km h mph on September after Choi wan developed a well defined eye The typhoon weakened due to increasing wind shear deteriorating to severe tropical storm status on September before JMA declared it extratropical on September The remnants of Choi wan continued to the northeast exited the basin on September and eventually struck southern Alaska on September
Wind gusts in Okinawa reached km h mph while on the volcanic island of Hachij jima gusts reached km h mph On the Japanese mainland winds gusted to km h mph at Chshi Chiba Choi wan dropped heavy rainfall while near Japan peaking at mm in on Miyake jima In Okinawa Choi wan flooded a boat forcing its occupants to be rescued by the Coast Guard Also on the island heavy rainfall caused landslides and flooded houses In Amami shima the storm left people without power On Hachij wind gusts of km h mph damaged about houses Nationwide Choi wan destroyed homes injured people and left about million JPY million USD
Towards the end of September the monsoon trough spawned a tropical disturbance east northeast of Yap which became a tropical depression on September There were initially several circulations with a tropical upper tropospheric trough to the northeast increasing outflow After slowing and turning to the northeast the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Koppu on September After the storm developed a large eye feature the JTWC upgraded it to typhoon status on September although the JMA did not follow suit until the following day while near Chichi jima Also that day Koppu passed km mi west of Iwo Jima and the JMA estimated peak minute winds of km h mph The JTWC estimated peak minute winds of km h mph before an approaching trough caused the typhoon to accelerate northeastward The convection diminished near the center causing Koppu to become extratropical on September The remnants continued generally northeastward through the Aleutian Islands eventually passing south of mainland Alaska on October
On Chichi jima Typhoon Koppu produced sustained winds of km h mph with gusts to km h mph which was the third strongest on record for the station Rainfall there reached mm in Wind gusts on Iwo Jima peaked at km h mph
In the middle of October an area of convection persisted along the monsoon trough between Luzon and Guam developing into a tropical depression on October The same monsoon trough later spawned Typhoon Parma to the east For several days the system remained disorganized while drifting to the west northwest due to weak steering currents south of the subtropical ridge On October the JMA upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Ketsana and by that time the storm had begun drifting to the northeast With favorable outflow Ketsana quickly intensified into a typhoon on October after developing an eye and two days later the JMA estimated peak winds of km h mph The JTWC estimated peak minute winds of km h mph around the time the well defined eye had expanded to km mi Subsequently the typhoon accelerated northeastward into the westerlies and began weakening due to increasing wind shear and dry air On October Ketsana became extratropical to the east of Japan and dissipated the next day The passage of the typhoon caused surface chlorophyll a concentration in the ocean to increase fold
The same monsoon trough that spawned Typhoon Koppu also produced an area of convection to the north northeast of Guam becoming a tropical depression on October The system moved northwestward and later turned to the northeast around the subtropical ridge With low wind shear and favorable outflow the convection became better organized and the JMA upgraded it to Tropical Storm Parma on October After an eye began to form Parma was upgraded to typhoon status the next day An approaching trough caused Parma to accelerate northeastward while also increasing outflow On October the JMA estimated peak winds of km h mph while the JTWC estimated winds of km h mph an unusually high intensity for N Subsequently Parma rounded the subtropical ridge and began moving to the east southeast beginning a nearly week long loop The cold front had passed to the north and failed to bring the typhoon northeastward
Increasing wind shear weakened the convection and Parma deteriorated into a severe tropical storm on October The next day it began moving westward while passing about km mi north of Wake Island A large eye of km mi in diameter developed and on October the JMA re upgraded Parma to typhoon status The next day the typhoon turned to the northeast due to another approaching trough With decreasing wind shear and warmer waters Parma re intensified significantly on October reaching a secondary peak of km h mph according to JMA and km h mph according to JTWC The storm moved very closely along the track it took several days prior Increasing wind shear on October caused rapid weakening resulting in the eye dissipating By the next day the center was exposed and Parma became extratropical later exiting the basin on November The remnants weakened later turning to the southeast and dissipating on November southwest of California
Late in October an area of convection persisted northwest of Palau and quickly organized into a tropical depression on October Moving west northwestward toward the Philippines due to a ridge to the east the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Melor on October With minimal wind shear the storm strengthened further and developed a large eye The JTWC upgraded Melor to typhoon status on October estimating peak minute winds of km h mph although the JMA estimated the storm only attained peak minute winds of km h mph Early on November Melor made landfall on northeastern Luzon in the Philippines south of Palanan The storm weakened over land and emerged into the South China Sea By that time it was moving northward along the periphery of the ridge to the east On November Melor turned to the northeast passing just east of Taiwan The next day it weakened to tropical depression status and after meandering offshore eastern Taiwan Melor continued northeastward It became extratropical on November and dissipated the next day near southern Japan
In the Philippines Melor dropped about mm in of rainfall which flooded the Cagayan River and killed four people In Taiwan rainfall reached mm in in Pingtung County On the Japanese island of Hateruma rainfall totaled mm in which broke the hourly and daily record for the station in November
A tropical depression developed near Yap on November The system intensified gradually as it tracked quickly westward toward the Philippines An anticyclone aloft allowed for strengthening and the JMA upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Nepartak on November Simultaneously the cyclone entered the area of responsibility of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration which named it Tropical Storm Weng At around UTC on November Nepartak made landfall on northern Samar Island in the Philippines before traversing the remainder of the archipelago from east to west The cyclone emerged into the South China Sea weakened but quickly re intensified while continuing to the west northwest The JTWC estimated peak winds of km h mph on November and later that day the JMA upgraded the storm to typhoon status estimating peak minute winds of km h mph On November Nepartak passed near southwestern Hainan and weakened with the convection diminishing from the circulation By the next day the system weakened to tropical depression status and dissipated shortly after moving ashore over Beihai China
In the Philippines Nepartak produced strong winds heavy rainfall and rough seas The storm caused widespread power outages and ferry disruptions According to the PAGASA in its post storm report a total of people lost their lives during the storm On Hainan the storm helped end one of the worst summer droughts in almost years although it also left heavy crop damage wrecking ha acres of fields and killing head of livestock With about homes destroyed damage on Hainan amounted to million USD Effects were minor in mainland China
Typhoon Lupit formed on November from the monsoon trough to the west of the Marshall Islands Early in its duration it moved generally to the west or west southwest On November the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Lupit and two days later it strengthened into a typhoon developing an eye Lupit later began a prolonged movement to the northwest during which it passed near several islands in Yap State The typhoon reached peak intensity on November with peak minute sustained winds of km h mph It later weakened due to a variety of unfavorable conditions and after recurving to the northeast Lupit became extratropical south of Japan on December
Typhoon Lupit first affected Pohnpei with gusty winds and later it damaged or destroyed about homes in Chuuk State There high waves flooded roads and homes while high winds damaged crops Damage was heaviest in Yap State mostly in the small Ulithi atoll and Fais Island On both islands the typhoon contaminated the water supply and wrecked the crops Rainfall reached mm in on Ulithi and gusts reached km h mph Throughout the FSM damage totaled about million although there were no deaths The damage prompted the FSM government to declare two states as disaster areas as well as a disaster declaration from the United States federal government While Lupit was becoming extratropical it became the first typhoon in December to threaten Japan in years The storm dropped rainfall that resulted in mudslides and flight cancellations
An area of convection formed on May to the southwest of Palau located within an area of weak wind shear The next day the JMA and the JTWC both classified the system as a tropical depression The convection was disorganized in association with multiple circulation centers although it gradually organized Moving westward initially the depression turned more to the north into an area of increasing wind shear On May the JTWC upgraded the system to Tropical Storm W and on the same day PAGASA classified it as Tropical Depression Batibot Soon after the convection decreased from the center and by May all warning agencies had discontinued advisories
On July PAGASA classified a system as Tropical Depression Falcon off the west coast of the Philippines The JMA also briefly initiated advisories before dropping them later on July Later in the month PAGASA briefly issued advisories on Tropical Depression Ineng on July off the east coast of Mindanao The depression dissipated the next day causing about P million PHP USD in damage The monsoon trough spawned a tropical depression north of Luzon on August with PAGASA naming it Lakay There were several circulations in the region with Tropical Storm Vamco to the northeast near Taiwan and the overall system moved generally westward PAGASA briefly classified Lakay as a tropical storm on August before ending advisories the next day The system spread rainfall across China reaching mm in in Xiamen Fujuan
On September former Hurricane Jimena crossed the International Date Line into the basin By that time the circulation was largely exposed from the convection and the center quickly dissipated Later in the month the monsoon trough spawned a disturbance east of the Philippines that PAGASA classified as Tropical Depression Quiel on September The system moved westward but never intensified dissipating west of Luzon on September The broad system also spawned Typhoon Choi wan
In October the JTWC classified Tropical Depression W early in the month off the west coast of Luzon With weak steering currents the system moved slowly southwestward before looping to the northwest On October the depression dissipated just off the coast of southern China On October the JMA monitored a tropical depression southeast of Taiwan that later passed near the island producing heavy rainfall that peaked at mm in in Ilan County A few days later the JTWC monitored Tropical Depression W which developed on October after an extratropical storm produced an area of convection Described as a subtropical low the depression moved generally northeastward toward Japan due to an approaching cold front The depression moved through Kyushu and Honshu before dissipating on October The depression dropped mm in of rainfall in Kchi while strong winds associated reached km h mph through a storm produced downburst The winds knocked over two cranes killing two people and left about homes without power The depression also killed two people due to drownings On October the JMA briefly classified a tropical depression to the east of the Marianas Islands On October a tropical depression developed in the South China Sea classified by PAGASA as Ursula The system moved eastward and crossed Palawan before dissipating on October In the Philippines the depression killed one person and caused minor damage Also in October the monsoon trough spawned a tropical depression in the Gulf of Thailand which moved northwestward and crossed into the Indian Ocean dropping heavy rainfall in Thailand
In mid November the JMA briefly tracked a weak tropical depression near Wake Island The agency also briefly tracked a tropical depression off the coast of Vietnam on December It finally dissipated on December with the pressure and winds unknown The final system of the year was a tropical depression that originated out of the monsoon trough on December east of the Philippines After initially moving to the west it turned to the south and the JTWC estimated the depression intensified into a tropical storm During this time PAGASA classified it as Tropical Storm Zigzag The system made landfall in northeastern Mindanao and dissipated on December bringing heavy rainfall
Within the North western Pacific Ocean both the Japan Meteorological Agency JMA and the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration assign names to tropical cyclones that develop in the Western Pacific which can result in a tropical cyclone having two names The Japan Meteorological Agency s RSMC Tokyo Typhoon Center assigns international names to tropical cyclones on behalf of the World Meteorological Organization s Typhoon Committee should they be judged to have minute sustained windspeeds of km h mph While the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration assigns names to tropical cyclones which move into or form as a tropical depression in their area of responsibility located between E and E and between N N even if the cyclone has had an international name assigned to it The names of significant tropical cyclones are retired by both PAGASA and the Typhoon Committee Should the list of names for the Philippine region be exhausted then names will be taken from an auxiliary list of which the first ten are published each season Unused names are marked in gray
During the season named tropical cyclones developed in the Western Pacific and were named by the Japan Meteorological Agency when it was determined that they had become tropical storms These names were contributed to a list of a names submitted by the fourteen members nations and territories of the ESCAP WMO Typhoon Committee
The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration uses its own naming scheme for tropical cyclones in their area of responsibility PAGASA assigns names to tropical depressions that form within their area of responsibility and any tropical cyclone that might move into their area of responsibility Should the list of names for a given year prove to be insufficient names are taken from an auxiliary list the first of which are published each year before the season starts The names not retired from this list will be used again in the season Names that were not assigned are marked in gray
The names Imbudo and Maemi were retired by the ESCAP WMO Typhoon Committee The names Molave and Mujigae were chosen to replace Imbudo and Maemi respectively While Yanyan was requested by Hong Kong to be removed in the list and was replaced by Dolphin The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration PAGASA announced that the name Harurot had its name retired due to extensive damage The name Hanna was chosen to replace Harurot Also the name Koni was replaced by Goni after it was found that Koni was a misspelling
The following table provides basic meteorological and impact information for each tropical cyclone from the Pacific typhoon season in tabular format unnamed tropical cyclones are not included PAGASA names for storms are provided in parentheses Storms entering from the Central Pacific only include their information while in the western Pacific and are noted with an asterisk
An oxaziridine is an organic molecule that features a three membered heterocycle containing oxygen nitrogen and carbon In their largest application oxazidines are intermediates in the industrial production of hydrazine Oxaziridine derivatives are also used as specialized reagents in organic chemistry for a variety of oxidations including alpha hydroxylation of enolates epoxidation and aziridination of olefins and other heteroatom transfer reactions Oxaziridines also serve as precursors to amides and participate in cycloadditions with various heterocumulenes to form substituted five membered heterocycles Chiral oxaziridine derivatives effect asymmetric oxygen transfer to prochiral enolates as well as other substrates Some oxaziridines also have the property of a high barrier to inversion of the nitrogen allowing for the possibility of chirality at the nitrogen center
Oxaziridine derivatives were first reported in the mid s by Emmons and subsequently by Krimm and Horner and Jrgens Whereas oxygen and nitrogen typically act as nucleophiles due to their high electronegativity oxaziridines allow for electrophilic transfer of both heteroatoms This unusual reactivity is due to the presence of the highly strained three membered ring and the relatively weak N O bond Nucleophiles tend to attack at the aziridine nitrogen when the nitrogen substituent is small R H and at the oxygen atom when the nitrogen substituent has greater steric bulk The unusual electronics of the oxaziridine system may be exploited to perform a number of oxygen and nitrogen transfer reactions including but not limited to hydroxylation of enolates epoxidation of alkenes selective oxidation of sulfides and selenides amination of N nucleophiles and N acylamidation
The Peroxide process for the industrial production of hydrazine through the oxidation of ammonia with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of ketones was developed in the early s
Chiral camphorsulfonyloxaziridines proved useful in the syntheses of complex natural product such as taxol which is marketed as a chemotherapy agent Both the Holton Taxol total synthesis and the Wender Taxol total synthesis feature asymmetric hydroxylation with camphorsulfonyloxaziridine
The two main approaches to synthesis of N H N alkyl and N aryloxaziridines are oxidation of imines with peracids A and amination of carbonyls B
Additionally oxidation of chiral imines and oxidation of imines with chiral peracids may yield enantiopure oxaziridines Some oxaziridines have the unique property of configurationally stable nitrogen atoms at room temperature due to an inversion barrier of to kcal mol Enantiopure oxaziridines where stereochemistry is entirely due to configurationally stable nitrogen are reported
In the late s and early s Franklin A Davis synthesized the first N sulfonyloxaziridines which act exclusively as oxygen transfer reagents and are the most predominantly used class of oxaziridines today While originally synthesized with mCPBA and the phase transfer catalyst benzyltrimethylammonium chloride an improved synthesis using oxone as the oxidant is now most prevalent
Many N sulfonyloxaziridines are used today each with slightly different properties and reactivity These reagents are summarized in the table below
With highly electron withdrawing perfluoroalkyl substituents oxaziridines exhibit reactivity more similar to that of dioxiranes than typical oxaziridines Notably perfluoroalkyloxaziridines hydroxylate certain C H bonds with high selectivity Perfluorinated oxaziridines may be synthesized by subjecting a perfluorinated imine to perfluoromethyl fluorocarbonyl peroxide and a metal fluoride to act as an HF scavenger
Oxaziridines are intermediates in the Peroxide process for the production of hydrazine Many millions of kilograms of hydrazine are produced annually by this method that involves a step wherein ammonia is oxidized in the presence of methyl ethyl ketone to give the oxaziridine
Me Et C O NH HO Me Et CONH HO
In subsequent steps the oxaziridine is converted to the hydrazone which is the immediate en route to hydrazine
Me Et CONH NH Me Et C NNH HO
Hydroxyketones or acyloins are an important synthetic motifs present in many natural products Hydroxyketones have been synthesized in many ways including reduction of diketones substitution of a hydroxyl for a leaving group and direct oxidation of an enolate Oxodiperoxymolybdenum pyridine hexamethylphosphoric triamide MoOPH and N sulfonyloxaziridines are the most common electrophilic sources of oxygen implemented in this process One advantage of using N sulfonyloxaziridines is that higher chiral induction is almost invariably observed relative to MoOPH and other oxidants High yield and dr are reported for hydroxylation with the Evans chiral auxiliary with N sulfonyloxaziridine as the electrophile Chiral induction has been demonstrated with many other chiral ketones and ketones with chiral auxiliaries including SAMP and RAMP
Extensive work has been reported on asymmetric hydroxylation of prochiral enolates with camphorsulfonyloxaziridine derivatives achieving moderate to high enantiomeric excess The commonly accepted proposed transition state that justifies this stereochemical outcome involves an open transition state where the steric bulk of R determines the face of approach
The selectivity of some hydroxylations may be drastically improved in some cases with the addition of coordinating groups alpha to the oxaziridine ring as oxaziridines b and c in the table above In these instances it is proposed that the reaction proceeds through a closed transition state where the metal oxyanion is stabilized by chelation from the sulfate and coordinating groups on the camphor skeleton
Hydroxylation with oxaziridines has been widely implemented in total synthesis It is a key step in both the Holton Taxol total synthesis and the Wender Taxol total synthesis Additionally Forsyth implemented the transformation in his synthesis of the C C Substituted Dioxaspiro undec ene System of Okadaic acid
Epoxidation of alkenes is a common reaction because epoxides can be derivatized in a number of useful ways Classically laboratory epoxidation is carried out with mCPBA or other peracids Oxaziridines have been found to be useful for the formation of highly acid sensitive epoxides Chaetominine was synthesized via oxaziridine epoxidation as a late stage transformation as seen below
Another transformation of high synthetic utility is asymmetric epoxidation A number of asymmetric epoxidations exist the Sharpless epoxidation the Jacobsen Katsuki epoxidation and the Juli Colonna Epoxidation These methods require specific functionality in order to achieve selectivity The Sharpless epoxidation is specific to allylic alcohols the Jacobsen epoxidation requires cis disubstituted aryl alkenes and the Juli epoxidation requires unsaturated ketones Chiral oxaziridines act stereospecifically on many unfunctionalized alkenes It has even possible to effect stereospecific epoxidation catalytically in the oxaziridine chiral unit Further investigation into these reactions may be required before levels of enantiometic excess become practical for large scale synthesis Lusinichi et al have investigated asymmetric epoxidation with a chiral oxaziridinium salt using oxone as the stoichiometric oxidant seen below
Perfluorinated oxaziridines are known to hydroxylate unactivated hydrocarbons with remarkable regio and diastereospecificity This is a highly coveted transformation and similar reactivity and specificity is seldom rivaled especially considering the nonmetallic nature of the oxidant Perfluorinated oxaziridines show high selectivity toward tertiary hydrogens Hydroxylation of primary carbons and dihydroxylation of a compound with two oxidizable sites have never been observed Retention of stereochemistry is very high often retenton of stereochemistry may be further enhanced by the addition of a fluoride salt
Oxaziridines with unsubstituted or acylated nitrogens are capable of nitrogen atom transfer although this reactivity has received considerably less attention
Amination of nucleophiles with N unsubstituted oxaziridines is quite versatile in the breadth of possible nucleophiles and corresponding products Hydrazines may be derived from the amination of secondary or tertiary amines hydroxylamine and thiohydroxamines may be formed from their corresponding alcohols and thiols sulfimides may be formed from thioethers and aminoketones may be formed by attack of corresponding enolates
The transfer of acylated amines is more difficult than that of unsubstituted amines although unlike amine transfer by oxaziridines there are no alternative methods that directly transfer acylated amines Acylamine transfer has primarily been performed using amines and hydrazines as nucleophiles Very few transfers of acylated nitrogens to carbon nucleophiles have been successfully performed although some do exist in the literature
Oxaziridines have been found to undergo rearrangement reactions via a radical mechanism when irradiated with UV light or in the presence of a single electron transfer reagent such as CuI spirocylic oxaziridines undergo ring expansions to the corresponding lactam Interestingly the migrating substituent is determined by a stereoelectronic effect where the group trans to the lone pair on the nitrogen will always be the predominant migration product In light of this effect it is possible to take advantage of the chiral nitrogen due to high inversion barrier to direct the rearrangement This phenomenon is demonstrated by observed selectivities in the rearrangements below In the rearrangement on the left the thermodynamically unfavorable product is observed exclusively while in the reaction on the right the product derived from the less stable radical intermediate is favored
Aub takes advantage of this rearrangement as the key step in his synthesis of yohimbine a natural medicine classified by the NIH as possibly effective in the treatment of erectile dysfunction and the sexual problems caused by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
It is also notable that oxaziridines will thermally rearrange to nitrones Cis trans selectivity of the resulting nitrone is poor however yields are good to excellent It is thought that some oxaziridines racemize over time through a nitrone intermediate
Oxaziridines undergo cycloaddition reactions with heterocumulenes to afford a number of unique five membered heterocycles as depicted in the figure below This reactivity is due to the strained three membered ring and weak N O bond
The Battle of Drenstein also known as the Battle of Drrenstein Battle of Drnstein and Battle of Diernstein German Gefecht bei Drrenstein on November was an engagement in the Napoleonic Wars during the War of the Third Coalition Drenstein modern Drnstein is located in the Wachau Valley on the River Danube kilometers mi upstream from Vienna Austria The river makes a crescent shaped curve between Drnstein and nearby Krems an der Donau and the battle was fought in the flood plain between the river and the mountains
At Drenstein a combined force of Russian and Austrian troops trapped a French division commanded by Thodore Maxime Gazan The French division was part of the newly created VIII Corps the so called Corps Mortier under command of douard Mortier In pursuing the Austrian retreat from Bavaria Mortier had over extended his three divisions along the north bank of the Danube Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov commander of the Coalition force enticed Mortier to send Gazan s division into a trap and French troops were caught in a valley between two Russian columns They were rescued by the timely arrival of a second division under command of Pierre Dupont de l tang The battle extended well into the night Both sides claimed victory The French lost more than a third of their participants and Gazan s division experienced over percent losses The Austrians and Russians also had heavy lossesclose to percentbut perhaps the most significant was the death in action of Johann Heinrich von Schmitt one of Austria s most capable chiefs of staff
The battle was fought three weeks after the Austrian capitulation at Ulm and three weeks before the Russo Austrian defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz After Austerlitz Austria withdrew from the war The French demanded a high indemnity and Francis II abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor releasing the German states from their allegiance to the Holy Roman Empire
In a series of conflicts from known as the Napoleonic Wars various European powers formed five coalitions against the First French Empire Like the wars sparked by the French Revolution these further revolutionized the formation organization and training of European armies and led to an unprecedented militarization mainly due to mass conscription Under the leadership of Napoleon French power rose quickly as the Grande Arme conquered most of Europe and collapsed rapidly after the disastrous invasion of Russia in Napoleon s empire ultimately suffered complete military defeat in the campaigns resulting in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France Although Napoleon made a spectacular return in known as the Hundred Days his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo the pursuit of his army and himself his abdication and banishment to the Island of Saint Helena concluded the Napoleonic Wars
From the Third Coalition fought the First French Empire and its client states see table at right Although several naval battles determined control of the seas the outcome of the war was decided on the continent predominantly in two major land operations in the Danube valley the Ulm campaign in the upper Danube and the Vienna campaign in the middle Danube valley
Political conflicts in Vienna delayed Austria s entry into the Third Coalition until After hostilities of the War of the Second Coalition ended in Archduke Charlesthe emperor s brothertook advantage of the subsequent years of peace to develop a military restructuring plan He carefully put this plan into effect beginning in but implementation was incomplete in when Karl Mack Lieutenant Field Marshal and Quartermaster General of the Army implemented his own restructuring Mack bypassed Charles methodical approach Occurring in the field Mack s plan also undermined the overall command and organizational structure Regardless Mack sent an enthusiastic report to Vienna on the military s readiness Furthermore after misreading Napoleon s maneuvers in Wrttemberg Mack also reported to Vienna on the weakness of French dispositions His reports convinced the war party advising the emperor Francis II to enter the conflict against France despite Charles own advice to the contrary Responding to the report and rampant anti French fever in Vienna Francis dismissed Charles from his post as generalissimo and appointed his Francophobic brother in law Archduke Ferdinand as commander
The inexperienced Ferdinand was a poor choice of replacement for the capable Charles having neither maturity nor aptitude for the assignment Although Ferdinand retained nominal command day to day decisions were placed in the hands of Mack equally ill suited for such an important assignment When Mack was wounded early in the campaign he was unable to take full charge of the army Consequently command further devolved to Lieutenant Field Marshal Karl Philipp Prince of Schwarzenberg an able cavalry officer but inexperienced in the command of such a large army
The campaign in the upper Danube valley began in October with several clashes in Swabia Near the Bavarian town of Wertingen kilometers mi northwest of Augsburg on October the st Regiment of dragoons part of Murat s Reserve Cavalry Corps and grenadiers of Lannes V Corps surprised an Austrian force half its size The Austrians were arrayed in a line and unable to form their defensive squares quickly enough to protect themselves from the dragoons and grenadiers Nearly Austrians were captured and over were killed or wounded A day later at another small town Gnzburgimmediately south of the Danube Riverthe French th Regiment of the Line stormed a bridge over the Danube and humiliatingly chased two large Austrian columns toward Ulm
The campaign was not entirely bad news for Vienna At Haslach Johann von Klenau arranged his infantry and cavalry in a prime defensive position and on October the overly confident General of Division Pierre Dupont de l tang attacked Klenau s force with fewer than men The French lost men killed and wounded Aside from taking the Imperial Eagles and guidons of the th and th Dragoons Klenau s force also captured men guns and ammunition wagons
Klenau s victory was a singular success On October Mack sent two columns out of Ulm in preparation for a breakout to the north one under Johann Sigismund Riesch headed toward Elchingen to secure the bridge there and the other under Franz von Werneck went north with most of the heavy artillery Recognizing the opportunity Marshal Michel Ney hurried the rest of his VI Corps forward to re establish contact with Dupont who was still north of the Danube In a two pronged attack Ney sent one division to the south of Elchingen on the right bank of the Danube This division began the assault at Elchingen At the same time another division crossed the river to the east and moved west against Riesch s position After clearing Austrian pickets from a bridge the French attacked and captured a strategically located abbey at the top of the hill at bayonet point The Austrian cavalry unsuccessfully tried to fend off the French but the Austrian infantry broke and ran In this engagement alone the Austrians lost more than half their reserve artillery park out of total participants dead wounded or captured and four colors Reisch s column also failed to destroy the bridges across the Danube
Napoleon s lightning campaign exposed the Austrian indecisive command structure and poor supply apparatus Mack completely misread the French dispositions and scattered his forces as the French defeated each unit separately the surviving Austrians withdrew toward the Ulm fortifications Napoleon arrived to take personal command of close to men At Ulm on October Karl Mack surrendered his encircled army of infantry and cavalry The officers were released on the condition that they not serve against France until formally exchanged for French officers captured by the Austrians an agreement to which they held
The few Austrian corps not trapped at Ulm withdrew toward Vienna with the French in close pursuit A Russian army under Gen Mikhail Kutuzov also maneuvered away from the French withdrawing to the east At the Ill river on October it joined with the retreating Austrian corps commanded by Michael von Kienmayer On November the Coalition forces held a successful rearguard action in Amstetten On November the Russians arrived in St Plten and crossed the Danube river the next day Late on November they destroyed the bridges across the Danube holding the last one at the hamlet of Stein near the village Krems until the late afternoon
To the east of Stein kilometers mi down an old road lay Krems with its small population of a few hundred at the confluence of the stream of that name and the Danube To the west of Stein the Danube made a large curve creating a crescent shaped floodplain between it and the mountains At the far western end of the floodplain where the mountains came down almost to the river s edge was Drenstein with its castle known as Schloss Drenstein The castle had served as a prison for Richard I of England in In during the Thirty Years War the Swedes had fortified the castle and then demolished it when they withdrew It stands at meters ft on the highest ridge of a mountain fissured with clefts and pinnacles of granite Because the mountain was sparsely vegetated it was difficult to distinguish the ruins from the rocks Narrow canyons cut through the mountain and widen into the plain below Between Drenstein and Stein on the flood plain lay the hamlets of Oberloiben and Unterloiben Near the hamlets the Loiben flood plain was at its widest extending at the most meters ft from the base of the Loibenberg mountain to the bank of the river
The region was known for its wine Since the th century the local inhabitants practiced viticulture and the wine producers formed St Paul Vintners Guild in the oldest such guild in the German speaking world Terraced vineyards extended up the sides of the Krems River until it became a mountain stream and terrain was unsuitable for cultivation The Loiben plain supported both viticulture and agriculture As the terrain became steeper the vines grew in terraces built from the dark Urgestein primordial rock From Drenstein to Krems the river makes its wide curve the mountains and the steeply terraced slopes prevent clear line of sight between the two towns
Napoleon had calculated that Kutuzov would withdraw toward Vienna expecting reinforcements from Russia he envisioned that the armies would engage in a great battle at Vienna and that this battle would decide the war Consequently Napoleon drew divisions from four of the other seven corps of the Grande Arme to create a new VIII Corps This corps was to secure the north shore of the Danube block any of the Austrian or Russian groups from reinforcing one another and more importantly prevent Kutuzov from crossing the river and escaping to Russia
The new VIII Corps under the overall command of douard Mortier included three infantry divisions and a division of cavalry see Order of Battle below Corps Mortier as it was known crossed the Danube at Linz and Passau in early November and marched east on the north bank of the Danube Operating independently the corp s cavalry conducted reconnaissance ahead of them and on the flanks Gen Gazan s division about men took the lead Mortier was with them They were followed by Gen Dupont s division another about one day s march behind Jean Baptiste Dumonceau s division another marching another day behind Dupont brought up the rear A flotilla of boats acquired at Passau provided communications across the Danube Before sending Mortier on his mission Napoleon instructed him to protect his north flank at all times against possible Russian reinforcements advice he reiterated in subsequent written orders Napoleon also advised Mortier to secure all crossings of the Danube between Linz and Vienna
On November Gazan s division reached Marbach an der Donau and covered the kilometers mi to Drenstein by early on the following afternoon Here it skirmished with some Russian patrols to the east of the town and expelled them Feeling confident the French established a forward post just upstream from Stein In Drenstein itself Mortier set up his command post and directed the establishment of a small field hospital Although the position seemed secure he had ignored Napoleon s strict instructions and neglected to protect his left north flank
This failure was an important factor when Mortier lost his corps so called eyes after he and Gazan had crossed the Danube the French dragoons had veered to the northwest leaving only three squadrons of the th Dragoons available for reconnaissance These had left the division and were operating independently of Gazan s command Consequently Mortier and Gazan marched blindly through the narrow canyon west of Drenstein not knowing what lay ahead of them Kutuzov had led the Coalition army across the Danube at Krems a short distance past Stein and destroyed the bridge behind him His actions deprived the French commanders of a possible route across the Danube putting the deployment of the entire French division at further risk in the case of retreat In this decision Kutuzov abandoned Vienna to the French who were converging on the Austrian capital from the north west and southwest for the security of uniting with reinforcements from Galicia Kutuzov chose a military solution over a political one
Unknown to either Gazan or Mortier the Coalition had concentrated a force of approximately men mostly Russians and a few Austrians within a few kilometers of the French position at Drenstein In comparison Gazan s division had only men The Austro Russian force was a mixture of infantry Jgers usually deployed as skirmishers Russian musketeers and Russian and Austrian cavalry accompanied by more than artillery pieces Kutuzov who had learned the military arts under the tutelage of the legendary Russian Generalissimo Suvorov had overall command The Russian cavalry units of the greatly feared Cossacks were well suited for patrolling the river bank indeed on November they had taken French soldiers as prisoners Furthermore reinforcements stood in Moravia less than two weeks march away If the main body of the French army crossed the river they would require time to prepare Kutuzov would have ample warning of any large scale French movement
After the afternoon s initial skirmishing with the French Kutuzov held a council of war on the evening of November at Melk at the great abbey there He knew several things First he knew the positions of the French from prisoners his Cossacks had captured He also knew that Gazan had crossed at Linz and was well ahead of any French reinforcements Dupont had crossed at Passau and by November stood at Marbach kilometers mi upstream and Dumonceau was another kilometers mi further behind him Kutuzov knew the size of the French forceits division strengthand its positions and he knew that most of the dragoons were not covering the French flank but had turned north He also knew or had made a good supposition about Napoleon s orders so he knew what to offer Mortier and Gazan as bait
In addition to the Russian generals the council included Austrian commanders Lieutenant Field Marshal Johann Heinrich von Schmitt and Friedrich Karl Wilhelm Frst zu Hohenlohe Schmitt who had retired from the military in had been recalled into service after the Ulm debacle and had come to Kutuzov highly recommended by the Emperor He was an experienced tactician and strategist and had served in a variety of posts in the Habsburg military he had been Archduke Charles trusted adviser during the campaigns from to and had assisted in planning several of Charles victories Upon his recall Schmitt was appointed Chief of the Quartermaster General Staff of the Coalition Army The generals had found among the Austrian force one Capt Christoph Freiherr von Stiebar who had knowledge of the local geography
Together Schmitt Kutuzov and the other generals with von Stiebar s advice on the local terrain concocted a plan to encircle the French at Drenstein Russian commander Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich would approach Gazan s division from the east supported by Petr Bagration s corps and pin the French in place Three additional columns commanded by Dmitry Dokhturov Doctorov Maj Gen Strik and Schmitt would outflank the French from the west and the north They would offer as bait a rumor the Russian army was retreating into Moravia and only a rearguard would be left at Krems
On the night of November a Russian column under Strik s command began its passage through the narrow canyons intent on arriving at Drenstein by noon two more columns under Dokhtorov and Schmitt moved in wider semicircles planning to pass through the mountains and attack the French who were extended along the river bank According to the plan in late morning Strik s column would emerge from the mountains first and launch a flanking assault on the French right This flanking attack combined with Miloradovich s frontal assault from Stein would force the French into a vise encircled they would have no option but to surrenderor die To ensure the success of the plan the second and third columns under Dokhtorov and Schmitt would arrive in early and mid afternoon and support the earlier assaults In this way even if the French tried to retreat west to Marbach they would not escape the vise like grip of the Coalition army
Mortier accepted the bait of a rumored Russian retreat In the early morning of November he and Gazan departed from Drenstein to seize Stein and Krems presuming the Russians had either abandoned the settlements or left only a small rear guard behind As they approached Stein a column of Miloradovich s troops attacked the French forward positions Thinking this force was the rumored Russian rear guard Mortier ordered Gen Gazan to counterattack and push east towards the town of Stein Fighting spread though the villages of Oberloiben Unterloiben and the farm at Rothenhof Instead of withdrawing as a rear guard would more and more Russian troops appeared and engaged the French column
Initially Gazan made rapid progress but he quickly recognized that the opposing force was much stronger than the typical rear guard of a retreating army Realizing he had been duped and that Gazan s troops were tiring rapidly Mortier sent orders to Dupont s division to hurry forward By mid morning the French momentum had stalled Mortier committed most of his remaining forces to driving Miloradovich back leaving a single battalionperhaps troopsto cover his northern flank and sent the rest to attack the Russian right Within minutes he achieved the superiority of numbers he sought His French opposed Russians and forced them back toward Stein while pressing an attack along the river Miloradovich had no option for neither Strik s nor Dokhtorov s flanking columns were to be seen
At this stage of the battle fighting paused Mortier and Gazan waited for Dupont s arrival while Kutuzov and Miloradovich waited for Strik s and Dokhturov s Schmitt s column was expected to be the last to join the fight because it had to march the greatest distance The timing of the respite varies depending on whose reports are consulted fighting paused at around or Strik arrived first and immediately assaulted Gazan s line with three battalions pushing the French out of Drenstein Caught between two strong forces Gazan attempted to push his way back through Drenstein to reach the river where the flotilla could evacuate his exhausted troops Withdrawing through the narrow Danube canyon and fighting off the Russian force at their rear Gazan and his division were trapped when more of Strik s Russians appeared to block their retreat The narrow defiles hampered the Russians Strik s men had to march out of the canyons form ranks and attack in waves Despite Strik s continuous assault in the next two to three hours Mortier and Gazan pushed the Russians back up the narrow fissure in the hillside At this point Dokhturov s column appeared behind the French line and joined the battle The French were outnumbered more than three to one assaulted in the front by Miloradovich s column in the middle by Strik s and in the rear by Dokhturov
Earlier in the morning Dupont had proceeded with his column south and east along the river from Marbach according to instructions Even before the arrival of Mortier s courier he heard the sound of artillery in the distance and sent riders ahead to discover the cause They came back to report that a Russian column Dokhturov s was descending from the mountains to take the road to Drenstein Realizing this would separate him from the forward division Dupont hustled his troops toward the sound of battle and deployed them to take the Russians in the flank The French assault heralded by cannon fire caused Dokhturov s troops to turn their attention from Gazan s beleaguered force to face these new assailants Although superior in numbers Dokhturov s column had no supporting artillery and the narrow space prevented them from taking advantage of their size It was Dokhturov s turn to face attackers at his front and rear until the arrival of Schmitt s column which had wended its way through the mountains in the west
Schmitt arrived at dusk and the action continued well after dark in mid November night falls at close to in the upper Danube climes Despite the darkness Schmitt descended out of the defiles and deployed his troops to assail Dupont s flank As his Russians entered the fray they came between a battalion of French and another of Russians With the additional force the French were overwhelmed but most of the shooting subsided when the combatants could not tell apart friend from foe in the dark Under the cover of darkness Mortier used the French flotilla to evacuate his exhausted troops to the south bank The French and Russians continued to skirmish fitfully into the night as sentries encountered one another in the dark Portions of Gazan s force provided any necessary rear guard action and the following morning the remaining men were evacuated from the north shore of the Danube while they maintained possession of only Spitz and Weissenkirchen on the north bank
The losses were staggering Gazan lost close to percent of his division to death and wounds Aside from losing five guns officers and men under his command were captured bringing the loss of effectives closer to percent furthermore he lost the eagles of the th Infantry Regiment France and the eagle and guidon of the th Dragoons The Russians lost around about percent of their force and two regimental colors The Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal Schmitt was killed as the battle concluded probably by Russian musketry in the confused melee The vineyards and the villages of Ober and Unterloiben were destroyed as was most of Drenstein and Stein Krems was heavily damaged the French plundered the town at least twice and barbarously handled its inhabitants
Both sides claimed victory Although losses were fairly equal in terms of numbers wounded or dead on each sidethe Coalition forces went into battle with men while the French started with Gazan s division of about which grew close to when Dupont s men joined the fighting in the afternoon Regardless Gazan s division was nearly destroyed the percent losses experienced by the French fell predominantly on his division Clearly for both sides the fighting was hard The weather had been cold an early storm had left slick icy mud in the roadways and icicles like chandeliers hung from the trees
For the Coalition the Russians were secure on the north bank of the Danube awaiting reinforcements from Galicia the bridges between Linz and Vienna had been destroyed making French access to the Austrian capital more difficult but not impossible After six months of fighting in which the Austrians had enjoyed little good news the Coalition could claim a difficult and timely victory The French had retreated from the field with a badly mauled division and Kutuzov had secured the right flank Indeed Francis was so pleased with the outcome at Drenstein that he awarded Kutuzov the Military Order of Maria Theresa
For the French the survival of the Corps Mortier seemed nothing short of a miracle The remainder of Gazan s division crossed the river the next morning and eventually recuperated in Vienna which the French acquired by deception later in the month More importantly for them the French force had performed well over difficult terrain and under terrible combat conditions Initially there had been some panic and parts of at least one French battalion had tried to escape on the flotilla craft They had lost control of the boats in the current and smashed into the pillars of the burned bridge at Krems overturning their boats Tossed into the icy river most had drowned Despite this initial panic Gazan s column retained its cohesion and responded well to various difficult demands Dupont had demonstrated his tactical acumen when he heard cannon fire he directed his troops toward it to support the French division In terms of French staffing Mortier s failure to guard his flank especially in the face of Napoleon s direct advice adversely influenced his relationship with his commander However in the immediate weeks ahead the flamboyant Murat did more to annoy Napoleon than Mortier had In assessing the battle and its aftermath historians have laid the blame and credit for its outcome not only on Mortier and Gazan Napoleon aware of Mortier s danger and his own culpability for it vented his frustration on Murat whom he unjustly accused of abandoning Mortier for the empty glory of riding through Vienna
After the victory at Austerlitz Napoleon dispersed the VIII Corps and reassigned Mortier However disappointed he may have been with Mortier Napoleon was pleased with Gazan s performance As recognition of his conduct in what the French called the immortal Battle of Drenstein Gazan received the Officer s Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
The loss of Schmitt was a significant blow to the Austrian military organization Called out of retirement for this specific task he was one of their most experienced general staff officers other than the Archduke Charles From the summer of until his retirement in he had been Chief of the Quartermaster General Staff of the Army the Lower Rhine the Rhine and the Army of Germany Furthermore he was a trusted member of Archduke Charles staff He had helped to design several of Charles more important victories at Emmendingen Schliengen the sieges at Kehl and Hnigen the battles at Ostrach and Stockach and the northern Swiss Campaign of that included battles at Winterthur and Zrich An experienced officer and excellent tactician he might well have made a more effective Chief of the Quartermaster General Staff of the Coalition Army at the Battle of Austerlitz than his eventual replacement Franz von Weyrother In Schmitt s absence Weyrother the architect of the Austrian catastrophe at Hohenlinden in was chosen to develop the general battle plan of Coalition action at Austerlitz Schmitt undoubtedly a far better tactician than Weyrother and possessed of superior training and mapping skills would have developed a more realistic Coalition plan for Austerlitz Schmitt s presence would probably not have been enough to turn that defeat into a victory but it would have mitigated the magnitude of the Coalition s losses Austerlitz was considered one of Napoleon s finest triumphs
In the broader picture despite the important major naval engagements the outcome of the War of the Third Coalition was determined on the Continent predominantly in the two major land operations In the Ulm campaign the Habsburgs achieved some minor victories such as Klenau s at Haslach Jungingen but ultimately lost an entire army and an officer corps The latter would not resume arms against France until formally exchanged This condition crippled the Austrian military leadership and forced the recall of such pensioners as Schmitt out of retirement After the capitulation at Ulm isolated portions of the Austrian military evaded capture and joined with their Russian allies Michael von Kienmayer s corps slipped out of the encirclement and joined Kutuzov s force A few other small forces refused to capitulate and seemingly melted into the Bavarian mountains and the Thurgingian forests to reappear in Bohemia for Austerlitz Sixteen hundred cavalry including Archduke Ferdinand and Prince Schwarzenberg broke out of Ulm before its capitulation Maximilian Count of Merveldt led his column back through the mountains into Austria fighting rear guard actions against pursuing French forces at the Steyer Steyr and Mariazell These elusive units were insufficient to balance heavy losses at key battles in which the Austrians could not hold their own against the French Between the Ulm capitulation and the Austrian and Russian defeat at Austerlitz there were other minor achievements a successful skirmish between the cavalry that escaped from Ulm and the French near the town of Nrdlingen the contested victory at Drenstein and another within days at Schngrabern
The second determining event the decisive French victory at the Battle of Austerlitz over the combined Russian and Austrian armies forced the Austrian withdrawal from the Coalition The subsequent Peace of Pressburg signed on December reinforced the earlier treaties of Campo Formio and Lunville Furthermore Austria ceded land to Napoleon s German allies and paid an indemnity of million francs Victory at Austerlitz also gave Napoleon the latitude to create a buffer zone of German states between France and the states of Prussia Russia and Austria These measures did not establish a lasting peace on the continent Prussian worries about growing French influence in Central Europe sparked the War of the Fourth Coalition in in which Austria did not participate
Until Drenstein was probably best known as the village in which crusader Richard the Lionheart was held by Leopold V Duke of Austria In during the War of the Austrian Succession several hundred local villagers had held off the French and Bavarian armies intent on capturing Vienna by painting drain pipes to look like cannons and beating on drums thus suggesting the presence of a large force
After the exploits of French Russian and Austrian soldiers excited the European imagination General Schmitt s grave has never been found but in a monument for him was erected at the Stein Tor the gate leading from the old village of Krems to the hamlet of Stein The house in which Captain von Stiebar lived was marked with a bronze plate commemorating his contribution to the battle In a Spanish lithographer created an image of the battle which was later expanded by English lithographer John Outhwaite The image depicts the evacuation of French troops via the Danube flotilla see Infobox image on a moonlit night In fact the moon was in its last quarter phase hours later and on November probably did not provide as much light as depicted in the image
In Jean Antoine Simon Fort French a historical painter created a watercolor of the battle Combat de Drnstein le novembre English Battle of Drenstein of November which is in the Trianon collection at Versailles
In the Russian novel War and Peace Leo Tolstoy devoted several pages to the battle its prelude and its aftermath and the delivery of its news to the Tsar by Prince Andrew Between Drenstein and Rossatz at the edge of the Loiben plain stands the Little Frenchman memorial see image erected in to commemorate the battle it bears the names of Mortier Gazan Kutuzov Schmitt and others on a copper engraved plate
On November douard Adolphe Mortier commanded the following forces
st Division under command of Pierre Dupont de l tang formerly st Division of VI Corps six battalions three squadrons and three guns most of which were involved in the fighting after mid day
nd Division under command of Honor Thodore Maxime Gazan de la Peyrire formerly nd Division of the V Corps nine battalions three squadrons three guns
rd Division under command of Jean Baptiste Dumonceau Batavian Division formerly rd Division of the II Corps The rd Division was not involved in the fighting
Dragoon Division under command of Louis Klein Klein s division included the st nd th and th Regiments of Dragoons They were not involved in the fighting
Danube fleet of fifty boats under the command of Frigate Captain Lostange
Total fifteen battalions six squadrons six guns approximately men not all of which were involved in the fighting
First Column commanded by General of Brigade Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration included three battalions of infantry three grenadier battalions and three Jger battalions ten squadrons of Hussars
Second Column Lieutenant General Essen included six battalions of infantry three battalions of grenadiers and five squadrons of Hussars
Third Column commanded by Lieutenant General Dokhturov including six battalions of infantry one battalion from the th Jger regiment and ten squadrons of the Hussar Regiment Mariupol
Fourth Column commanded by Lieutenant General Schepelev nine battalions of infantry
Fifth Column Lieutenant General Freiherr von Maltitz nine battalions of infantry
Sixth Column Lieutenant General Freiherr von Rosen with six battalions of Infantry and ten squadrons of cavalry The Sixth Column did not take part in the fighting
Austrian Infantry Brigade Major General Johann Nepomuk von Nostitz Rieneck four battalions of Border Infantry including the highly decorated th Regiment Peterwardeiner
Austrian Cavalry Division Lieutenant Field Marshal Friedrich Karl Wilhelm Frst zu Hohenlohe twenty two squadrons of cavalry
Total fifty eight battalions sixty two squadrons fourteen artillery batteries approximately men and guns
Brock Edward Lesnar lznr born July is an American Canadian professional wrestler mixed martial artist and former amateur wrestler and professional American football player He is currently signed to WWE on the Raw brand He is a four time WWE World Heavyweight Champion a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and an NCAA Division I Heavyweight Wrestling Champion He is also a one time IWGP Heavyweight Champion making him a five time world champion in professional wrestling As of July he is in official UFC heavyweight rankings
After his successful amateur wrestling career at Bismarck State College and the University of Minnesota wins and losses Lesnar signed with WWE then the World Wrestling Federation in He was assigned to its developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling OVW where he was a three time OVW Southern Tag Team Champion with Shelton Benjamin After debuting on WWE s main roster in he won the WWE Championship on three separate occasions with victories over The Rock and Kurt Angle twice Lesnar won his first WWE Undisputed Championship five months after his main roster debut at the age of becoming the youngest champion in the title s history He was also the King of the Ring and the Royal Rumble winner making him the youngest King of the Ring and Royal Rumble winner as well Following his match with Goldberg at WrestleMania XX Lesnar left the WWE and pursued a career in the National Football League NFL He was named a defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings but was cut prior to the start of the season In Lesnar returned to professional wrestling and signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling NJPW where he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his first match After a contractual dispute with NJPW he also wrestled as IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the Inoki Genome Federation IGF
In Lesnar pursued a career in mixed martial arts He signed with Hero s and won his first fight against Min Soo Kim in June He then signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC the following October Lesnar lost in his UFC debut against Frank Mir and then won his second fight against Heath Herring In November Lesnar defeated Randy Couture to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion Shortly after a successful title defense in a rematch with Mir Lesnar was sidelined due to diverticulitis He would return at UFC to defeat Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin and unify the heavyweight championships becoming the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Lesnar then lost the championship to Cain Velasquez at UFC In he was once again sidelined due to diverticulitis and underwent surgery Lesnar returned at UFC in December losing to Alistair Overeem and promptly retiring from MMA Lesnar was a box office sensation in UFC He took part in a few of the best selling pay per views in UFC history including UFC and UFC
In April Lesnar once again returned to professional wrestling rejoining WWE after an eight year hiatus Two years later at WrestleMania XXX Lesnar defeated The Undertaker to end his undefeated streak at the premier annual event Lesnar has been managed by Paul Heyman throughout the majority of his professional wrestling career He has headlined numerous pay per view events for both the WWE and UFC including WrestleMania XIX WrestleMania UFC and UFC In an ESPNcom article referred to Lesnar as the most accomplished athlete in pro wrestling history
Lesnar was born in Webster South Dakota on July He was raised on a Webster dairy farm owned by his parents Stephanie and Richard Lesnar He is of German descent He has two older brothers named Troy and Chad and a younger sister named Brandi At age he joined the National Guard where he was assigned to an office job after his red green colorblindness was deemed hazardous to his desire to work with explosives He lost this job after failing a computer typing test and later worked for a construction company
Lesnar attended Webster High School where he played football and competed in amateur wrestling placing third in the state championships his senior year He then attended Bismarck State College where he won the National Junior College Athletic Association NJCAA heavyweight wrestling championship in his sophomore year He transferred to the University of Minnesota on a wrestling scholarship for his junior and senior college years There he was roommates with future WWE colleague Shelton Benjamin who was also his assistant coach
Lesnar won the National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA Division I heavyweight wrestling championship his senior year after being the runner up to Stephen Neal the year prior He finished his amateur career as a two time NJCAA All American the NJCAA Heavyweight Champion two time NCAA All American two time Big Ten Conference Champion and the NCAA Heavyweight Champion with a record of overall in four years of college
In Lesnar signed with the World Wrestling Federation WWF He was sent to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling There Lesnar first met future friend and manager Paul Heyman He formed a tag team known as The Minnesota Stretching Crew with his former college roommate Shelton Benjamin Lesnar and Benjamin won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on three separate occasions Lesnar wrestled several dark matches in and before being called up to the main roster
Lesnar debuted on WWF television on the March episode of Raw coming through the crowd and attacking Al Snow Maven and Spike Dudley during their match He was accompanied by Paul Heyman who was seen giving instructions to Lesnar When the brand extension was introduced in the WWF Lesnar was drafted to the Raw brand Later Heyman was confirmed to be Lesnar s agent and gave Lesnar the nickname The Next Big Thing Lesnar s first feud was with the Hardy Boyz Lesnar and Jeff Hardy squared off at Backlash in Lesnar s first official televised match He won the match by knockout after Hardy was unable to respond to referee Theodore Long The next night on Raw Lesnar faced off against Jeff Hardy s brother Matt Hardy and defeated him in the same fashion
In June Lesnar won the King of the Ring tournament defeating Bubba Ray Dudley in the first round Booker T in the quarter finals Test in the semi finals and Rob Van Dam in the finals earning him a shot at the WWE Undisputed Championship at SummerSlam On July Lesnar joined the SmackDown brand After a quick feud with Hollywood Hulk Hogan in August Lesnar defeated WWE Undisputed Champion The Rock at SummerSlam to become the WWE Undisputed Champion and youngest WWE Champion at age a record previously held by The Rock He also became the second fastest wrestler to win the WWE Championship since his debut days behind only Ric Flair days At the time the Undisputed WWE Championship was being defended on both brands so Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff expected Lesnar to return to Raw the following night However SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon announced that Lesnar was only required to defend the title on SmackDown forcing Bischoff to institute a new championship for Raw the World Heavyweight Championship The WWE Undisputed Championship was then renamed the WWE Championship
Lesnar s rapid rise to the top of WWE in led to a feud with The Undertaker which involved a match at Unforgiven The match ended in a double disqualification resulting in Lesnar retaining the title Lesnar faced The Undertaker again at No Mercy this time in a Hell in a Cell match Leading up to the match in the storyline Lesnar broke the Undertaker s hand with a propane tank Despite Heyman begging McMahon not to let The Undertaker use his cast as a weapon the request was denied and the match went on as planned In a match that saw both wrestlers and even Heyman covered in blood it ended when Lesnar reversed an attempted Tombstone Piledriver into his finishing F maneuver for the win Six days after his Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker Lesnar successfully retained his WWE title in a handicap match with Heyman at the Rebellion pay per view against Edge
Lesnar s next opponent was Big Show Heyman was convinced more than anyone that Lesnar could not win trying to talk him out of defending the title Lesnar refused and faced Big Show in Madison Square Garden at the Survivor Series pay per view Towards the end of the match Lesnar delivered an F to Big Show but when he went for the pin Heyman pulled the referee out of the ring This allowed Big Show to capitalize and proceeded to chokeslam Lesnar on a steel chair Show went on to pin Lesnar and win the title This loss was Lesnar s first pinfall loss in WWE and led Lesnar to turn for the first time in his career into a fan favorite Following Survivor Series Heyman made it clear that Lesnar would not get a rematch and had snuck a special clause saying so into his contract In order to gain his revenge on Big Show and Heyman Lesnar interfered in his first title defense which came against Kurt Angle the next month at Armageddon Lesnar hit the F on the champion which enabled Angle to pin him and win the title On the following episode of SmackDown however Angle introduced Heyman as his manager and despite promising Lesnar a title shot earlier in the evening declared that Lesnar still would not get it Lesnar was beaten down by Big Show and Angle after the main event but would get his revenge after the show went off the air He eventually knocked the Big Show out with a steel chair leaving Angle alone with Lesnar Lesnar then chased the champion out of the ring and resumed his assault that culminated when Lesnar used the F to propel Angle s right knee into the steel ringpost As paramedics tended to a screaming Angle Lesnar finished off the assault with a kneebreaker on the ringside barricade breaking the champion s leg in storyline
With Angle temporarily put out of action Lesnar s rivalry with Heyman and the Big Show resumed which culminated in a match at the Royal Rumble in January with the winner being placed into the Royal Rumble later in the evening Lesnar would defeat Big Show and entered the Royal Rumble as the entry the second to last competitor to enter the match He eliminated Matt Hardy and The World s Greatest Tag Team which was composed of Charlie Haas and his former OVW teammate Shelton Benjamin who were mentored by Angle Lesnar would then eliminate The Undertaker last and win the Royal Rumble which guaranteed him a title match at WrestleMania XIX
After the Royal Rumble Lesnar and Chris Benoit faced off against Angle Haas and Benjamin at No Way Out the following month and Lesnar s team won the match During the match at WrestleMania Lesnar botched a shooting star press a move he d done numerous times in developmental matches and jammed his head and neck This stunned Lesnar and forced Angle and Lesnar to improvise the finish of the match Lesnar would defeat Angle after delivering an F to win his second WWE Championship Lesnar was diagnosed with a legitimate concussion from the botched shooting star press
After WrestleMania Lesnar turned his attention to John Cena who had returned from injury in February and who had been F d into a ringpost in the same manner Angle had been Cena claimed Lesnar nearly ended his career and even named his new finishing move the FU as a jab at the new champion The feud ended in a match at Backlash when Lesnar defeated Cena On the following episode of SmackDown Lesnar returned to his rivalry with Big Show after he injured Rey Mysterio badly during their match at Backlash Show s attack resulted in Mysterio being carried out on a stretcher and back board and Big Show took Mysterio off the stretcher and swung the back board into the ringpost compounding the injury Lesnar called out the Big Show who demanded that Lesnar put his title on the line against him This led to a stretcher match at Judgment Day for the title Lesnar successfully retained his title with help from Rey Mysterio and a forklift During the scripted rivalry on SmackDown Lesnar lifted Big Show off the top rope in a superplex which caused the ring to collapse on impact
As Lesnar and Big Show continued their rivalry Kurt Angle returned from his neck surgery and he and Lesnar began to form a more friendly rivalry as the two were allies yet contenders for the title At the first ever SmackDown brand exclusive pay per view in July Vengeance Lesnar took on Angle and Big Show in a No Disqualification triple threat match for his title which ended after Angle hit the Angle Slam on both Big Show and Lesnar pinning the champion to become WWE Champion for a fourth time
Lesnar continued to aggressively pursue the WWE title despite his friendship with Angle Mr McMahon found his way into the angle at first berating Lesnar who had involved himself in McMahon s rivalry with Zach Gowen for losing to Angle This all turned out to be a swerve that came into focus on the August SmackDown in Kelowna British Columbia That night Lesnar and McMahon were to face each other in a steel cage match with Angle as the special guest referee as per McMahon s orders on the previous week s program During the match Lesnar had passed out due to a staged backstage incident and McMahon was set to pin him but Angle refused to allow McMahon to win that way As the two men began to argue Lesnar rose to his feet revealing the ruse to the crowd and F d Angle He then brutally beat Angle while McMahon watched and celebrated with him afterwards turning heel in the process At SummerSlam Lesnar lost to Angle when Angle made Lesnar tap out to the ankle lock After that Lesnar would cement his heel turn by brutalizing smaller wrestlers and attacking his rivals on a more consistent basis He returned to using the F to propel his opponents legs into the ringpost as he did to Spanky and Gowen and interfered in Angle s matches on two separate occasions On the September episode of SmackDown Lesnar received his third shot at Angle in as many months when he faced the champion in a sixty minute Iron Man match for the title Lesnar won the match and his third WWE Championship by a final count of five to four
Lesnar successfully defended his newly won title against the debuting Paul London on October edition of SmackDown He returned to feuding with The Undertaker Lesnar had previously cost Undertaker the title in a match against then champion Kurt Angle which granted him a shot at Lesnar s title At No Mercy Lesnar defeated Undertaker in a Biker Chain match The rivalry then came to an end after The Undertaker chose to focus on Mr McMahon
After Paul Heyman returned to WWE as general manager of SmackDown Lesnar aligned himself with his former manager With Survivor Series coming up Lesnar decided to challenge Angle to a traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match Lesnar chose Big Show as his first teammate with Heyman adding a returning Nathan Jones and a debuting Matt Morgan to bring the team number to four Angle chose Chris Benoit and The APA to join his team However Faarooq was injured during a match with Lesnar and Angle s team was forced to find a replacement for him Lesnar s team picked A Train to fill the fifth and final spot for them after he attacked John Cena who refused to accept an invitation to join Lesnar s team Cena instead joined Angle s team and Angle added Hardcore Holly as the fifth member Lesnar had injured Holly the year before and he hadn t wrestled since In the climax of the match Chris Benoit became the only second wrestler to make Lesnar tap out Lesnar faced Benoit in a singles bout two weeks later for the WWE Championship on SmackDown where Lesnar won after Benoit passed out to Lesnar s debuting Brock Lock submission hold
The Survivor Series event marked the first time Lesnar met Goldberg from the Raw brand After Lesnar claimed in a backstage interview that he could beat anybody in the world Goldberg interrupted the interview and introduced himself to Lesnar shaking hands with him before leaving with a staredown Lesnar followed this rivalry with a feud involving Hardcore Holly In the storyline Holly wanted revenge on Lesnar for legitimately injuring his neck during a previous match between the two in which left Holly in need of neck surgery and out of action for a year At the Royal Rumble in Lesnar defeated Holly to retain the WWE Championship Later in the Royal Rumble match Lesnar attacked Goldberg and delivered an F enabling Kurt Angle to eliminate him
In February Lesnar faced Eddie Guerrero for the WWE title at No Way Out Late in the match Goldberg delivered a spear to Lesnar while the ref was unconscious Afterwards Guerrero went to pin Lesnar but Lesnar kicked out at two Lesnar then attempted to F Guerrero but Guerrero reversed it into a DDT Guerrero then hit a frog splash pinning Lesnar to win the WWE Championship An angry Lesnar then began feuding with Goldberg blaming him for losing his title and a match was set up between the two at WrestleMania XX During the feud with Goldberg Lesnar was also at odds with Stone Cold Steve Austin who was shown suggesting to Goldberg that he attack Lesnar at No Way Out After Lesnar attacked Austin on Raw and stole his four wheeler Austin was inserted as the special guest referee for the WrestleMania match On the March episode of SmackDown Lesnar defeated Hardcore Holly in his last match on a weekly WWE televised show Behind the scenes it was widely known that the match was Goldberg s last in WWE Only a week before WrestleMania rumors surfaced that Lesnar too was leaving to pursue a career in the National Football League NFL As a result Lesnar s match with Goldberg became a fiasco as the fans at Madison Square Garden jeered and heckled both wrestlers vociferously Goldberg gained victory after delivering a Jackhammer to Lesnar and both men subsequently received Stone Cold Stunners from Austin
On October Lesnar won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on his debut match in a three way match with Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono at a New Japan Pro Wrestling NJPW show in the Tokyo Dome Lesnar is one of the few American wrestlers to have held this title He won the match by pinning Masahiro Chono after an F which he had renamed the Verdict since WWE owns the trademark on the F name After the match Lesnar stated that this name was referring to his lawsuit against WWE
On December WWE filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent Lesnar from continuing to work with NJPW but the court did not grant it Following that he had two non title victories against Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata Lesnar successfully defended his championship on January against former champion Shinsuke Nakamura On January WWE once again filed an injunction against Lesnar to stop him from defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship which was also not enforced as he went on to retain his championship against former Sumo Wrestling Grand Champion Akebono on March at the Sumo Hall Lesnar had another successful title defense against Giant Bernard on May This was the first American vs American title match in NJPW since Vader vs Stan Hansen in
On July New Japan Pro Wrestling announced Lesnar would not return to defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship due to visa issues and had been stripped of the title A tournament was held on July to determine the new champion which was won by Hiroshi Tanahashi Lesnar continued to possess the physical IWGP Championship belt until late June
Approximately one year later on June Lesnar defended his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle in a champion versus champion match Inoki Genome Federation promoter Antonio Inoki had stated Lesnar was the proper IWGP Heavyweight Champion as he was not defeated for the title Angle would defeat Lesnar by forcing him to tap out to the Angle lock to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship as recognized by IGF and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling TNA This was Lesnar s last match as a professional wrestler until when he re signed with WWE
Lesnar had previously signed a non compete clause in order to be released from his contract with WWE which prohibited him from working for any other professional wrestling companies before June However he decided to challenge this ruling in court WWE responded with a counterclaim after Lesnar breached the agreement by appearing at a New Japan Pro Wrestling show in In July the two sides dropped their claims and entered negotiations to renew their relationship WWE had offered Lesnar a contract but on August WWE s official website reported that Lesnar had withdrawn from any involvement with the company The lawsuit began to enter settlement talks on September but did not get solved
On January Judge Christopher Droney stated that unless WWE gave him a good argument between then and the th he would rule in favor of Lesnar giving him a summary judgment This would have enabled Lesnar to work anywhere immediately WWE was later granted a deadline postponement On April WWE announced on WWEcom that both parties had reached a settlement On June a federal judge dismissed the case at the request of both legal parties
Lesnar returned to the WWE on April on Raw as a heel by confronting and delivering an F to John Cena The following week on Raw general manager John Laurinaitis revealed that he signed Lesnar to bring legitimacy back to the WWE and become the new face of the WWE Laurinaitis also announced that Lesnar would face Cena at Extreme Rules with the Extreme Rules stipulation later added to the match Lesnar was dominant throughout the match until Cena punched Lesnar in the face with a steel chain wrapped around his fist Cena then delivered the Attitude Adjustment to Lesnar onto steel steps and Lesnar lost the match
The following night on Raw WWE s Chief Operating Officer Triple H refused to give in to Lesnar s unreasonable contract demands which included being given his own personal jet and having Raw renamed to Monday Night Raw Starring Brock Lesnar resulting in Lesnar attacking him and breaking his arm with a Kimura lock in storyline The next week on Raw Paul Heyman made his return as Lesnar s legal representative and claimed that Lesnar was quitting WWE He later announced a lawsuit against WWE for breach of contract At No Way Out in June Triple H challenged Lesnar who was not present to a match at SummerSlam which Lesnar refused Stephanie McMahon would later goad Heyman into accepting the match on Lesnar s behalf on July at Raw On August at SummerSlam Lesnar defeated Triple H in a No Disqualification match via submission after once again breaking his arm in storyline The following night on Raw Lesnar declared himself the new King of Kings and said that he would depart from WWE after his victory over Triple H stating that he had conquered everything in the company
Lesnar returned on the January episode of Raw confronting Vince McMahon who was about to fire Heyman and Despite Heyman s pleas Lesnar hit McMahon with an F breaking McMahon s pelvis in storyline The following week during The Miz s MizTV talk show Raw Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero revealed herself as the one who signed Lesnar to a new contract to impress McMahon On the February episode of Raw Lesnar once again attempted to attack McMahon only to get into a brawl with the returning Triple H which resulted in Lesnar legitimately having his head split open and requiring eighteen stitches The following week Triple H issued a challenge to Lesnar requesting a rematch with him at WrestleMania which Lesnar accepted but only after Triple signed a contract and Lesnar named the stipulation The following week after Triple H signed the contract and assaulted Heyman the stipulation was revealed as No Holds Barred with Triple H s career on the line Lesnar ended up losing the match after Triple H hit him with a Pedigree onto the steel steps On the April episode of Raw Lesnar attacked MB Heath Slater Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal before Heyman challenged Triple H to face Lesnar in a steel cage match at Extreme Rules which Triple H accepted the following week On May at the pay per view after interference from Heyman he defeated Triple H and ended their feud Lesnar returned on the June episode of Raw attacking Heyman s fellow client CM Punk with an F Despite the accusations from Punk Heyman claimed that he was not behind Lesnar s attack on him However in July Heyman turned on Punk and claimed that Punk could not beat Lesnar which led to Lesnar making his return and attacking Punk on the July episode of Raw The following week on Raw Punk challenged Lesnar to a match at SummerSlam where Lesnar defeated Punk in a no disqualification match
On the December episode of Raw Lesnar returned with Heyman to announce his intentions to challenge the winner of the upcoming WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Randy Orton and John Cena at the Royal Rumble Lesnar then dared any wrestler who disapproved of that notion to challenge him which was answered by Mark Henry and a brawl would ensue ending with Lesnar delivering an F to Henry The following week on Raw Henry challenged Lesnar again only to have Lesnar dislocate his elbow with the Kimura lock in storyline and this led Big Show to came out afterwards to confront Lesnar thus starting a feud which was settled at Royal Rumble where Lesnar defeated the Big Show after attacking him with a steel chair before the match began On the February episode of Raw after Heyman stated that Lesnar had requested a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXX instead receiving an open contract to face anyone else of his choosing The Undertaker then returned and chokeslammed Lesnar through a table setting up their match at WrestleMania Lesnar defeated Undertaker after executing three F s ending his undefeated WrestleMania streak at a feat that was described by Sports Illustrated as being the most shocking result since the Montreal Screwjob
On the July episode of Raw Triple H announced that Lesnar would face John Cena at SummerSlam for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship At SummerSlam Lesnar defeated Cena to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and during the match he delivered sixteen suplexes most of which were German suplexes and two F s to Cena who barely managed any offense On the August episode of Main Event Triple H announced that Cena was invoking his championship rematch clause against Lesnar at Night of Champions where Lesnar was disqualified due to Seth Rollins interfering but retained his championship which could not be lost via disqualification Later in the year after Rollins reunited with The Authority he was added to Lesnar and Cena s championship match at Royal Rumble making it a triple threat match which Lesnar won despite suffering a storyline broken rib during the match
Lesnar s next challenger was Roman Reigns who won the Royal Rumble match to earn the right to face Lesnar for the title at WrestleMania During his main event match against Reigns Lesnar delivered multiple suplexes and was heard exclaiming Suplex City bitch and thereafter Suplex City became one of his signature catchphrases and merchandise motifs After Lesnar and Reigns traded a few false finishes Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract while the match was in progress making it a triple threat Rollins then pinned Reigns to win the title The following night on Raw Lesnar tried to invoke his rematch clause and subsequently attacked commentators Booker T John Bradshaw Layfield and Michael Cole as well as a cameraman after Rollins refused the rematch which led to Stephanie McMahon suspending Lesnar indefinitely in storyline
Lesnar returned on the June episode of Raw as a fan favorite being chosen by The Authority as the number one contender to Rollins WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Battleground On July Lesnar made his first non televised wrestling appearance for WWE since his return defeating Kofi Kingston at The Beast in the East live event in Tokyo in a quick winning effort he also delivered F s to Kingston s New Day stablemates Big E and Xavier Woods after the match On July at Battleground Lesnar dominated Rollins delivering suplexes mid pinfall after performing an F he was attacked by The Undertaker who incapacitated Lesnar with a chokeslam and two Tombstone Piledrivers this ended the match with Lesnar winning by disqualification and Rollins retaining the championship
The following night on Raw Undertaker explained that he had attacked Lesnar not for ending his WrestleMania streak but rather for Lesnar allowing Heyman to constantly taunt Undertaker about it this led to the two brawling throughout the arena and a WrestleMania rematch being scheduled for SummerSlam on August where Undertaker would controversially defeat Lesnar during the match Undertaker tapped out to a Kimura lock by Lesnar and the timekeeper rang the bell but the referee did not see the tapout and demanded that the match continue which saw Undertaker then hitting Lesnar with a low blow and Lesnar passed out to Undertaker s submission hold Hell s Gate The following night on Raw Lesnar and Heyman challenged Undertaker to an immediate rematch only to be confronted by Bo Dallas who mocked Lesnar about his defeat Lesnar then responded by delivering German suplexes and an F to Dallas
During Night of Champions it was announced that Lesnar would face The Undertaker at the Hell in a Cell pay per view where Lesnar defeated The Undertaker after a low blow and F onto the exposed ring floor ending their feud The match was later voted Match of the Year during the Slammy Awards On the January episode of Raw Lesnar returned attacking The New Day The League of Nations Sheamus King Barrett Rusev and Alberto Del Rio and Kevin Owens before giving an F to Roman Reigns The following week on Raw Lesnar would brawl with Reigns until they were both attacked by The Wyatt Family At the Royal Rumble Lesnar was the rd entrant eliminating four competitors before being eliminated by Bray Wyatt with help from the rest of The Wyatt Family
On the January episode of Raw Stephanie McMahon announced that the main event of Fastlane would be a triple threat match between Lesnar Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose to determine who would face Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania In the following weeks Lesnar would be continuously provoked by Ambrose with Reigns saving him from the subsequent attacks by Lesnar At Fastlane Lesnar dominated most of the match before he was put through two announce tables by Ambrose and Reigns he would ultimately lose the match after Reigns pinned Ambrose Because of this Lesnar attacked Ambrose in the parking lot as he was arriving at the arena for Raw but Ambrose would return later in the night having hijacked an ambulance and he challenged Lesnar to a No Holds Barred Street Fight match at WrestleMania where Lesnar defeated Ambrose On the July edition of SmackDown it was announced that Lesnar would be facing the returning Randy Orton at SummerSlam On July at the WWE Draft Lesnar was drafted to Raw
After his match at WrestleMania XX Lesnar sidelined his career in WWE to pursue a career in the National Football League NFL despite not playing American football since high school The WWE issued this statement on their official website WWEcom following his departure
Brock Lesnar has made a personal decision to put his WWE career on hold to prepare to tryout for the National Football League this season Brock has wrestled his entire professional career in the WWE and we are proud of his accomplishments and wish him the best in his new endeavor
Lesnar later told a Minnesota radio show that he had three wonderful years in WWE but had grown unhappy and always wanted to play pro football adding that he did not want to be years old and wondering if he could have made it in football In an interview about the NFL he stated
This is no load of bull it s no WWE stunt I am dead serious about this I ain t afraid of anything and I ain t afraid of anybody I ve been an underdog in athletics since I was five I got zero college offers for wrestling Now people say I can t play football that it s a joke I say I can I m as good an athlete as a lot of guys in the NFL if not better I ve always had to fight for everything I wasn t the best technician in amateur wrestling but I was strong had great conditioning and a hard head Nobody could break me As long as I have that I don t give a damn what anybody else thinks
Lesnar had a great showing at the NFL Combine On April a minivan collided with his motorbike he suffered a broken jaw and left hand a bruised pelvis and a pulled groin Several NFL teams expressed interest in watching Lesnar work out The Minnesota Vikings worked out Lesnar on June but he was hampered by the groin injury suffered in the April motorcycle accident On July it was reported that he was nearly recovered from his groin injury He signed with the Vikings on July and played in several preseason games for the team He was released by the Vikings on August Lesnar received an invitation to play as a representative for the Vikings in NFL Europa but declined due to his desire to stay in the United States with his family He had several football cards produced of him during his time with the Vikings
On April after the final match of the K World Grand Prix in Las Vegas Lesnar announced his intent to join K s mixed martial arts league Hero s He trained with Minnesota Martial Arts Academy under Greg Nelson and Minnesota Assistant Head wrestling coach Marty Morgan Lesnar announced on August in Las Vegas that he had signed a deal with the K promotion His first fight was scheduled against Choi Hong man of Korea on June at the K Dynamite USA show However prior to the match Hong Man was replaced by Min Soo Kim Lesnar submitted Soo Kim with strikes in of the first round to win his first official MMA match
During UFC it was announced that Lesnar had reached a deal to fight with the Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC On February Lesnar made his debut with the promotion in an event titled UFC Breaking Point against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir Due to his large hands Lesnar was wearing XL gloves for the fight making him the second man in Nevada s combat sports history to wear such gloves after Choi Hong man Lesnar secured an early takedown and began landing numerous punches but was docked a point after a punch hit Mir on the back of the head Following another takedown by Lesnar Mir managed to secure a kneebar and force a submission at of the first round and Lesnar lost in his UFC debut At UFC former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Hall of Famer Mark Coleman was announced to fight Lesnar at UFC However Coleman withdrew from the fight due to an injury and was replaced by Heath Herring Lesnar defeated Herring by unanimous decision
Lesnar would then face Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC on November Lesnar would beat Couture via a technical knockout TKO in the second round to become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion
On December at UFC Frank Mir defeated Antnio Nogueira for the Interim Heavyweight Championship and was to face Lesnar for the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC Immediately after winning the Interim Heavyweight title Mir found Lesnar in the crowd and shouted You ve got my belt Due to a knee injury to Mir the title unification match with Lesnar that was originally slated to be the UFC main event was postponed Lesnar won the postponed rematch with Mir at UFC on July via technical knockout in the second round The win earned Lesnar Beatdown of the Year honors with Anderson Silva from Sherdog for During his post match celebration Lesnar flipped off the crowd who had been booing him Lesnar also made a disparaging comment about the pay per view s primary sponsor Bud Light claiming they won t pay me nothin and promoted Coors Light instead Lesnar later apologized for his remarks at the post fight press conference where he held a bottle of Bud Light and endorsed their product
On July it was reported that the winner of the Shane Carwin vs Cain Velasquez fight at UFC would face Lesnar but the match was scrapped and Lesnar was scheduled to defend his belt against Shane Carwin at UFC on November On October it was announced that Lesnar pulled out of his Carwin bout due to an illness UFC President Dana White said Lesnar had been ill for three weeks claiming he had never been this sick in his life and that it would take him a while to recover his fight with Carwin was rescheduled for UFC on January Lesnar initially sought treatment in Canada but later told reporters that he had received Third World treatment at a hospital in Brandon Manitoba and that seeking better treatment in the US saved his life Lesnar went on to criticize Canadian health care further and stated that he shared his experience in an effort to speak on the behalf of the doctors in the United States that don t want health care reform to happen
On November it was confirmed that Lesnar was suffering from mononucleosis and that his bout with Carwin would have to wait a bit longer and the fight for Lesnar s heavyweight championship was cancelled On November at the UFC post fight conference Dana White stated Lesnar s not well and he s not going to be getting well anytime soon and that an interim title match might need to be set up In addition to mononucleosis it was revealed that he was suffering from a serious case of diverticulitis an intestinal disorder which required surgery After further diagnosis Lesnar underwent surgery on November to close a perforation in his intestine that had been leaking fecal matter into his abdomen causing pain abscesses and overtaxing his immune system to the point that he contracted mononucleosis From the level of damage to Lesnar s system the surgeon estimated that the intestinal condition had been ongoing for around a year
In January Lesnar announced on ESPN s SportsCenter that he was scheduled to make a return to the UFC in the summer A match between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin took place on March at UFC to determine the Interim Heavyweight Champion and Lesnar s next opponent Shane Carwin defeated Mir via knockout in the first round becoming the new Interim Champion After the fight Lesnar came into the ring and stated It was a good fight but he s wearing a belt that s a make believe belt I ve got the real championship belt Lesnar faced Carwin at UFC to unify the heavyweight titles Early in the first round Carwin knocked Lesnar down with punch gave him a cut above his left eye and used a ground and pound attack the rest of the round In the next round Lesnar was able to take Carwin down attain a full mount then move into side control and finish the fight with an arm triangle choke With the victory Lesnar became the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion earning his first Submission of the Night and giving Carwin his first loss The win also tied a UFC record for most consecutive successful Heavyweight Championship defenses
Lesnar s next defense was against undefeated top contender Cain Velasquez on October at the Honda Center in Anaheim California at UFC Dana White announced via SportsNation that the UFC would bring back UFC Primetime to hype the fight He was defeated by Velasquez for the title by TKO in the first round
On January Lesnar was announced as a coach of The Ultimate Fighter Season opposite Junior dos Santos with the two expected to fight on June at UFC however he was struck with another bout of diverticulitis and had to withdraw from the fight on May He was replaced by Shane Carwin who ended up losing against dos Santos Lesnar underwent surgery on May to help battle his problems with diverticulitis Dana White said that he had a inch piece of his colon removed
In its May issue ESPN s magazine published a story listing the highest paid athlete based on base salary and earnings for the most recent calendar year or most recent season in sports Lesnar topped the list for MMA at million which included his reported bout salaries and estimated pay per view bonuses
In the summer of Lesnar announced that he was returning to action stating I feel like a new man Healthy Strong I feel like I used to feel His return match was scheduled to be at UFC on December in Las Vegas against former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem Overeem won the fight by way of technical knockout in the first round The result of the fight remains controversial as Overeem tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone prior to his next fight Lesnar then announced his retirement from MMA mentioning his struggles with diverticulitis and saying tonight was the last time you ll see me in the octagon
Speculation about a return to MMA lasted until March when Lesnar announced in an interview on SportsCenter that he had re signed with WWE and officially closed the door on a return to MMA even though he was offered a deal ten times more than what he had made previously in his MMA career He further elaborated that while he was training for months for a return to the UFC he felt physically great but something was lacking mentally Lesnar added that he s an older caveman now so he makes smarter caveman decisions and that he chose to sign with WWE instead of returning to MMA because he could work part time with full time pay
Though Lesnar said he was closing the door on MMA in March UFC announced on June that he would return at UFC on July WWE confirmed it had granted Lesnar a one off opportunity to compete at UFC before he would return to the company for SummerSlam on August
Lesnar representing Canada for the first time in his career defeated Mark Hunt by unanimous decision avoiding of Hunt s attempted standing strikes and taking him down four times to land significant ground strikes in the final round He also won a UFC record million purse
On July Lesnar was notified of a potential anti doping policy violation by the United States Anti Doping Agency USADA stemming from an undisclosed banned substance in an out of competition sample collected on June Shortly after this was announced WWE said Lesnar s match with Randy Orton at SummerSlam would still take place Hunt told UFC to either pay him half of Lesnar s purse or let him out of his contract He later changed his mind on Twitter and asked for the whole purse UFC has not yet publicly responded to Hunt Lesnar told the Associated Press We will get to the bottom of this On July the UFC announced that a second sample taken in competition on July tested positive for the same banned substance discovered in the previous out of competition sample
Lesnar married Rena Greek better known as Sable on May They reside on a farm in Maryfield Saskatchewan having previously lived in Maple Plain Minnesota They have two sons Turk born June and Duke born July Lesnar also has twins with his former fiance Nicole McClain the first being a son named Luke born Brock Jr and the second a daughter named Mya Lynn born April Mya is minutes older than Luke Lesnar has full custody of the twins and is the stepfather of Mariah Greek s daughter with her late husband
Lesnar is a conservative and a supporter of the Republican Party He is a member of the National Rifle Association and made an appearance at their annual meeting in May to discuss his passion for hunting and his role as a spokesman for Fusion Ammunition
During his first run in WWE Lesnar developed addictions to both alcohol and painkillers allegedly drinking a bottle of vodka per day and taking hundreds of Vicodin pills per month to manage the pain caused by wear and tear on his body he named his accident at WrestleMania XIX as a particular source of pain Lesnar claims that as a result of his addiction and mental exhaustion he does not remember an entire two years of his WWE career
In January Lesnar was arrested by police in Louisville Kentucky for suspicion of possessing large amounts of anabolic steroids The charges were dropped when it was discovered that the substances were a legal growth hormone His lawyer described it as a vitamin type of thing
On December Lesnar was charged with hunting infractions on a trip to Alberta on November Two charges were dropped but Lesnar pleaded guilty to the charge of improper tagging of an animal He was fined and given a six month hunting suspension
As of July Lesnar s eldest son Brock Jr is ranked in Saskatchewan and in all of Canada in amateur wrestling
Lesnar appears in the video games WWE SmackDown Shut Your Mouth WWE SmackDown Here Comes the Pain Madden NFL UFC Undisputed UFC Undisputed WWE WWE WWE K WWE K WWE K and WWE K
In WWE Home Video released a DVD chronicling Lesnar s career entitled Brock Lesnar Here Comes the Pain It was re released in as a three disc DVD and two disc Blu ray collector s edition to tie in with Lesnar s WWE return It was also expanded to include new matches and interviews
Lesnar was featured on the covers of Flex and Muscle Fitness magazine in and Minneapolis City Pages in
In Lesnar signed an endorsement deal with Dymatize Nutrition A CD containing footage of Lesnar training was included with Dymatize s Xpand product
In Lesnar published an autobiography titled Death Clutch My Story of Determination Domination and Survival ISBN It was co written with Paul Heyman
In a post on his blog Attack on Titan author Hajime Isayama revealed that he drew inspiration from Lesnar for the character of the Armored Titan
Lesnar has also appeared in multiple comedic Instagram and Vine videos by actor Eric Stonestreet
Brock Lock Over the shoulder single leg Boston crab
F WWE Verdict NJPW IGF Fireman s carry facebuster present
Shooting star press OVW only used once in WWE
Knee lifts to the opponent s midsection
Belly to back sometimes to two opponents at once
Fisherman s sometimes while delaying
Overhead belly to belly sometimes into or out of the ring
Standing double leg takedown followed by mounted punches
The Nightmare of Suplex City
Nickel Size Hail And the Damaging Winds by Sunny Ledfurd
Enforcer by Jim Johnston April June
Next Big Thing by Jim Johnston June March April August
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Lesnar s IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign at IGF is considered a continuation of his reign from NJPW
When Lesnar won the title for the first time it was known as the WWE Undisputed Championship His next two reigns were as simply WWE Champion while his final one was as WWE World Heavyweight Champion
Constant k filters also k type filters are a type of electronic filter designed using the image method They are the original and simplest filters produced by this methodology and consist of a ladder network of identical sections of passive components Historically they are the first filters that could approach the ideal filter frequency response to within any prescribed limit with the addition of a sufficient number of sections However they are rarely considered for a modern design the principles behind them having been superseded by other methodologies which are more accurate in their prediction of filter response
Constant k filters were invented by George Campbell He published his work in but had clearly invented the filters some time before as his colleague at AT T Co Otto Zobel was already making improvements to the design at this time Campbell s filters were far superior to the simpler single element circuits that had been used previously Campbell called his filters electric wave filters but this term later came to mean any filter that passes waves of some frequencies but not others Many new forms of wave filter were subsequently invented an early and important variation was the m derived filter by Zobel who coined the term constant k for the Campbell filter in order to distinguish them
The great advantage Campbell s filters had over the RL circuit and other simple filters of the time was that they could be designed for any desired degree of stop band rejection or steepness of transition between pass band and stop band It was only necessary to add more filter sections until the desired response was obtained
The filters were designed by Campbell for the purpose of separating multiplexed telephone channels on transmission lines but their subsequent use has been much more widespread than that The design techniques used by Campbell have largely been superseded However the ladder topology used by Campbell with the constant k is still in use today with implementations of modern filter designs such as the Tchebyscheff filter Campbell gave constant k designs for low pass high pass and band pass filters Band stop and multiple band filters are also possible
Some of the impedance terms and section terms used in this article are pictured in the diagram below Image theory defines quantities in terms of an infinite cascade of two port sections and in the case of the filters being discussed an infinite ladder network of L sections Here L should not be confused with the inductance L in electronic filter topology L refers to the specific filter shape which resembles inverted letter L
The sections of the hypothetical infinite filter are made of series elements having impedance Z and shunt elements with admittance Y The factor of two is introduced for mathematical convenience since it is usual to work in terms of half sections where it disappears The image impedance of the input and output port of a section will generally not be the same However for a mid series section that is a section from halfway through a series element to halfway through the next series element will have the same image impedance on both ports due to symmetry This image impedance is designated ZiT due to the T topology of a mid series section Likewise the image impedance of a mid shunt section is designated Zi due to the topology Half of such a T or section is called a half section which is also an L section but with half the element values of the full L section The image impedance of the half section is dissimilar on the input and output ports on the side presenting the series element it is equal to the mid series ZiT but on the side presenting the shunt element it is equal to the mid shunt Zi There are thus two variant ways of using a half section
Parts of this article or section rely on the reader s knowledge of the complex impedance representation of capacitors and inductors and on knowledge of the frequency domain representation of signals
The building block of constant k filters is the half section L network composed of a series impedance Z and a shunt admittance Y The k in constant k is the value given by
Thus k will have units of impedance that is ohms It is readily apparent that in order for k to be constant Y must be the dual impedance of Z A physical interpretation of k can be given by observing that k is the limiting value of Zi as the size of the section in terms of values of its components such as inductances capacitances etc approaches zero while keeping k at its initial value Thus k is the characteristic impedance Z of the transmission line that would be formed by these infinitesimally small sections It is also the image impedance of the section at resonance in the case of band pass filters or at in the case of low pass filters For example the pictured low pass half section has
Elements L and C can be made arbitrarily small while retaining the same value of k Z and Y however are both approaching zero and from the formulae below for image impedances
See also Image impedance Derivation
The image impedances of the section are given by
Given that the filter does not contain any resistive elements the image impedance in the pass band of the filter is purely real and in the stop band it is purely imaginary For example for the pictured low pass half section
The transition occurs at a cut off frequency given by
Below this frequency the image impedance is real
Above the cut off frequency the image impedance is imaginary
The transmission parameters for a general constant k half section are given by
and for a chain of n half sections
For the low pass L shape section below the cut off frequency the transmission parameters are given by
That is the transmission is lossless in the pass band with only the phase of the signal changing Above the cut off frequency the transmission parameters are
The presented plots of image impedance attenuation and phase change correspond to a low pass prototype filter section The prototype has a cut off frequency of c
This is produced by a filter half section with inductance L
farad This prototype can be impedance scaled and frequency scaled to the desired values The low pass prototype can also be transformed into high pass band pass or band stop types by application of suitable frequency transformations
Several L shape half sections may be cascaded to form a composite filter Like impedance must always face like in these combinations There are therefore two circuits that can be formed with two identical L shaped half sections Where a port of image impedance ZiT faces another ZiT the section is called a section Where Zi faces Zi the section so formed is a T section Further additions of half sections to either of these section forms a ladder network which may start and end with series or shunt elements
It should be borne in mind that the characteristics of the filter predicted by the image method are only accurate if the section is terminated with its image impedance This is usually not true of the sections at either end which are usually terminated with a fixed resistance The further the section is from the end of the filter the more accurate the prediction will become since the effects of the terminating impedances are masked by the intervening sections
The Snowmen is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who first broadcast on Christmas Day on BBC One It is the eighth Christmas special since the show s revival and the first to be within a series It was written by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Saul Metzstein
The episode is set in the Victorian era and sees the Doctor Matt Smith brooding with the assistance of Silurian Madame Vastra Neve McIntosh her wife Jenny Flint Catrin Stewart and Sontaran Strax Dan Starkey after the loss of companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams in the previous episode The Angels Take Manhattan He is forced out of hiding to investigate mysterious sentient snowmen that are building themselves and meets Clara Oswald Jenna Louise Coleman a governess also investigating the snowmen They discover that the snowmen are being animated by the Great Intelligence voice of Ian McKellen with the help of a man named Dr Simeon Richard E Grant
Building upon the character s surprise introduction in Asylum of the Daleks The Snowmen introduces Clara as the Doctor s new companion though ultimately it would be a third version of her character that would travel with the Doctor starting with The Bells of Saint John In addition to Clara The Snowmen also introduces a redesigned TARDIS revised title sequence and theme music and sees changes to the Doctor s costume The special was produced in August with location filming in Newport Wales and Bristol It received final ratings of million viewers in the UK becoming the fourth most watched programme of Christmas Day The Snowmen was met with mostly positive reviews from critics most of whom received the introduction and character of Clara well However some felt that Grant and McKellen were underused as villains or the plot was slight because of the focus on characterisation
To promote the special three prequels were released The first was broadcast during the Children in Need telethon on November titled The Great Detective The Silurian Madame Vastra her human wife Jenny Flint and the Sontaran Strax all returning from A Good Man Goes to War describe a number of strange phenomena to a shadowed fourth detective The fourth detective reveals himself to be the Doctor and tells the group that he has retired
A second prequel titled Vastra Investigates was released online on December At the end of a case Vastra and Jenny converse with an officer from Scotland Yard and apologise for Strax s violent wishes for the culprit s punishment Vastra explains Strax s alien origin as well as her own to the officer much to his astonishment Vastra reveals that she was awoken by an extension to the London Underground and initially disliked humans though that changed when she fell in love with Jenny On the carriage ride home Jenny notices it is beginning to snow and Vastra notes that the snow should be impossible because there are no clouds in the sky
A third prequel titled The Battle of Demon s Run Two Days Later was released on the United States iTunes and Amazon Video stores on March Two days after the events of A Good Man Goes to War Vastra and Jenny convince Strax that he is not mortally wounded and invite him to accompany them back to s London The scene had been filmed as an extra due to the anticipation that fans would ask how Strax was resurrected and came to be in Vastra s employ
In England a young boy builds a snowman but refuses to play with the other children The snowman starts speaking to the boy repeating his assertions that the other children are silly Fifty years later the boy has grown up to be Dr Walter Simeon proprietor of the Great Intelligence Institute He hires men to collect samples of snow which he places in a large snow filled globe in his laboratory before feeding the men to a group of animated snowmen The Doctor still despondent after losing his former companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams has parked his TARDIS above Victorian London among the clouds He uses his allies Vastra Jenny and Strax to keep people away from him They also fill their time investigating mysteries throughout the city
Elsewhere barmaid Clara Oswin Oswald investigates a disturbance outside the tavern she works at and finds the Doctor walking by He attempts to leave discreetly but Clara follows him to a coach Not wishing to become involved in matters the Doctor instructs Strax to bring him a memory worm that will erase the last hour of Clara s memories with just a touch Before they can do so they are surrounded by snowmen created from snow with psychic properties who attack the group The Doctor realises that Clara s thoughts are creating the snowmen and ends the threat by instructing her to think of them melting Clara cautions the Doctor that if he wipes her memory she will forget how to deal with the snowmen The Doctor reluctantly allows her to go and ascends a staircase to the sky to return to the TARDIS Clara follows him and knocks on the door but she hides and flees down the staircase when the Doctor answers Clara returns to her other job as governess for the children of Captain Latimer She learns that Latimer s daughter has been having horrible dreams about their previous governess returning from the dead Clara realises that the pond that contains the old governess body is the only thing still frozen around them She attempts to track down the Doctor but instead attracts the attention of Jenny who takes her to see Vastra Vastra tells Clara she gets only one word to impress the Doctor with if she wants his help Clara chooses the word Pond which shocks the Doctor and arouses his interest
Acting on a tip from Strax the Doctor visits the Great Intelligence Institute posing as Sherlock Holmes He confronts Dr Simeon and find a large glass globe in Simeon s office that contains psychic snow The Doctor speaks to the Great Intelligence the entity that has been speaking to Dr Simeon since he was a boy He learns that the Great Intelligence has been controlling the snowmen and has taken interest in Latimer s pond The Doctor visits the pond and deduces that the Great Intelligence is using the old governess body as a DNA blueprint to form an ice creature that will retain its form and not melt While Clara is putting the children to bed the frozen body of the governess breaks into the house The Doctor fights her off and is joined by Vastra Jenny and Strax Dr Simeon arrives with more snowmen and tells them he wants the governess ice body The Doctor flees with Clara to the roof of the mansion and then to the TARDIS hovering overhead They are pursued by the ice governess whom the Doctor traps under a layer of frozen ice crystals Inside the TARDIS the Doctor gives Clara a TARDIS key but the ice governess arrives and pulls Clara down off the cloud
The Doctor picks up Clara and takes her back to Latimer s mansion placing her under medical care of Strax He collects the ice fragments from the governess and places them in a souvenir London Underground biscuit tin He and Vastra travel to Simeon s lab where the Doctor notes the Intelligence s plan to replace humanity with ice creatures and holds up the tin with the necessary DNA Dr Simeon grabs the tin and opens it only to find the memory worm which latches on to him The Doctor states that the Great Intelligence which has been existing as a mirror of Dr Simeon s thoughts will vanish with the erasure of Simeon s memories Instead the Intelligence reveals that it existed long enough that it can now control Simeon s body which it uses to attack Vastra and the Doctor The influence of the Great Intelligence quickly wanes and Simeon falls dead Outside a salt water rain has started and the Doctor sees that another psychic ability has taken control of the snow from the Great Intelligence the Latimer family crying for Clara Strax informs the Doctor upon his return to the Latimer mansion that Clara only has moments left and she passes away as the Doctor returns the TARDIS key to her At her funeral the Doctor reads Clara s full name on her tombstone and realises she is the woman he met in Asylum of the Daleks who became a Dalek whom he refers to as Souffl Girl He gleefully announces that a person dying twice is an impossibility and bidding farewell to his allies for now the Doctor departs in the TARDIS to investigate and find Clara The episode concludes in contemporary times where a young woman resembling Clara walks through the same graveyard pausing by Clara s tombstone
The Second Doctor previously encountered the Great Intelligence in the serials The Abominable Snowmen set in the s and The Web of Fear set in the s In these stories the Great Intelligence uses robot Yeti as its physical presence The events of The Web of Fear are alluded to by the Doctor in The Snowmen when he presents the London Underground biscuit tin to the Great Intelligence in Dr Simeon s laboratory the Intelligence states I do not understand these markings in reference to the London Underground map design on the tin The Doctor remarks that the Underground is a key strategic weakness in metropolitan living referring to and possibly setting in motion the future Yeti attack on London via the Underground
Coleman previously played Oswin Oswald in Asylum of the Daleks though the connection between the two characters is not clarified until Clara reveals she has an interest in souffls a trait that Oswin s character also had The Doctor after meeting Clara wistfully replies those were the days when she asks why he isn t staying to get acquainted with her which are the same words he tells Craig Owens Closing Time when Craig comments that the Doctor always wins The final scenes at the graveyard establish that Clara shares the same name as Oswin leading the Doctor to surmise they are the same person As seen on her gravestone Clara s birthdate is November the date Doctor Who was first transmitted in
Writer Steven Moffat stated that he wanted an epic quality to the Christmas special The story would also show how the Doctor had responded to losing his previous companions Moffat said that I think he s probably reached the point in his life where he s saying Friendship for me is just postponed bereavement I want to be on my own for a while Moffat compared the withdrawn Doctor seen at the onset of the episode to the first appearances of the First Doctor William Hartnell in and the Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston in He also attributed the idea of a retired Doctor to a plot proposed by Douglas Adams in the s but rejected by the production team at the time Continuing the theme introduced with the series first five episodes The Snowmen was promoted like a movie A movie poster was released in the Radio Times showing the Doctor and Clara ascending the ladder to the TARDIS
The episode saw several major design changes for the series The Snowmen is the debut of a redesigned TARDIS interior as well as a new title sequence and variation of the theme tune The new title sequence features a brief glimpse of the Doctor s face the first time since Survival the final serial of the classic series in that the Doctor s face has been seen in the title sequence Moffat had noticed that the TARDIS design was getting progressively whimsical and resembled more of a magical place rather than a machine It was designed by series production designer Michael Pickwood who stated that the new interior was also supposed to be darker and moodier and provide an easier access to the gallery of the ship when shooting
The Doctor also wears a one off costume Victorian themed which Smith described as a bit Artful Dodger meets the Doctor Moffat described the new outfit as a progression as the Doctor was in a different phase of his life now and felt more grown up and fatherlike The costume was designed by Howard Burden for this episode The Snowmen also contains several references to Sherlock Holmes including the Doctor dressing up as him Moffat is co creator of the BBC series Sherlock for which Smith auditioned for the role of Doctor Watson before being cast as the Doctor In addition the incidental music during the scene bears a resemblance to the Sherlock theme
This episode marks the return of Jenna Louise Coleman who previously appeared in the series opener Asylum of the Daleks Coleman was cast because of her chemistry with Matt Smith and especially because she was able to talk faster than him She auditioned for the role of Clara not Oswin from Asylum as the concept of the two characters being the same only occurred to Moffat whilst casting for Clara The production team requested that the press and fans who attended advanced screenings keep Coleman s appearance a secret until Asylum was broadcast the effort was ultimately successful Moffat stated that the introduction of a new companion made the show feel different and brought the story to a new beginning with a different person meeting the Doctor Smith said that Clara was different from her predecessor Amy Pond Karen Gillan which allowed the audience to see a different side of the Doctor Coleman described her as resourceful and not intimidated citing the reason for following the Doctor at the beginning as pursuing answers The Clara who would become a travelling companion of the Doctor would not debut until the Spring premiere The Bells of Saint John save for a brief cameo at the end of The Snowmen Coleman stated that she played each version as individuals with trust that there would be a payoff to her mystery
Also returning to the series are Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra Dan Starkey as Strax and Catrin Stewart as Jenny All three previously appeared in A Good Man Goes to War and reprised their roles both in this episode and in the prequels They returned due to the popularity of Vastra and Jenny Moffat considered a spin off featuring them though he did not have the time to do it Instead he decided to bring them back in the main series Richard E Grant had previously played the Doctor on two occasions as an alternative Tenth Doctor in the spoof charity special Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death which was written by Moffat and as an alternative Ninth Doctor in the animated story Scream of the Shalka which had been intended to be a continuation of the series before it was revived in Smith commented that Grant was born to be a Who villain He pitches it on that perfect level and tone Grant s appearance in Doctor Who was teased by the BBC via Twitter announcing his appearance at midnight August Tom Ward was drawn to his role because of the quality of the script and also stated his young children were pleased that he appeared in the programme The Great Intelligence was voiced by Sir Ian McKellen The two children Clara is governess to Digby and Francesca were played by real life brother and sister Joseph and Ellie Darcey Alden
The Snowmen was originally intended to be produced in the fourth production block of the series and be the first episode Coleman shot as her character however it did not begin filming until the week of August after Coleman had worked on later episodes while Moffat was writing the Christmas special The read through had taken place on August This was the first Christmas special to be filmed in BBC Wales new Roath Lock studios Scenes featuring Coleman and several guest stars in a Victorian setting were filmed in Newport Wales while Coleman and Smith were also spotted filming in Bristol two weeks later on August Some scenes which used snow props were filmed in Portland Square Bristol where filming took place overnight on August Bristol was chosen because it had Victorian era architecture Pickwood stated that his favourite set is the London Street with the back of the pub which he said was based on a sixteenth century building in Oxford The locations were blocked off and sprayed with fake snow
The TARDIS on the cloud was achieved through a mix of fog on the studio floor and post production special effects Director Saul Metzstein explained that it was difficult to achieve the desired look for the snowmen the first ones he likened to Zippy from Rainbow which was too cute of an appearance and so the effects team created more menacing CGI faces Clara s introduction to the TARDIS introduced two novel effects for the show The first was a single shot camera tracking from a few feet away from the TARDIS to its interior with the implication of the TARDIS s trans dimensional nature shown to the audience In the following shot the camera does a complete circle of the TARDIS console an effect not seen since the early days of the show Metzstein wanted to include this shot to further emphasize the bigger on the inside than the outside nature of the time machine
In addition to the three prequel mini episodes the cast also filmed an additional promotional video Songtaran Carols which the BBC uploaded during the days leading up to the broadcast The video featured Starkey singing modified versions of several Christmas songs in character as Strax as his castmates look on before everyone breaks character and begins laughing
The Snowmen aired on BBC One on December at pm the same day on BBC America in the US and Space in Canada and the next day on ABC in Australia and on Prime in New Zealand UK overnight ratings showed that the special had been watched by million viewers coming in sixth for the night Final consolidated figures not including BBC iPlayer viewers showed that the episode was watched by million viewers coming in fourth for the night It also received an Appreciation Index figure of higher than most of the Doctor Who Christmas specials The iPlayer version had views making it the most popular TV show on iPlayer over Christmas The US airing was seen by million viewers with a rating in the demographic of adults aged
The episode received mostly positive reviews Dan Martin of The Guardian called it actually the best Christmas Special since The Christmas Invasion and the first to be actually scary with everything we like about Doctor Who and Christmas He praised Coleman s introduction as Clara and the gang of Vastra Jenny and Strax IGN s Matt Risley gave The Snowmen a score of out of describing it as a rollicking riveting masterclass in storytelling which refreshingly lacked traditional Christmas references in favour of some sparkling dialogue gorgeous set design and fascinating characterisation While he felt that Grant and McKellen were underused he was very positive towards Coleman s unpredictable Clara Radio Times reviewer Patrick Mulkern was pleased with the return of the Great Intelligence despite an inconsistency in the timeline he found and praised the lovely images and direction of the special though he felt the variation of the theme music lacks the menace of the original While he was positive towards Clara he was unmoved by her death as it was plainly silly that she did not look injured
Nick Setchfield of SFX gave the special four and a half out of five stars writing that the power of emotion saves the day again was appropriate in light of the festivities and many fairytales referenced in the story Setchfield was positive towards the terrific comedy with Strax Coleman and the surprisingly underused Grant as well as the new title sequence and TARDIS While he wrote that the subtle callback of the Great Intelligence was a tad more interesting than the usual So we meet again schtick he ultimately felt their threat never quite comes into sharp relief Neela Debnath of The Independent wrote that The Snowmen was stronger than the previous year s The Doctor the Widow and the Wardrobe as it was connected to the overall story of the series but still has a way to go if it is to live up to A Christmas Carol Despite feeling that it was enjoyable she noted that the story feels truncated and rushed
The Mirror s Jon Cooper also praised Coleman and the new side of the Doctor that was shown comparing it to Rose Tyler Billie Piper challenging the Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston However he felt the character heavy story was to the detriment of the plot which was a classic Who set up that ultimately suffers from a lack of explanation and more set pieces than a coherent whole He felt that the episode may not have been accessible for casual viewers but offered much for fans in time for the programme s fiftieth anniversary Dominic Cavendish of The Daily Telegraph gave The Snowmen three out of five stars disappointed that it was not as scary as it had been hyped to be While he was positive towards Smith and the TARDIS on the cloud he criticised Strax and the Sudoku like complexity of the script
The episode was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form alongside Asylum of the Daleks and The Angels Take Manhattan but lost to the Game of Thrones episode Blackwater
The Snowmen was initially released as a standalone on DVD and Blu ray in the UK and North America It was later included as part of the DVD Blu ray box set Doctor Who The Complete Seventh Series in September
It has subsequently been reissued in several box set compilations most recently alongside the Christmas specials between The Christmas Invasion and Last Christmas inclusive in a boxset titled Doctor Who The Christmas Specials on October
Selected pieces of score from The Snowmen and the preceding Christmas special as composed by Murray Gold were included on a soundtrack released on October by Silva Screen Records
No Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force RAAF support squadron Coming under the control of No Wing it is responsible for the management of the airfield at RAAF Base Woomera South Australia The squadron originated as a maritime patrol unit during World War II Raised in August it operated PBY Catalina and Short Empire flying boats from bases in New Guinea Queensland and the Northern Territory conducting search and rescue mine laying anti submarine and bombing missions against Japanese targets in the Pacific theatre Following the conclusion of hostilities the squadron was disbanded in March It was reactivated as an airfield support squadron in April
No Squadron was formed at Port Moresby New Guinea on August for a general reconnaissance role under the command of Squadron Leader WN Gibson Its establishment was six PBY Catalina flying boats and personnel but only five aircraft all transferred from No Squadron and personnel were available initially The squadron conducted long range patrols between bases scattered around the islands to Australia s north in conjunction with No Squadron On November No Squadron s Catalinas were augmented by two Short Empire flying boats transferred from No Squadron
On November following the loss of HMAS Sydney one of No Squadron s Catalinas was despatched to Western Australia to join a No Squadron Catalina in search and rescue missions but they found only oil slicks By the outbreak of war in the Pacific No Squadron had a strength of six Catalinas and two Empire flying boats Its personnel at the beginning of December numbered officers and men The squadron undertook its first sortie of the Pacific War on December a Catalina located three Japanese luggers in the vicinity of Thursday Island Queensland Later in the month it commenced anti submarine patrols and in January bombing raids against Japanese bases As the Japanese advanced into the South West Pacific No Squadron was also responsible for evacuating white civilians from areas threatened by invasion On January one of its Catalinas located the Japanese fleet steaming for Rabaul and signalled a warning to the town s Australian defenders before being shot down by anti aircraft fire it was the squadron s first combat loss
In the wake of the fall of Rabaul the Catalinas of Nos and Squadrons became the RAAF s only offensive weapon against the Japanese Their raids on Rabaul did little to stem the Japanese advance and in the following months Port Moresby itself was subjected to increasingly frequent attacks which destroyed aircraft facilities and squadron records In February the Short Empires operated by Nos and Squadrons were transferred to the newly formed No Transport Squadron No Squadron lost two Catalinas during patrols on and May the nine crewmen of the first were later found to have been captured and beheaded the crew of the second were also captured and subsequently disappeared without trace
In response to the threat of invasion at Port Moresby Nos and Squadrons moved to Bowen Queensland on May They were soon attacking Japanese targets in Lae Salamaua and Rabaul On June each squadron contributed an aircraft to a four hour raid over Lae and Salamaua during which as well as bombs the RAAF crews dropped beer bottles to disrupt the enemy soldiers sleep the sound they made falling through the air was according to the official history something between a shrill whistle and a scream By July No Squadron s strength was six Catalinas and personnel out of a planned establishment of nine aircraft and personnel Its prime responsibility in early was maritime reconnaissance as far as New Guinea the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia the latter half of the year saw a greater focus on night bombing Now comprising officers and men the squadron relocated to Cairns on November From Cairns it continued to conduct reconnaissance anti submarine and occasional bombing operations over the waters around New Guinea Between December and March No Squadron s aircraft flew a total of hours and dropped tons of bombs The squadron s role changed in June when it commenced mine laying operations over the Netherlands East Indies and the Philippines though it continued to make some bombing raids and supply drops
In September No Squadron became part of No Wing RAAF along with Nos and Squadrons and moved to Darwin Northern Territory All three squadrons operated Catalinas their primary purpose being mine laying On the night of September a Catalina of No Squadron was shot down while attacking a ship at Pomelaa in the Dutch East Indies the loss was compounded by the fact that one of the coordinators of the mining campaign Lieutenant Commander PE Carr of the Royal Australian Navy was aboard the plane and was captured by the Japanese Another of the squadron s Catalinas went down on the night of January possibly in a cyclone over the Timor Sea during the campaign to mine Surabaya In March a detachment of four No Squadron aircraft along with four from No Squadron laid mines off the coast of southern China and Formossa as part of a No Wing offensive in this area these operations were conducted from Leyte Gulf in the Philippines One of No Squadron s Catalinas was lost on the night of March most likely owing to bad weather rather than enemy action Three of the squadron s aircraft mined the entrance to Hong Kong harbour on April and on May four of its Catalinas mined Wenchow harbour in China the furthest north that any Australian aircraft infiltrated during the war in the Pacific Three of its aircraft flew the RAAF s last mine laying mission on July
No Squadron s final wartime sortie was a patrol on August Following the end of the war the squadron operated in the transport role and ferried Australian prisoners of war home from various locations in South East Asia It relocated to RAAF Station Rathmines New South Wales on November No Squadron flew its last mission a transport flight to Balikpapan on January and disbanded at Rathmines on March
No Squadron was reactivated on April to support airfield operations at RAAF Base Woomera South Australia Consisting of nine uniformed personnel and one Australian Public Service member under the command of Squadron Leader Simon Bartlett the squadron formed part of No Wing a component of Combat Support Group CSG The airfield had previously been managed under the auspices of Aerospace Operational Support Group but a command and control review commissioned by the Chief of Air Force recommended that in common with other RAAF airfields it should be administered by CSG RAAF Base Woomera incorporating Woomera Village was one of two Air Force units formally established on January as part of a reorganisation of the Woomera Range Complex the other unit being RAAF Woomera Test Range
The design of the reactivated squadron s crest includes a wedge tailed eagle to denote courage and nobility a woomera spear thrower to symbolise the town and its indigenous heritage Sturt s Desert Pea to represent South Australia and the Pleiades star cluster which features in the folklore of the local Kokatha people
The Light Tank Mk VII A also known as the Tetrarch was a British light tank produced by Vickers Armstrongs in the late s and deployed during the World War II The Tetrarch was originally designed as the latest in the line of light tanks built by the company for the British Army It improved upon its predecessor the Mk VIB Light Tank by introducing the extra firepower of a pounder gun The War Office ordered tanks an order that eventually increased to Production was delayed by several factors and as a consequence only to of the tanks were produced
The tank s design flaws combined with the decision by the War Office not to use light tanks in British armoured divisions ruled out the use of Tetrarchs in the North African Campaign As a result the majority of the tanks remained in Britain although were sent to the USSR as part of the Lend Lease program In early the Royal Armoured Corps formed three squadrons for use in overseas amphibious operations one of which was equipped with Tetrarchs In May a small number of Tetrarchs formed part of the British force which participated in the invasion of Madagascar and in June Tetrarchs were attached to the st Airborne Division after it was decided that the design allowed its use as an air portable light tank to support British airborne forces The Tetrarchs were transported and landed in specially designed General Aircraft Hamilcar gliders A lack of gliders prevented their participation in the Allied invasion of Sicily in instead they were attached to the new th Airborne Division and became part of the th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment
The division used approximately Tetrarchs during the British airborne landings in Normandy in June The tanks were successfully landed by glider but they did not perform well Several were lost in accidents and those that did see action proved to be inferior in firepower and armour to the armoured fighting vehicles of the German forces A few days after the beginning of the operation the tanks were removed from direct engagement with German armour and used only to provide fire support By August most of the Tetrarchs in action were replaced with Cromwell cruiser tanks and the remainder were replaced by the M Locust in December
Tetrarchs did not see any further combat and were deemed obsolete by the last was retired in There were several variations on the Tetrarch design including the Alecto self propelled gun and the Light Tank Mk VIII but none of these were ever used in active service with the British Army
The prototype of the Light Tank Mk VII A nicknamed Purdah was first developed in by Vickers Armstrongs as a private venture and was intended to be sold either to the British Army or to foreign militaries It was to be the latest in a series of light tanks produced by the company The tank was designed to overcome the shortcomings of insufficient armament in earlier light tanks that were fitted only with machine guns Vickers Armstrong installed on the Mk VIIs a pounder millimetre in main gun paired with a millimetre in Besa machine gun and mounted the two guns in a two man turret The tank possessed a maximum of millimetres in of armour The prototype weighed approximately pounds kg and was powered by a horsepower kW Meadows engine Suspension was on eight road wheels four per side with no separate driver or idler wheels and it was capable of a miles per hour km h top speed The Mk VII design relied on an unusual steering method and a mechanical system incorporated into earlier Vickers models The front wheels could be steered to allow for gentle turns by bending the tracks For sharper turns the system returned to the conventional method of braking one track to turn the tank the dual system of turning was designed to lessen mechanical strain on the MkVII and reduce its power wastage The suspension system was also a new design that relied on struts with pockets of air for springing and cushions of oil for damping and each of the wheels was independently sprung
The War Office examined the design and put the prototype through a series of trials during May and June the model was tested as a possible light cruiser since War Office light tank needs were already met by its predecessor the Mark VI The War Office then took the view that the tank was not acceptable as a light cruiser because the Nuffield A offered better speed and obstacle crossing performance Despite this it was decided that it was essential for some Tetrarchs to be produced and it was suggested that they be brought in at the end of the light tank program Accordingly the War Office gave the Tetrarch the official General Staff specification number A and in November accepted it for limited production after requesting a few minor changes which included the fitting of an external fuel tank to increase the tank s range
The number to be produced was subject to fluctuation as the War Office vacillated in their demand in July it requested that of the tanks be produced then increased the request to after a three day conference in November Production was to begin in July but meanwhile the War Office temporarily returned to its original order of before increasing the number to The number further increased to after Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon a company part owned by Vickers Armstrong that would be producing the tanks indicated it had already ordered armour plating for that many tanks
Production of the tank was delayed by a number of factors The War Office put their order on hold in a post Battle of France decision to focus military production on infantry and cruiser tanks due to the poor performance of British light tanks during that battle Due to the shortage of more suitable tanks light tanks that were not designed for use against German armour were nevertheless deployed against them the resulting high casualties led the War Office to re evaluate the suitability of the light tank design The pre war role of the light tank that of reconnaissance meanwhile had been found to be better suited to scout cars that used smaller crews and had better cross country abilities Further delays were caused by the bombing raids of the Luftwaffe during May against the factories where the tanks were assembled
The cumulative effect of these delays resulted in the production of only a small number of Mk VIIs estimates place the final total produced to be between and The name Tetrarch was given to the Mk VII on September on the orders of the War Office The last of the tanks were built in the first quarter of and delivered at the end of the year
The War Office and the Army were concluding at this point that light tanks were a liability and too vulnerable for use in further combat and the Tetrarch was considered to be obsolete This decision may have marked the end for the Tetrarch in active service several of the tanks destined to be deployed to the Eighth Army in the Middle East for the North African Campaign were left in Britain when their cooling systems were determined to be unable to cope with the intense North African heat
The demise of Tetrarch was prevented by a decision made by the War Office in mid as it was considering the equipment to be used by Britain s fledgling airborne forces formed in June under the orders of the Prime Minister Winston Churchill When selecting the equipment for the airborne forces officials at the War Office concluded that gliders would be an integral component gliders would transport troops and heavy equipment which by was to include artillery and some form of tank Plans to transport a tank went through a number of revisions but by May the feasibility of a metric tons long tons tank to be carried for miles km in a glider was accepted although the aircraft would have to be specifically designed for the task In a conference held on January it was decided that the General Aircraft Hamilcar currently under development would be used to transport a single Tetrarch tank or two Universal Carriers The Tetrarch was chosen because it was an obsolete design and was therefore available to be used by the airborne forces
Beginning in January training exercises were conducted carrying the Tetrarchs and their crews inside Hamilcar gliders These exercises were successful during the training by C Squadron of the Glider Pilot Regiment which specialised in flying the Hamilcars over lifts were made with an average of lifts per crew Only three incidents resulted in fatalities or injuries with seven pilots killed during the training When the Tetrarch was re designated as an airborne tank several changes were made to its design A number of tanks had their pounder guns replaced with a millimetre in infantry support howitzer these tanks were then designated as Tetrarch CS Close Support Additionally Littlejohn adaptors were added to those Tetrarchs which still possessed their pounders to increase their muzzle velocity and armour penetration
The Tetrarch experienced several setbacks throughout its development and deployment with the Army and airborne forces One of the major problems was the limited number of these tanks that existed after production ended in which particularly affected the airborne forces The transport of of the tanks to the USSR under the Lend Lease Act depleted the number available for use by airborne forces as did the loss of several more during Operation Ironclad the invasion of Madagascar A Royal Armoured Corps report issued in December stated that approximately Tetrarchs were available for use In a memorandum dated January by Major General George F Hopkinson commander of the st Airborne Division Hopkinson complained that he had been informed that of the tanks were available whereas only actually remained with no reserves to replace those lost in combat This lack of sufficient replacement reserves combined with a War Office report that some airborne tanks would be required for the st Airborne Division and an unnamed airborne division to be formed in India led to the Tetrarch s eventual replacement by the US M Locust
A number of design faults of the Tetrarch were revealed through its operational use Its size limited the possible crew to three a driver in the hull and a gunner and commander in the turret resulting in too few crew members to operate the Tetrarch effectively The gunner or commander in addition to his own duties had to act as loader for the pounder which caused delays in combat A report on the tank written in January stated that as the commander had to both fight and control the tank controlling a troop of Tetrarchs during combat would be almost impossible
Problems were also found with the Littlejohn adaptor fitted to the pounder to increase its range and penetration power after they had been fitted the adapters could not be removed and could only fire specially designed armour piercing rounds which took time to manufacture
The War Office also considered the Tetrarch s cooling system faulty making the tank unsuitable for service in hotter climates such as the Middle East and North Africa
The first Tetrarchs were delivered to the Army in November and were initially deployed with the st Armoured Division which was being refitted after losing the majority of its previous tanks during the Battle of France and the newly formed th Armoured Division However the faults discovered with the Tetrarch cooling system precluded them from being integrated into units that were sent to the Middle East to participate in the North African Campaign Shortly after all light tanks were discarded from the establishments of British armoured divisions as not suitable for further service
The Tetrarchs remained in Britain and would probably have been used as training vehicles before being retired from service but on June the German invasion of the USSR Operation Barbarossa began and the USSR became an ally of Britain The Lend Lease program begun in March by the United States of America to supply defensive materials to Britain and China was therefore extended to the USSR As part of the program the British government began supplying war materials to the USSR which in early included a shipment of Tetrarchs as well as a number of Valentine and Matilda Mk I Infantry tanks The Soviet military utilised a greater number of light tanks than the British and so could use the Tetrarchs When the tanks arrived in the USSR however it was apparent that the design problems with the cooling system were also present in cold conditions additionally the cold weather had a deleterious effect on the tank s suspension and tracks Additional testing of the Tetrarchs was conducted by the Soviet military and the design was admired for its controllability manoeuvrability and speed as well its ability to run on low quality fuel unlike contemporary Soviet designs The thinness of the Tetrarch s armour was found to be a problem and one which could not be solved as the weight of extra armour plating caused an unacceptable reduction in the tank s speed Despite these drawbacks in the Tetrarch s design Soviet authorities believed it to be comparable to the T light tank in use at the time and decided that it was suitable to be used in combat A number of Tetrarchs were sent to Tank Training Schools which were subsequently sent into battle and in September two were assigned to the nd Separated Tank Battalion which was attached to the th Guards Tank Brigade both tanks were destroyed in combat one on September and the other on October the latter a casualty of artillery fire Several were also used for propaganda purposes appearing in photographs of Soviet troops who were fighting in the Caucasus region
In mid the Royal Armoured Corps in Britain created three tank squadrons for special overseas operations known as A B and C Special Service Squadrons Both A and B Squadrons were equipped with Valentine Infantry tanks and Mark VIc light tanks but C Squadron was equipped with twelve Tetrarchs transferred from the nd Armoured Brigade st Armoured Division On July C Squadron was officially activated and immediately received orders to prepare for overseas service alongside A and B Squadrons in an unspecified tropical climate All three squadrons were transported to Inverary in Scotland for intensive training that focused on embarkation and disembarkation from ships and landing craft to prepare them for action in potential amphibious operations In early September elements of C Squadron including six Tetrarchs formed part of a force which sailed for Freetown in West Africa during this period of the war there were fears that the Spanish government might enter the conflict on the side of Germany and the force was readied to capture a number of Spanish islands off the coast of Africa if this occurred These fears proved groundless and in March the unit returned to Britain to join the rest of the squadron in training
The next assignment Operation Ironclad was the invasion of Madagascar the third largest island in the world and then under Vichy French control The Prime Minister and the Combined Chiefs of Staff decided that Madagascar should be occupied as rapidly as possible to deny the port of Antsirane to Japanese naval forces which had recently advanced into the Indian Ocean Operation Ironclad was under the command of Major General Robert G Sturges and consisted of No Commando th Independent Brigade Group and the th and th brigade groups from th Infantry Division The th Brigade formed the core of the invasion force due to its training in amphibious operations and under its command was B Special Service Squadron created by amalgamating six Valentines from B Squadron and six Tetrarchs from C Squadron into a single unit The squadron was formed into four troops one Headquarters troop of three Valentines and one Tetrarch one of four Valentines and two formed from the remaining five Tetrarchs The invasion force assembled off the west coast of the northern tip of Madagascar on May near Antsirane and the bay of Diego Suarez The invasion plan called for an amphibious assault landing on four beaches on the west side of the tip which would allow the British forces to advance approximately miles km and approach Antsirane from the rear Information about the landing beaches the defences possessed by the port and the Vichy French defending forces was limited and vague although it was believed that the defenders had no weapons capable of penetrating the armour of a Valentine tank
The landings began at on May with Commando landing at Courrier Bay and the three infantry brigades and B Squadron landing at Ambararata Bay The objective of the infantry brigades and their armoured support was to take control of Antsirane and a nearby town but although the infantry landed successfully B Squadron had more trouble the area of beach designated for its landing craft was blocked for several hours after a Tetrarch came loose from a landing craft and became stuck in the sand The infantry brigades advanced toward Antsirane without the squadron but eventually two Valentines and a single Tetrarch were dispatched in support catching up with the lead elements of the infantry near the town of Anamakia Here the invasion force encountered the first French defences consisting of camouflaged trenches and pillboxes dug in along a ridge The tanks attempted to breach them but the rocky ground made manoeuvring difficult and they could not close with the pillboxes and trenches they engaged a number of targets with pounder and machine gun fire but the line had to be cleared by an infantry assault later in the day The tanks were ordered to outflank the defences and advance further into the island and they were soon joined by two other Tetrarchs dispatched from the beaches the small force continued to advance until it encountered the Vichy French main line of defence This had been built prior to the First World War and included camouflaged pillboxes machine gun nests and dug in mm artillery pieces the latter although not specifically designed for an anti tank role could penetrate the armour of both the Tetrarchs and the Valentines The two Valentines advanced first but were knocked out by artillery fire and two Tetrarchs that were moving behind them suffered the same fate the third Tetrarch retreated in order to report on the French resistance machine gunning a motorcycle combination and a truck it encountered on the way back
The commander of the Tetrarch made his report and was then ordered to take command of four Valentines and two Tetrarchs which had recently arrived and once again attempt to breach the French defences The tanks followed the road leading to the defensive line and then attempted to out flank the line by advancing from the right hand side using several hills as cover the artillery pieces were able to turn and face the assault however and one Valentine and one Tetrarch were hit and destroyed The remaining tanks exchanged several volleys of fire with the artillery pieces before retreating back to their original positions The French line was eventually broken by th Brigade aided by an amphibious assault by Royal Marines the remaining tanks of B Squadron two Valentines and three Tetrarchs remained in defensive positions until the afternoon of May coming under sporadic artillery fire which disabled another Valentine The squadron played no further part in the battle as the Vichy French authorities negotiated a formal surrender the following day although French troops would continue to engage the British occupying force in guerrilla warfare until late November C Squadron suffered heavy casualties during the invasion only one Valentine and three Tetrarchs out of twelve tanks were functional by May and the squadron had suffered seven killed and six wounded It remained in Madagascar until early when it was shipped to India and took part in the Burma Campaign as part of th Brigade
Because of a lack of equipment training facilities in mid when the British airborne establishment was formed the War Office was able to accept only volunteers for training as airborne troops Progress in setting up proper training facilities and acquiring suitable transport aircraft was so slow that the first British airborne operation Operation Colossus was conducted by a retrained Commando unit By there existed specifically trained airborne units including the st Airborne Division and on January the War Office decided that a light tank unit would be one of the support units attached to the division This unit designated the Light Tank Squadron was to be formed of nineteen light tanks and would operate to the fore of the division using their tanks speed to capture objectives and then holding them until relieved by other units The obvious unit for conversion was C Special Services Squadron as it was trained to act as an independent tank unit and more importantly was the only unit that was still using Tetrarchs it had been re designated as an airborne tank by the War Office C Squadron was officially transferred to the st Airborne Division on June bringing with it seven Tetrarchs among its other vehicles The unit immediately began training but was not attached to the st Airborne Division for long during mid the division was transported to the Middle East so it could participate in the Allied invasion of Sicily C Squadron remained in Britain as not enough Hamilcar gliders had been built by the time the division departed to transport its Tetrarchs the squadron was transferred to the th Airborne Division which had been raised in April and C Squadron remained with it for the rest of the conflict The squadron continued to train as an air portable unit and participated in a number of exercises to prepare for its new duties including reconnaissance of enemy positions and counter attacking enemy infantry and armour
On December the War Office decided to expand the squadron into a regiment equipped with a combination of light tanks and conventional reconnaissance vehicles such as scout cars and on April it was re designated as the th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment The regiment consisted of a Headquarters Squadron a Light Tank Squadron and a Reconnaissance Squadron two Tetrarchs the Mark CS variation were attached to the Headquarters Squadron but the Light Tank Squadron also known as A Squadron received the majority of the Tetrarchs A Squadron had approximately nineteen Tetrarchs split between six troops two of which were of the CS variation and the rest were armed with pounders fitted with Littlejohn adaptors On May after participating in a further series of exercises and manoeuvres A Squadron moved from their training area to a transit camp at Tarrant Rushton airfield while the rest of the regiment moved to RAF Brize Norton airfield the next day from these two airfields the regiment would be transported from to participate in the British airborne landings in Normandy The operation began on the night of June with the deployment of th Airborne Division to eastern Normandy It was tasked with protecting the eastern flank of the Allied seaborne landings securing strategically important areas east of Caen capturing several important bridges over the Caen Canal and River Dives and destroying a coastal artillery battery Insufficient transport aircraft were available to land all three of the division s brigades simultaneously one would have to be landed in a second lift later in the day Major General Richard Gale had initially intended for the th Airlanding Brigade to which the th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment was attached to be landed first however aerial photography revealed that anti glider poles had been erected in the landing zone selected for the brigade Therefore Gale decided that the rd Parachute Brigade and th Parachute Brigade which did not utilise gliders should land in the first lift to clear the landing zones allowing the th Airlanding Brigade to land in the second lift
The Horsa and Hamilcar gliders of the brigade landed at on June in a landing zone cleared of obstructions by the th Parachute Brigade The primary tasks of the brigade were to bring in reinforcements and supplies and to aid the two parachute brigades in consolidating the area held by the division the th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Squadron was to aid in the latter task acting as a reconnaissance force to scout out German positions and impede the movement of German forces attempting to counter attack The Tetrarchs of A Squadron were to play an integral part in this reconnaissance role due to their speed but the squadron s strength of twenty tanks was severely depleted by the time it landed in Normandy It lost one tank before the formation landed when the Tetrarch broke loose of its shackles and crashed through the nose of the glider that was carrying it causing both to fall into the sea mid flight The squadron s strength was further weakened when two gliders collided with each other in the landing zone destroying themselves and the Tetrarchs they carried a third Hamilcar hit another Tetrarch as it was being unloaded and flipped the tank upside down rendering it unusable although the crew escaped without injury The surviving tanks were then rendered temporarily immobile when parachute rigging lines became tangled in their suspensions forcing their crews to cut the lines away with welding torches
The squadron retrieved all of the remaining Tetrarchs and advanced to the south of the landing zone to link up with the rest of the regiment there they received orders to support the th Parachute Battalion in the Bois de Bavent area and conduct reconnaissance duties After linking with the battalion the squadron began reconnoitring and engaged German infantry and armour they encountered By the end of June two Tetrarchs had been lost to enemy action one destroyed by a German self propelled gun and the second by hitting a mine The division was reinforced by British troops who were advancing from the invasion beaches and it began to push through Normandy while the squadron continued its reconnaissance duties At this time Gale decided to avoid when possible engaging the Tetrarchs with German armour as they proved to be completely outclassed by the German tanks and self propelled guns such as the Panzer IV and the Sturmgeschtz III Instead when the division required armoured support it summoned it from armoured units outside the division and the Tetrarchs were used to support infantry patrols and provide fire support By August in the division s preparation for the planned breakout from the Normandy bridgehead the majority of Tetrarchs in A Squadron were replaced with Cromwell fast cruiser tanks only three Tetrarchs remained assigned to the Headquarters troop of A Squadron
Operation Tonga was the last that Tetrarchs saw of active combat During the first week of October the th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment underwent an extensive reorganization in which it was completely restructured and all the remaining Tetrarchs were retired They were replaced with the M Locust a purpose built airborne light tank of American design eight Locusts were used by the regiment in March during Operation Varsity the airborne operation to cross the river Rhine A report issued by the Director Air of the War Office in January confirmed that the Tetrarch design was considered obsolete and any light tanks used in post war airborne formations would be entirely new in design A small number of Tetrarchs remained in service with the rd Hussars until a Hamilcar glider flight was stationed at RAF Fairford and a troop of Tetrarchs was kept by the regiment for training exercises with the gliders However glider training by the regiment was stopped in and the Tetrarchs withdrawn from service
There were several variants of the Tetrarch design The first was the Light Tank Mk VIII Vickers Armstrong s proposed successor to the Tetrarch The Mark VIII was also known as the Harry Hopkins named after President Roosevelt s chief diplomatic advisor and was given the General Staff design number A by the War Office The Mark VIII was intended to improve upon the design of the Tetrarch in a number of areas It had thicker armour than the Tetrarch with the front hull and turret armour increased to a thickness of millimetres in and the side armour to millimetres in and the turret and hull given more sloped surfaces to help deflect shells fired at the tank The dimensions of the Tetrarch were also changed the Mark VIII was longer by inches m wider by foot inches m and heavier The new tank was no longer air portable as it was too heavy to be carried by a Hamilcar The cylinder engine of the Tetrarch was fitted to the Mark VIII although the increased weight meant that its maximum speed decreased to miles per hour km h its armament also remained the same as that of the Tetrarch The War Office authorised the construction of three prototype models in April The new design was considered a success and the Tank Board of the War Office ordered to be constructed in September However problems were encountered with further tests of the prototypes and a report issued in December stated that production of the Mark VIII had been delayed due to developmental problems These problems continued to persist into when the War Office decided against using the tank in active service approximately Mark VIIIs were produced by when production ended
A second variant on the Tetrarch design was the Tetrarch Duplex Drive Tetrarch DD The Duplex Drive system was invented by Nicholas Straussler and was designed to allow a tank to swim through water and participate in amphibious operations The system functioned by erecting a large waterproof canvas screen around the tank above its tracks which was supported by thirty six inflatable tubes and steel struts this gave the tank sufficient buoyancy to float and was then propelled along by a small propeller powered by the tank s engine The screen could be collapsed by using a small explosive charge once the tank reached land The system was fitted during June as the Tetrarch was the lightest light tank available at the time the converted tank was successfully tested on a number of lakes and reservoirs allowing the Duplex Drive system to be tested on heavier tanks such as the Valentine The system would be used during Operation Overlord when M Sherman medium tanks would land on the invasion beaches
QuackShot known in Japan as I Love Donald Duck Georgia Ou no Hihou Japanese Hepburn Ai Rabu Donarudo Dakku Gurujia no Hih is a platforming video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis The game was released in Europe in in North America on December and in Japan on December QuackShot stars Donald Duck and his three nephews Huey Dewey and Louie as treasure hunters and is part of a series of games published by Sega that were based on Walt Disney cartoon characters
QuackShot was released to mostly positive reviews from video game journalists The game was universally lauded for its graphics with magazines like Sega Pro describing them as some of the best graphics around The game was also praised for its music and puzzles as well as their clever use in the game However QuackShot was criticized for its controls being described by IGN as float y and making certain segments of the game unnecessarily difficult The game was also criticized for its lack of difficulty overall as well as its lack of speech samples which several other Genesis games of the time had
The player as Donald ventures through a variety of side scrolling levels Generally each level is divided into an overland part and a dungeon such as the Maharajah s palace or the temple in which the Great Duck Treasure resides Although the player may choose any order to play the overland sections various obstacles prevent the player from entering the dungeons outside of a specific order In addition to this some levels provide the player with vital clues which solve puzzles needed to progress in later sections Once Donald has completed the overland section of an area he may leave by calling his nephews biplane and will return to the dungeon entrance of that area if the player chooses to return
Donald is armed with a special gun that can shoot plungers popcorn or bubble gum Donald has unlimited plungers which can only temporarily stun enemies though bosses can still be damaged with plungers and can collect popcorn and gum along the way or get the latter from Gyro Gearloose Later in the game the plunger is upgraded to act as a temporary platform to climb walls with and when stuck to a passing bird allows Donald to traverse longer distances In Duckburg India and Egypt Donald can also pick up chili peppers which increase his temper eventually temporarily allowing him to become invincible increase his speed and knock out enemies in his path
While Donald is flipping through some books in Scrooge McDuck s library a map falls out of a book relating to the treasure of King Garuzia ruler of the Great Duck Kingdom in ancient times The map leads to the location of the king s most prized possession hidden in a secret place shortly before his death Donald thinks this is his path to riches Unfortunately Big Bad Pete overhears and pursues Donald throughout the game hoping to steal the treasure
Teamed with his nephews Huey Dewey and Louie and using the partial map from the library Donald begins his search in Duckburg with the trail being directed to an Aztec pyramid in Mexico Outside the pyramid he is directed by a sweet seniorita to obtain a hero key from an explorer back in Duckburg to open the pyramid Inside the pyramid Donald meets Goofy who gives him a strange note and a plunger to help him reach higher places and tells him that Gyro Gearloose is looking for him back in Duckburg Travelling across the rooftops of Duckburg to meet Gyro Donald is given Gyro s latest invention bubblegum ammo that can break through walls The last location on the partial map is Count Dracula s castle in Transylvania where Donald encounters a ghost who tells him that the Count carries the real treasure map
After defeating Dracula Donald receives a more complete map In India Donald enters the palace of the Maharajah where she challenges him to defeat the tiger in her garden in exchange for a Sphinx Tear Donald succeeds and receives the Sphinx Tear which is the key to open a temple in Egypt Donald is able to solve the Riddle of the Sphinx using the note Goofy had given him and obtains the Scepter of Ra before escaping in a mine cart From there he journeys to the South Pole where he finds a key frozen in ice and uses the Scepter of Ra to melt the ice and grab the key The key unlocks the hold of a Viking ship which contains an ancient diary with the secret to locating the treasure The ship is haunted by ghosts and the Viking captain sends Donald below decks to get rid of them After defeating a skeletal Viking warrior Donald returns to the deck where the captain informs him that the diary is hidden in ice near the South Pole and gives him an ancient Viking plunger that attaches to flying creatures Donald then returns to the South Pole hitching a ride on one of Pete s bird minions to reach the diary
However upon finding the diary Pete shows up holding Donald s nephews hostage in exchange for the diary After giving Pete the diary Donald travels to Pete s hideout to defeat Pete and get the diary back The diary reveals that the map when dipped in water will reveal the location of the Great Duck Treasure Donald flies to the island where the treasure is hidden and manages to evade its traps in order to reach the treasure vault After defeating the ancient spirit guarding the treasure Donald opens the vault only to find a simple stone statue When the disappointed Donald returns home Huey Dewey and Louie accidentally break the statue which reveals a golden jeweled necklace was hidden inside Donald gives the necklace to Daisy and the two fly off into the sunset together
QuackShot was developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis as part of a series of games that were based on Walt Disney cartoon characters The game was released in Europe in in North America on December and in Japan on December QuackShot was later released as part of a bundle called The Disney Collection for Genesis in alongside Castle of Illusion The game was also ported to the Sega Saturn and released exclusively in Japan alongside Castle of Illusion again as part of the Sega Ages series in entitled Sega Ages I Love Mickey Mouse
QuackShot received a mostly positive response from critics upon release GameRankings an aggregator for video game reviews assigned the game a score of based on reviews Mega placed the game at in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time list MegaTech magazine praised the game s graphics but criticized the game s easy difficulty level explaining simply that the graphics are excellent but the game is easy to complete Damian Butt from Sega Pro also praised the graphics stating that the game has without a doubt some of the best graphics around and that the sprites and backgrounds are consistently excellent He also noted the game s various puzzles and their use in the game explaining that e ven if the ideas are not original the way they are strung together to accelerate the pace to overload is nothing short of breath taking Levi Buchanan from IGN gave QuackShot a also lauding the graphics and animation as excellent and saying the music was pleasing
Butt criticized Donald s controls in certain situations in the game as well as the difficulty of some levels and puzzles Buchanan also criticized the controls calling them float y and noted the difficulty in executing precision jumps explaining that i t s far too easy to over or under shoot a narrow column and slip to your doom Butt was also dubious of the number of credits stating that the game may seem easy with unlimited continues but that the player will still need considerable skill to reach the treasure island Buchanan was disappointed with the lack of speech samples explaining that it s a bit of a drag with a character that is so defined by his voice Ultimately Butt said that y ounger players will instantly be enthralled by Donald s quest and that QuackShot is everything a cartoon game should be and more Buchanan summed up the game as being a good platformer tripped up by some questionable controls and recommended the game as a mildly enjoyable bit platformer that would fit nicely in your Genesis collection
The Olmec colossal heads are at least seventeen monumental stone representations of human heads sculpted from large basalt boulders The heads date from at least before BC and are a distinctive feature of the Olmec civilization of ancient Mesoamerica All portray mature men with fleshy cheeks flat noses and slightly crossed eyes their physical characteristics correspond to a type that is still common among the inhabitants of Tabasco and Veracruz The backs of the monuments often are flat The boulders were brought from the Sierra de los Tuxtlas mountains of Veracruz Given that the extremely large slabs of stone used in their production were transported over large distances requiring a great deal of human effort and resources it is thought that the monuments represent portraits of powerful individual Olmec rulers Each of the known examples has a distinctive headdress The heads were variously arranged in lines or groups at major Olmec centres but the method and logistics used to transport the stone to these sites remain unclear
The discovery of a colossal head at Tres Zapotes in the nineteenth century spurred the first archaeological investigations of Olmec culture by Matthew Stirling in Seventeen confirmed examples are known from four sites within the Olmec heartland on the Gulf Coast of Mexico Most colossal heads were sculpted from spherical boulders but two from San Lorenzo Tenochtitln were re carved from massive stone thrones An additional monument at Takalik Abaj in Guatemala is a throne that may have been carved from a colossal head This is the only known example from outside the Olmec heartland
Dating the monuments remains difficult because of the movement of many from their original contexts prior to archaeological investigation Most have been dated to the Early Preclassic period BC with some to the Middle Preclassic BC period The smallest weigh tons while the largest is variously estimated to weigh to tons although it was abandoned and left unfinished close to the source of its stone
The Olmec civilization developed in the lowlands of southeastern Mexico between and BC The Olmec heartland lies on the Gulf Coast of Mexico within the states of Veracruz and Tabasco an area measuring approximately kilometres mi east to west and extending about kilometres mi inland from the coast The Olmecs are regarded as the first civilization to develop in Mesoamerica and the Olmec heartland is one of six cradles of civilization worldwide the others being the Norte Chico culture of South America the Erlitou culture of China s Yellow River the Indus Valley Civilization of south Asia the civilization of ancient Egypt and the Sumerian civilization of ancient Iraq Of these only the Olmec civilization developed in a lowland tropical forest setting
The Olmecs were the first inhabitants of the Americas to construct monumental architecture and to settle in towns and cities They were also the first people in the Americas to develop a sophisticated style of stone sculpture In the first decade of the st century evidence emerged of Olmec writing with the earliest examples of Olmec hieroglyphs dating to around BC Examples of script have been found on roller stamps and stone artefacts the texts are short and have been partially deciphered based on their similarity to other Mesoamerican scripts The evidence of complex society developing in the Olmec heartland has led to the Olmecs being regarded as the Mother Culture of Mesoamerica although this concept remains controversial
Some of the Olmecs rulers seem to have served religious functions The city of San Lorenzo was succeeded as the main centre of the civilization by La Venta in about BC with Tres Zapotes and Laguna de los Cerros possibly sharing the role other urban centres were much less significant The nature and degree of the control exercised by the centres over a widespread rural population remains unclear Very fine Olmec art much clearly made for an elite survives in several forms notably Olmec figurines and larger sculptures such as The Wrestler The figurines have been recovered in large numbers and are mostly in pottery these were presumably widely available to the population Together with these of particular relevance to the colossal heads are the Olmec style masks in stone so called because none have yet been excavated in circumstances that allow the proper archaeological identification of an Olmec context These evocative stone face masks present both similarities and differences to the colossal heads Two thirds of Olmec monumental sculpture represents the human form and the colossal heads fall within this major theme of Olmec art
The colossal heads cannot be precisely dated However the San Lorenzo heads were buried by BC indicating that their period of manufacture and use was earlier still The heads from Tres Zapotes had been moved from their original context before they were investigated by archaeologists and the heads from La Venta were found partially exposed on the modern ground surface The period of production of the colossal heads is therefore unknown as is whether it spanned a century or a millennium Estimates of the time span during which colossal heads were produced vary from to years The San Lorenzo heads are believed to be the oldest and are the most skillfully executed All of the stone heads have been assigned to the Preclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology generally to the Early Preclassic BC although the two Tres Zapotes heads and the La Cobata Head are attributed to the Middle Preclassic BC
Olmec colossal heads vary in height from to metres to ft and weigh between and tons All of the Olmec colossal heads depict mature men with flat noses and fleshy cheeks the eyes tend to be slightly crossed The general physical characteristics of the heads are of a type that is still common among people in the Olmec region in modern times The backs of the heads are often flat as if the monuments were originally placed against a wall All examples of Olmec colossal heads wear distinctive headdresses that probably represent cloth or animal hide originals Some examples have a tied knot at the back of the head and some are decorated with feathers A head from La Venta is decorated with the head of a bird There are similarities between the headdresses on some of the heads that has led to speculation that specific headdresses may represent different dynasties or perhaps identify specific rulers Most of the heads wear large earspools inserted into the ear lobes
All of the heads are realistic unidealised and frank descriptions of the men It is likely that they were portraits of living or recently deceased rulers well known to the sculptors Each head is distinct and naturalistic displaying individualised features They were once thought to represent ballplayers although this theory is no longer widely held it is possible however that they represent rulers equipped for the Mesoamerican ballgame Facial expressions depicted on the heads vary from stern through placid to smiling The most naturalistic Olmec art is the earliest appearing suddenly without surviving antecedents with a tendency towards more stylised sculpture as time progressed Some surviving examples of wooden sculpture recovered from El Manat demonstrate that the Olmecs are likely to have created many more perishable sculptures than works sculpted from stone
In the late nineteenth century Jos Melgar y Serrano described a colossal head as having Ethiopian features and speculations that the Olmec had African origins resurfaced in in the work of Alfonso Medelln Zenil and in the s in the writings of Ivan van Sertima Such speculation is not taken seriously by Mesoamerican scholars such as Richard Diehl and Ann Cyphers
Although all the colossal heads are broadly similar there are distinct stylistic differences in their execution One of the heads from San Lorenzo bears traces of plaster and red paint suggesting that the heads were originally brightly decorated Heads did not just represent individual Olmec rulers they also incorporated the very concept of rulership itself
The production of each colossal head must have been carefully planned given the effort required to ensure the necessary resources were available it seems likely that only the more powerful Olmec rulers were able to mobilise such resources The workforce would have included sculptors labourers overseers boatmen woodworkers and other artesans producing the tools to make and move the monument in addition to the support needed to feed and otherwise attend to these workers The seasonal and agricultural cycles and river levels needed to have been taken into account to plan the production of the monument and the whole project may well have taken years from beginning to end
Archaeological investigation of Olmec basalt workshops suggest that the colossal heads were first roughly shaped using direct percussion to chip away both large and small flakes of stone The sculpture was then refined by retouching the surface using hammerstones which were generally rounded cobbles that could be of the same basalt as the monument itself although this was not always the case Abrasives were found in association with workshops at San Lorenzo indicating their use in the finishing of fine detail Olmec colossal heads were fashioned as in the round monuments with varying levels of relief on the same work they tended to feature higher relief on the face and lower relief on the earspools and headdresses Monument at San Lorenzo is an extensively damaged throne with a figure emerging from a niche Its sides were broken away and it was dragged to another location before being abandoned It is possible that this damage was caused by the initial stages of re carving the monument into a colossal head but that the work was never completed
All seventeen of the confirmed heads in the Olmec heartland were sculpted from basalt mined in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas mountains of Veracruz Most were formed from coarse grained dark grey basalt known as Cerro Cintepec basalt after a volcano in the range Investigators have proposed that large Cerro Cintepec basalt boulders found on the southeastern slopes of the mountains are the source of the stone for the monuments These boulders are found in an area affected by large lahars volcanic mudslides that carried substantial blocks of stone down the mountain slopes which suggests that the Olmecs did not need to quarry the raw material for sculpting the heads Roughly spherical boulders were carefully selected to mimic the shape of a human head The stone for the San Lorenzo and La Venta heads was transported a considerable distance from the source The La Cobata head was found on El Vigia hill in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas and the stone from Tres Zapotes Colossal Head and Nestepe Colossal Head also known as Tres Zapotes Monuments A and Q came from the same hill
The boulders were transported over kilometres mi from the source of the stone The exact method of transportation of such large masses of rock are unknown especially since the Olmecs lacked beasts of burden and functional wheels and they were likely to have used water transport whenever possible Coastal currents of the Gulf of Mexico and in river estuaries might have made the waterborne transport of monuments weighing tons or more impractical Two badly damaged Olmec sculptures depict rectangular stone blocks bound with ropes A largely destroyed human figure rides upon each block with their legs hanging over the side These sculptures may well depict Olmec rulers overseeing the transport of the stone that would be fashioned into their monuments When transport over land was necessary the Olmecs are likely to have used causeways ramps and roads to facilitate moving the heads The regional terrain offers significant obstacles such as swamps and floodplains avoiding these would have necessitated crossing undulating hill country The construction of temporary causeways using the suitable and plentiful floodplain soils would have allowed a direct route across the floodplains to the San Lorenzo Plateau Earth structures such as mounds platforms and causeways upon the plateau demonstrate that the Olmec possessed the necessary knowledge and could commit the resources to build large scale earthworks
The flat backs of many of the colossal heads represented the flat bases of the monumental thrones from which they were reworked Only four of the seventeen heartland heads do not have flattened backs indicating the possibility that the majority were reworked monuments Alternatively the backs of many of these massive monuments may have been flattened to ease their transport providing a stable form for hauling the monuments with ropes Two heads from San Lorenzo have traces of niches that are characteristic of monumental Olmec thrones and so were definitely reworked from earlier monuments
Seventeen confirmed examples are known An additional monument at Takalik Abaj in Guatemala is a throne that may have been carved from a colossal head This is the only known example outside of the Olmec heartland on the Gulf Coast of Mexico Possible fragments of additional colossal heads have been recovered at San Lorenzo and at San Fernando in Tabasco Crude colossal stone heads are also known in the Southern Maya area where they are associated with the potbelly style of sculpture Although some arguments have been made that they are pre Olmec these latter monuments are generally believed to be influenced by the Olmec style of sculpture
The ten colossal heads from San Lorenzo originally formed two roughly parallel lines running north south across the site Although some were recovered from ravines they were found close to their original placements and had been buried by local erosion These heads together with a number of monumental stone thrones probably formed a processional route across the site powerfully displaying its dynastic history Two of the San Lorenzo heads had been re carved from older thrones
San Lorenzo Colossal Head also known as San Lorenzo Monument was lying facing upwards when excavated The erosion of a path passing on top of the monument uncovered its eye and led to the discovery of the Olmec site Colossal Head is metres ft high it measures metres ft wide and it weighs tons The monument was discovered partially buried at the edge of a gully by Matthew Stirling in When discovered it was lying on its back looking upwards It was associated with a large number of broken ceramic vessels and figurines The majority of these ceramic remains have been dated to between and BC some pieces have been dated to the Villa Alta phase Late Classic period AD The headdress possesses a plain band that is tied at the back of the head The upper portion of the headdress is decorated with a U shaped motif This element descends across the front of the headdress terminating on the forehead On the front portion it is decorated with five semicircular motifs The scalp piece does not meet the horizontal band leaving a space between the two pieces On each side of the face a strap descends from the headdress and passes in front of the ear The forehead is wrinkled in a frown The lips are slightly parted without revealing the teeth The cheeks are pronounced and the ears are particularly well executed The face is slightly asymmetric which may be due to error on the part of the sculptors or may accurately reflect the physical features of the portrait s subject The head has been moved to the Museo de Antropologa de Xalapa Anthropological Museum of Xalapa
San Lorenzo Colossal Head also known as San Lorenzo Monument was reworked from a monumental throne The head stands metres ft high and measures metres ft wide by metres ft deep it weighs tons Colossal Head was discovered in when Matthew Stirling s guide cleared away some of the vegetation and mud that covered it The monument was found lying on its back facing the sky and was excavated in by Stirling and Philip Drucker In the monument was removed from the San Lorenzo plateau in order to put it on display as part of The Olmec tradition exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston in San Lorenzo Colossal Head is currently in the Museo Nacional de Antropologa in Mexico City The head was associated with a number of ceramic finds they have been dated to the Early Preclassic and Late Classic periods Colossal Head wears a complex headdress that sports a horizontal band tied at the back of the head this is decorated with three bird s heads that are located above the forehead and temples The scalp piece is formed from six strips running towards the back of the head The front of the headdress above the horizontal band is plain Two short straps hang down from the headdress in front of the ears The ear jewellery is formed by large squared hoops or framed discs The left and right ornaments are different with radial lines on the left earflare a feature absent on the right earflare The head is badly damaged due to an unfinished reworking process This process has pitmarked the entire face with at least smaller hollows and larger holes The surviving features appear to depict an ageing man with the forehead creased into a frown The lips are thick and slightly parted to reveal the teeth the head has a pronounced chin
San Lorenzo Colossal Head is also known as San Lorenzo Monument The head measures metres ft high by metres ft wide by metres ft deep and weighs tons The head was discovered in a deep gully by Matthew Stirling in it was found lying face down and its excavation was difficult due to the wet conditions in the gully The monument was found kilometres mi southwest of the main mound at San Lorenzo however its original location is unknown erosion of the gully may have resulted in significant movement of the sculpture Head has been moved to the Museo de Antropologa de Xalapa The headdress is complex with the horizontal basal band being formed by four horizontal cords with diagonal folds above each eye A small skullcap tops the headdress A large flap formed of four cords drops down both sides of the head completely covering the ears The face has a typically frowning brow and unusually has clearly defined eyelids The lips are thick and slightly parted the front of the lower lip has broken away completely and the lower front of the headdress is pitted with irregularly spaced artificial depressions
San Lorenzo Colossal Head also known as San Lorenzo Monument weighs tons and has been moved to the Museo de Antropologa de Xalapa Colossal Head is metres ft high metres ft wide and metres ft deep The head was discovered by Matthew Stirling in metres yd northwest of the principal mound at the edge of a gully When excavated it was found to be lying on its right hand side and in a very good state of preservation Ceramic materials excavated with the head became mixed with ceramics associated with Head making ceramic dating of the monument difficult The headdress is decorated with a horizontal band formed of four sculpted cords similar to those of Head On the right hand side three tassels descend from the upper portion of the headdress they terminate in a total of eight strips that hang down across the horizontal band These tassels are judged to represent hair rather than cords Also on the right hand side two cords descend across the ear and continue to the base of the monument On the left hand side three vertical cords descend across the ear The earflare is only visible on the right hand side it is formed of a plain disc and peg The face is that of an ageing man with a creased forehead low cheekbones and a prominent chin The lips are thick and slightly parted
San Lorenzo Colossal Head is also known as San Lorenzo Monument The monument stands metres ft high and measures metres ft wide by metres ft deep It weighs tons The head was discovered by Matthew Stirling in face down in a gully to the south of the principal mound The head is particularly well executed and is likely to have been found close to its original location Ceramics recovered during its excavation became mixed with those from the excavation of Head The mixed ceramics have been dated to the San Lorenzo and Villa Alta phases approximately BC and AD respectively Colossal Head is particularly well preserved although the back of the headdress band was damaged when the head was moved from the archaeological site The band of the headdress is set at an angle and has a notch above the bridge of the nose The headdress is decorated with jaguar paws this general identification of the decoration is contested by Beatriz de la Fuente since the paws have three claws each she identifies them as the claws of a bird of prey At the back of the head ten interlaced strips form a net decorated with disc motifs Two short straps descend from the headdress in front of the ears The ears are adorned with disc shaped earspools with pegs The face is that of an ageing man with wrinkles under the eyes and across the bridge of the nose and a forehead that is creased in a frown The lips are slightly parted Colossal Head has been moved to the Museo de Antropologa de Xalapa
San Lorenzo Colossal Head also known as San Lorenzo Monument is one of the smaller examples of colossal heads standing metres ft It measures metres ft wide by metres ft deep and is estimated to weigh between and tons The head was discovered by a local farmworker and was excavated in by Luis Aveleyra and Romn Pia Chan The head had collapsed into a ravine under its own weight and was found face down on its left hand side In it was transported to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for the museum s centenary exhibition After its return to Mexico it was placed in the Museo Nacional de Antropologa in Mexico City It is sculpted with a net like head covering joined together with sculpted beads A covering descends from under the headdress to cover the back half of the neck The headband is divided into four strips and begins above the right ear extending around the entire head A short strap descends from either side of the head to the ear The ear ornaments are complex and are larger at the front of the ear than at the back The face is that of an ageing male with the forehead creased in a frown wrinkles under the eyes sagging cheeks and deep creases on either side of the nose The face is somewhat asymmetric possibly due to errors in the execution of the monument
San Lorenzo Colossal Head also known as San Lorenzo Monument measures metres ft high by metres ft wide by metres ft deep and weighs tons San Lorenzo Colossal Head was reworked from a monumental throne it was discovered by a joint archaeological project by the Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia and Yale University as a result of a magnetometer survey It was buried at a depth of less than metre ft and was lying facing upwards leaning slightly northwards on its right hand side The head is poorly preserved and has suffered both from erosion and deliberate damage The headdress is decorated with a pair of human hands a feathered ornament is carved at the back of the headband and two discs adorn the front A short strap descends from the headband and hangs in front of the right ear The head sports large earflares that completely cover the earlobes although severe erosion makes their exact form difficult to distinguish The face has wrinkles between the nose and cheeks sagging cheeks and deep set eyes the lips are badly damaged and the mouth is open displaying the teeth In the head was transported to the Museo de Antropologa de Xalapa
San Lorenzo Colossal Head also known as San Lorenzo Monument stands metres ft high it measures metres ft wide by metres ft deep and weighs tons It is one of the finest examples of an Olmec colossal head It was found lying on its side to the south of a monumental throne The monument was discovered at a depth of metres ft during a magnetometer survey of the site in it has been dated to the Early Preclassic After discovery it was initially reburied it was moved to the Museo de Antropologa de Xalapa in The headdress is decorated with the talons or claws of either a jaguar or an eagle It has a headband and a cover that descends from under the headdress proper behind the ears Two short straps descend in front of the ears The head sports large ear ornaments in the form of pegs The face is that of a mature male with sagging cheeks and wrinkles between these and the nose The forehead is gathered in a frown The mouth is slightly parted to reveal the teeth Most of the head is carved in a realistic manner the exception being the ears These are stylised and represented by one question mark shape contained within another The head is very well preserved and displays a fine finish
San Lorenzo Colossal Head is also known as San Lorenzo Monument It measures metres ft high by metres ft wide by metres ft deep The head was exposed in by erosion of the gullies at San Lorenzo it was found leaning slightly on its right hand side and facing upwards half covered by the collapsed side of a gully and washed by a stream Although it was documented by archaeologists it remained for some time in its place of discovery before being moved to the Museo de Antropologa de Xalapa The headdress is of a single piece without a distinct headband The sides display features that are possibly intended to represent long hair trailing to the bottom of the monument The earflares are rectangular plates with an additional trapezoid element at the front The head is also depicted wearing a nose ring The face is smiling and has wrinkles under the eyes and at the edge of the mouth It has sagging cheeks and wide eyes The mouth is closed and the upper lip is badly damaged The sculpture suffered some mutilation in antiquity with nine pits hollowed into the face and headdress
San Lorenzo Colossal Head also known as San Lorenzo Monument has been moved to the Museo Comunitario de San Lorenzo Tenochtitln near Texistepec It stands metres ft tall and measures metres ft wide by metres ft deep it weighs tons The head was discovered by a magnetometer survey in it was found buried lying face upwards in the bottom of a ravine and was excavated by Ann Cyphers The headdress is formed of circular beads that completely cover the upper part of the head and descend across the sides and back Above the forehead is a large element forming a three toed foot with long nails possibly the foot of a bird The head wears large earspools that protrude beyond the beads of the headdress The spools have the form of a rounded square with a circular sunken central portion The face is that of a mature man with the mouth closed sagging cheeks and lines under the eyes The mouth is sensitively carved and the head possesses a pronounced chin
Three of the La Venta heads were found in a line running east west in the northern Complex I all three faced northwards away from the city centre The other head was found in Complex B to the south of the Great Pyramid in a plaza that included a number of other sculptures The latter the first of the La Venta heads to be discovered was found during archaeological exploration of La Venta in the other three remained unknown to archaeologists until a local boy guided Matthew Stirling to them while he was excavating the first head in They were located approximately kilometres mi to the north of Monument
La Venta Monument is speculated to have been the portrait of La Venta s final ruler Monument measures metres ft high by metres ft wide by metres ft deep it weighs tons The front of the headdress is decorated with three motifs that apparently represent the claws or fangs of an animal Above these symbols is an angular U shaped decoration descending from the scalp On each side of the monument a strap descends from the headdress passing in front of the ear Each ear has a prominent ear ornament that descends from the earlobe to the base of the monument The features are those of a mature man with wrinkles around the mouth eyes and nose Monument is the best preserved head at La Venta but has suffered from erosion particularly at the back The head was first described by Franz Blom and Oliver La Farge who investigated the La Venta remains on behalf of Tulane University in When discovered it was half buried its massive size meant that the discoverers were unable to excavate it completely Matthew Stirling fully excavated the monument in after clearing the thick vegetation that had covered it in the intervening years Monument has been moved to the Parque Museo La Venta in Villahermosa The head was found in its original context associated finds have been radiocarbon dated to between and BC
La Venta Monument measures metres ft high by metres ft wide by metres ft deep the head weighs tons The face has a broadly smiling expression that reveals four of the upper teeth The cheeks are given prominence by the action of smiling the brow that is normally visible in other heads is covered by the rim of the headdress The face is badly eroded distorting the features In addition to the severe erosion damage the upper lip and a part of the nose have been deliberately mutilated The head was found in its original context a few metres north of the northwest corner of pyramid platform A Radiocarbon dating of the monument s context dates it to between and BC Monument has suffered erosion damage from its exposure to the elements prior to discovery The head has a prominent headdress but this is badly eroded and any individual detail has been erased A strap descends in front of the ear on each side of the head descending as far as the earlobe The head is adorned with ear ornaments in the form of a disc that covers the earlobe with an associated clip or peg The surviving details of the headdress and earflares are stylistically similar to those of Tres Zapotes Monument A The head has been moved to the Museo del Estado de Tabasco in Villahermosa
La Venta Monument stands metres ft high and measures metres ft wide by metre ft deep it weighs tons Monument was located a few metres to the east of Monument but was moved to the Parque Museo La Venta in Villahermosa Like the other La Venta heads its context has been radiocarbon dated to between and BC It appears unfinished and has suffered severe damage through weathering making analysis difficult It had a large headdress that reaches to the eyebrows but any details have been lost through erosion Straps descend in front of each ear and continue to the base of the monument The ears are wearing large flattened rings that overlap the straps they probably represent jade ornaments of a type that have been recovered in the Olmec region Although most of the facial detail is lost the crinkling of the bridge of the nose is still evident a feature that is common to the frowning expressions of the other Olmec colossal heads
La Venta Monument measures metres ft high by metres ft wide and metres ft deep It weighs tons It was found a few metres to the west of Monument and has been moved to the Parque Museo La Venta As with the other heads in the group its archaeological context has been radiocarbon dated to between and BC The headdress is elaborate and although damaged various details are still discernible The base of the headdress is formed by three horizontal strips running over the forehead One side is decorated with a double disc motif that may have been repeated on the other if so damage to the right side has obliterated any trace of it The top of the headdress is decorated with the clawed foot of a bird of prey Either straps or plaits of hair descend on either side of the face from the headdress to the base of the monument Only one earspool survives it is flat in the form of a rounded square and is decorated with a cross motif The ears have been completely eroded away and the lips are damaged The surviving features display a frown and creasing around the nose and cheeks The head displays prominent teeth
The two heads at Tres Zapotes with the La Cobata head are stylistically distinct from the other known examples Beatriz de la Fuente views them as a late regional survival of an older tradition while other scholars argue that they are merely the kind of regional variant to be expected in a frontier settlement These heads are sculpted with relatively simple headdresses they have squat wide proportions and distinctive facial features The two Tres Zapotes heads are the earliest known stone monuments from the site The discovery of one of the Tres Zapotes heads in the nineteenth century led to the first archaeological investigations of Olmec culture carried out by Matthew Stirling in
Tres Zapotes Monument A also known as Tres Zapotes Colossal Head was the first colossal head to be found discovered by accident in the middle of the nineteenth century kilometre mi to the north of the modern village of Tres Zapotes After its discovery it remained half buried until it was excavated by Matthew Stirling in At some point it was moved to the plaza of the modern village probably in the early s It has since been moved to the Museo Comunitario de Tres Zapotes Monument A stands metres ft tall it measures metres ft wide by metres ft deep and is estimated to weigh tons The head is sculpted with a simple headdress with a wide band that is otherwise unadorned and wears rectangular ear ornaments that project forwards onto the cheeks The face is carved with deep creases between the cheeks and the nose and around the mouth the forehead is creased into a frown The upper lip has suffered recent damage with the left portion flaking away
Tres Zapotes Monument Q also known as the Nestape Head and Tres Zapotes Colossal Head measures metres ft high by metres ft wide by metres ft deep and weighs tons Its exact date of discovery is unknown but is estimated to have been some time in the s when it was struck by machinery being used to clear vegetation from Nestape hill Monument Q was the eleventh colossal head to be discovered It was moved to the plaza of Santiago Tuxtla in and remains there to this day Monument Q was first described by Williams and Heizer in an article published in The headdress is decorated with a frontal tongue shaped ornament and the back of the head is sculpted with seven plaits of hair bound with tassels A strap descends from each side of the headdress passing over the ears and to the base of the monument The face has pronounced creases around the nose mouth and eyes
The La Cobata region was the source of the basalt used for carving all of the colossal heads in the Olmec heartland The La Cobata colossal head was discovered in and was the fifteenth to be recorded It was discovered in a mountain pass in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas on the north side of El Vigia volcano near to Santiago Tuxtla The head was largely buried when found excavations uncovered a Late Classic AD offering associated with the head consisting of a ceramic vessel and a centimetre in long obsidian knife placed pointing northwards towards the head The offering is believed to have been deposited long after the head was sculpted The La Cobata head has been moved from its original location to the main plaza at Santiago
The La Cobata head is more or less rounded and measures by metres by ft by metres ft high making it the largest known head This massive sculpture is estimated to weigh tons It is stylistically distinct from the other examples and Beatriz de la Fuente placed it late in the Olmec time frame The characteristics of the sculpture have led to some investigators suggesting that it represents a deceased person Norman Hammond argues that the apparent stylistic differences of the monument stem from its unfinished state rather than its late production The eyes of the monument are closed the nose is flattened and lacks nostrils and the mouth was not sculpted in a realistic manner The headdress is in the form of a plain horizontal band
The original location of the La Cobata head was not a major archaeological site and it is likely that the head was either abandoned at its source or during transport to its intended destination Various features of the head suggest that it was unfinished such as a lack of symmetry below the mouth and an area of rough stone above the base Rock was not removed from around the earspools as on other heads and does not narrow towards the base Large parts of the monument seem to be roughed out without finished detail The right hand earspool also appears incomplete the forward portion is marked with a sculpted line while the rear portion has been sculpted in relief probably indicating that the right cheek and eye area were also unfinished The La Cobata head was almost certainly carved from a raw boulder rather than being sculpted from a throne
Takalik Abaj Monument dates to the Middle Preclassic period and is found in Takalik Abaj an important city in the foothills of the Guatemalan Pacific coast in the modern department of Retalhuleu It appears to be an Olmec style colossal head re carved into a niche figure sculpture If originally a colossal head then it would be the only known example from outside the Olmec heartland
Monument is sculpted from andesite and falls in the middle of the size range for confirmed colossal heads It stands metres ft high and measures metres ft wide by metres ft deep Like the examples from the Olmec heartland the monument features a flat back Lee Parsons contests John Graham s identification of Monument as a re carved colossal head he views the side ornaments identified by Graham as ears as rather the scrolled eyes of an open jawed monster gazing upwards Countering this James Porter has claimed that the re carving of the face of a colossal head into a niche figure is clearly evident
Monument was damaged in the mid twentieth century by a local mason who attempted to break its exposed upper portion using a steel chisel As a result the top is fragmented although the broken pieces were recovered by archaeologists and have been put back into place
All of the confirmed colossal heads remain in Mexico Two heads from San Lorenzo are on permanent display at the Museo Nacional de Antropologa in Mexico City Seven of the San Lorenzo heads are on display in the Museo de Antropologa de Xalapa Five of them are in Sala one is in Sala and one is in Patio The remaining San Lorenzo head is in the Museo Comunitario de San Lorenzo Tenochtitln near Texistepec All four heads from La Venta are now in Villahermosa the state capital of Tabasco Three are in the Parque Museo La Venta and one in the Museo del Estado de Tabasco Two heads are on display in the plaza of Santiago Tuxtla one from Tres Zapotes and the La Cobata Head The other Tres Zapotes head is in the Museo Comunitario de Tres Zapotes
Several colossal heads have been loaned to temporary exhibitions abroad San Lorenzo Colossal Head was loaned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in San Lorenzo colossal heads and were lent to the Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico exhibition in the National Gallery of Art Washington DC that ran from June to October San Lorenzo Head was again loaned in this time to the de Young Museum in San Francisco The de Young Museum was loaned San Lorenzo colossal heads and for its Olmec Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico exhibition which ran from February to May
On January at least three people including two Mexicans and one American entered the Parque Museo La Venta in Villahermosa and damaged just under archaeological pieces including the four La Venta colossal heads The vandals were all members of an evangelical church and appeared to have been carrying out a supposed pre Columbian ritual during which salts grape juice and oil were thrown on the heads It was estimated that pesos US would be needed to repair the damage and the restoration process would last four months The three vandals were released soon after their arrest after paying pesos each
Although not all of the replicas were placed by him the majority of replicas around the world were placed under the leadership of Miguel Alemn Velasco former governor of the state of Veracruz The following is a list of replicas and their locations within the United States
Austin Texas A replica of San Lorenzo Head was placed in the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas in November
Chicago Illinois A replica of San Lorenzo Head made by Ignacio Perez Solano was placed in the Field Museum of Natural History in
Covina California A replica of San Lorenzo Head was donated to Covina in originally intended to be placed in Jalapa Park Due to concerns over potential vanadalism it was instead installed outside the police station It was removed in and relocated to Jobe s Glen Jalapa Park in June
McAllen Texas A replica of San Lorenzo Head is located in the International Museum of Art Science The specific date placement is unknown but it was dedicated by Fidel Herrera Beltrn then governor of Veracruz during his time in office between
New York A replica of San Lorenzo Head was placed next to the main plaza in the grounds of Lehman College in the Bronx New York It was installed in to celebrate the first anniversary of the CUNY Institute of Mexican Studies housed at the college The replica was a gift by the government of Verazruz state Cumbre Tajn and Mexico Trade it was first plazed in Dag Hammerskjold Park outside the United Nations in
San Francisco California A replica of San Lorenzo Head created by Ignacio Perez Solano was placed in San Francisco City College Ocean Campus in October
Washington DC A replica of San Lorenzo Head sculpted by Ignacio Perez Solano was placed near the Constitution Avenue entrance of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in October
West Valley City Utah A replica of San Lorenzo Head was placed in the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in May
Mexico donated a resin replica of an Olmec colossal head to Belgium it is on display in the Muse du Cinquantenaire in Brussels
In February the Mexican Secretara de Relaciones Exteriores Secretariat of Foreign Affairs announced that the Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia would be donating a replica Olmec colossal head to Ethiopia to be placed in Plaza Mexico in Addis Ababa
Bradley Kent Brad Stevens born October is an American professional basketball head coach for the Boston Celtics of the NBA He was previously the head coach at Butler University in Indianapolis A former basketball player he grew up in Zionsville Indiana where he starred on the Zionsville Community High School basketball team setting four school records After high school he attended DePauw University where he played basketball and earned a degree in economics He made the all conference team multiple times and was a three time Academic All America nominee
Stevens joined the Butler basketball program as a volunteer prior to the season after quitting his job at Eli Lilly and Company He was promoted to a full time assistant coaching position for the season On April he became the head coach after Todd Lickliter left to coach the Iowa Hawkeyes In his first year Stevens led Butler to wins becoming the third youngest head coach in NCAA Division I history to have a win season
In his third year as head coach Stevens broke the NCAA record for most wins in a coach s first three years exceeding the previous record by eight In the postseason Stevens coached Butler to the first Final Four in school history At years old Stevens became the second youngest head coach to make a NCAA National Championship game losing to Duke Shortly after the season ended he signed a contract extension with Butler through the season With the team making the Final Four Stevens became the youngest coach to go to two Final Fours Stevens coached the Bulldogs in their second consecutive national championship game on April where the team lost to the Huskies of the University of Connecticut
Stevens is known for a calm focused coaching style He spends a lot of time analyzing opponents using statistical analysis adding new wrinkles to his team s play each game He puts a strong emphasis on defensive and team oriented basketball Butler s success against teams with superior athletes has been attributed to Stevens coaching style and calm demeanor Stevens has twice been named the Horizon League Coach of the Year and won collegeinsidercom s Hugh Durham Award mid season honors in January He has also been both a Hugh Durham Award and Jim Phelan Award finalist all three years of his career Stevens has been called a coaching prodigy and compared to John Wooden He is married with two young children In July he signed a six year million dollar contract to become the head coach of the Boston Celtics in the NBA In April Stevens led the Celtics to the NBA Playoffs as the th seed in the Eastern Conference with a record
Bradley Kent Stevens grew up in Zionsville Indiana where he developed his love for basketball Starting at age five Stevens would watch taped basketball games before he went to afternoon kindergarten His father would often drive him to Bloomington to watch Indiana Hoosiers games It s hard not to be in love with basketball when you re a kid growing up in Indiana Stevens later said
For his eighth birthday Stevens received a new basketball hoop It s so much fun to dream in your driveway he later remarked That s where my friends and I hung out It was a lot of fun to grow up in that era When a friend Brandon Monk had a basketball court installed in his back yard Stevens appeared instantaneously He was so dedicated to the game that he would bring the unprepared ingredients for grilled cheese sandwiches over to Monk s house so that he would not waste time waiting for the sandwiches to cook
Monk s court soon became a gathering place where Zionsville kids and kids from the surrounding areas would hold pickup games These games helped develop Stevens competitive streak Besides playing basketball the young Stevens also enjoyed solving puzzles a skill he later applied to analyzing opposing teams to find their weaknesses
Stevens attended Zionsville Community High School where he became a star basketball player He wore No in high school in honor of Indiana Pacers guard Reggie Miller During his freshman year he would get up early to practice shooting at a local gym before school The hard work paid off as Stevens made the varsity team that same year By the time his high school career was complete Stevens had set school records for career scoring assists steals and three point field goals As of he still holds the records for points assists and steals as well as the single season points record in Stevens was named to the all conference team three times In he was named the sectional MVP and was the leading scorer in state sectional play ppg
Stevens made the academic all state first team and received the Straight A Gold Medal Award all four years He was a member of the National Honor Society graduating seventh in his class of He earned three letters in basketball three in track and one in baseball during his days at Zionsville During summers he traveled the country playing AAU basketball
Although Stevens had a strong passion for the game he realized that his basketball skills were modest and not likely to get him very far As such he chose to attend academically oriented DePauw University for college During his stay he played in all DePauw games earning four varsity letters He earned multiple all conference and academic all conference awards and was a three time Academic All America nominee He was a team captain his senior year and averaged more than points per game three of his four years His career highs were points and rebounds in a game After his senior year Stevens received the Coaches Award Coach Bill Fenlon later described Stevens as one of the most selfless team oriented person sic I ve ever been around
While at DePauw Stevens was a member of the Management Fellows Honors Program and the DePauw Community Services Sports Night executive board He was also a brother of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity During summer vacations Stevens spent time teaching at Butler basketball camps He was named to the Dean s list and graduated in with a degree in economics
In the summer of Stevens was offered the opportunity to volunteer in the Butler basketball office He ran the idea of quitting his job at Eli Lilly by then longtime girlfriend Tracy Wilhelmy She thought about it for two hours before telling him to go for it Now it looks like a great idea Stevens later remarked At the time I thought it was something I really wanted to try Tracy went back to school to get a law degree that could support the couple if things did not work out for Brad We were and realized this was our chance Tracy later said Five years down the road we were probably not going to be in a position to do that The more success you had at Lilly the harder it would be to leave
Stevens planned to live in a friend s basement and took a job at Applebee s to pay the bills Before he started training at Applebee s he was offered a low paying administrative position as coordinator of basketball operations under then coach Thad Matta The position had opened up when assistant coach Jamal Meeks resigned after being arrested on solicitation and drug charges of which he was later acquitted Years later Matta recalled Stevens was just a hungry young kid that was desperate to get into coaching He had a great passion and was willing to take a risk to get into the coaching profession
After Matta left the school following the season new head coach Todd Lickliter promoted Stevens to a full time assistant coach Under Lickliter Stevens was active in every aspect of the game skills instruction game preparation in game coaching and recruiting Butler was during Stevens time as an assistant coach
On April Lickliter resigned in order to take the head coaching position at the University of Iowa The Butler players had a meeting with athletic director Barry Collier urging him to promote from within Collier having spent the entire season observing the assistant coaches interaction with the team agreed The day after Lickliter resigned Stevens and Butler s two other assistant coaches interviewed for the job Within hours of the interviews Stevens was named Butler s new head coach According to Collier Stevens had something older outside candidates could never match six years of experience learning the Butler system dubbed The Butler Way by Collier Age wasn t a factor because I d seen his ability shine through during the course of the season Collier said
At the start of the season Stevens was the second youngest coach in Division I basketball He got off to a fast start winning his first eight games before falling to Wright State Legendary coach Bob Knight whose Texas Tech team was an early victim said I wish we played as smart as they do Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg added they ve got toughness about them and they expect to win
Midway through Stevens first season with the Bulldogs at The New York Times wrote so far Stevens has made the transition to head coach look easy The Times went on to state that Stevens had the calm and composure of a seasoned veteran You ve got a lot of people always looking for the next step And that s not what I was doing I was just trying to figure out a way to win the next game and think like a head coach Stevens said
Butler ended the regular season with a record taking first place in the Horizon League with a in conference mark The team beat Illinois Chicago and Cleveland State to claim the league s tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament Butler was awarded the seven seed in the East Regional They beat tenth seeded South Alabama in the first round before falling to second seeded Tennessee in overtime
Stevens ended up with a school and Horizon league record wins beating several big name schools Michigan Texas Tech Florida State Ohio State along the way In so doing he became the third youngest head coach in NCAA Division I history to lead a team to wins in a season and became the fourth winningest first year coach Butler was nationally ranked for a school and league record consecutive weeks Butler s record was the best among teams that did not reach the Final Four Stevens was a finalist for the Hugh Durham Award losing to Keno Davis of Drake and a finalist for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award losing to Bo Ryan
At the conclusion of the season Butler signed Stevens to a seven year contract We are extremely excited to reach this long term agreement to have Brad continue to lead our program Collier remarked
Butler lost four starters after the season and was picked to finish fifth in the Horizon league during the season The team got off to a start that won Stevens the Hugh Durham mid season coaching award On February Stevens notched his th win as Butler beat Detroit In so doing Stevens became the sixth head coach in NCAA history to reach wins in games or fewer Butler finished first in the Horizon League with a in conference record defying preseason expectations Butler lost the Horizon League tournament final to Cleveland State but made the NCAA tournament as an at large selection The team received the nine seed in the South Regional and lost to eighth seeded Louisiana State in the first round by a score of to finish the year at overall
Stevens two year record places him second only to Bill Guthridge in total wins during one s first two years as head coach Stevens was a finalist for both the Hugh Durham and Jim Phelan Awards for the second straight year and was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year He was also named as a finalist for the Henry Iba Coach of the Year Award Stevens was given a one year contract extension at the conclusion of the season
Fueled in large part by Gordon Hayward s and Shelvin Mack s roles in leading Team USA to the gold medal in the FIBA Under World Championship during the off season Butler began the season ranked th in the Coaches Poll and th in the AP Poll A few commentators picked the Bulldogs as a possible sleeper team to make the Final Four Stevens was not so sure privately telling his father We have a really good team and I m not sure how far we can go this year but next year we ought to go really far
Butler got off to a mediocre start losing twice in the Classic to nd ranked Minnesota and to th ranked Clemson After the tournament Butler s record stood at and the team dropped to in the AP Poll and in the Coaches Poll Butler won its next two games before falling to th ranked Georgetown in the Jimmy V Classic The team won its next two games beating Ohio State and edging out former conference rival Xavier both at home After losing at UAB three days later Butler stood at and fell out of the AP rankings However the team remained in the Coaches Poll at
Stevens rallied the team and they proceeded to win straight games before facing Siena in a BracketBusters game Butler beat Siena and Stevens tied the NCAA record for most wins by a head coach in his first three seasons set by Mark Few of Gonzaga in and tied by Mark Fox of Nevada in
On February Butler traveled to Valparaiso for their regular season finale Leading scorer Gordon Hayward was sidelined with lower back pain but the team still won In so doing Stevens broke the coaching record he had tied the prior week and Butler completed an undefeated conference schedule It was Butler s first undefeated conference record since joining the Horizon League and first since Joe Sexson led the team to a record in the now defunct Indiana Collegiate Conference Stevens earned his third straight regular season conference championship
In the Horizon league tournament Stevens Bulldogs used their home court advantage to beat Milwaukee in the semi finals and to beat Wright State in the finals The win earned the team an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament and completed a run through league play Stevens became the first coach to lead a Horizon League team to both an undefeated regular season and conference tournament since the league was formed in Stevens was also the only coach in Division I to lead his team to an undefeated conference schedule during the season
For their season the Bulldogs were ranked th in the final pre NCAA tournament Coaches Poll and th in the corresponding AP Poll On Selection Sunday the Bulldogs were seeded fifth in the West regional of the NCAA tournament and given a first round match up with twelfth seeded UTEP on March
Many basketball commentators picked UTEP to pull the upset and at halftime it looked like they might be right as UTEP led Stevens made a number of halftime adjustments and the Bulldogs came out firing on all cylinders in the second half The team dominated the second half and won the game Butler next faced off with thirteenth seeded Murray State The game was close throughout but Butler emerged victorious when Hayward deflected a Murray State pass into the back court with less than five seconds on the clock The win gave Stevens the first Sweet Sixteen appearance of his career
On March Butler faced top seeded Syracuse The Bulldogs got off to a good start jumping out to a lead and a halftime advantage Syracuse rallied in the second half taking its first lead of the game off a Wes Johnson three pointer Stevens called timeout and Butler regained the lead on its next possession stopping the run At the mark Syracuse got a rare fast break opportunity that ended with a dunk and lead Stevens again called time out and re focused the team Butler responded by holding Syracuse scoreless for the next minutes taking a lead with to go Butler held on to win advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history
Two days later Stevens Bulldogs met second seeded Kansas State in the regional finals Perhaps feeling the effects of their double overtime win two days prior Kansas State got off to a slow start scoring just points in the first half to trail Butler kept the lead in the upper single digits for most of the second half before Kansas State went on a run and took a lead Stevens immediately called time out and re focused the team Play your game Just play your game he told them On the ensuing possession Butler regained the lead for good They outscored Kansas State the rest of the way and won the game In the post game celebration Stevens and walk on forward Emerson Kampen connected on a flying back bump that became one of the iconic images of the tournament
The win earned the Bulldogs a trip back to Indianapolis for the first Final Four appearance in school and Horizon League history The win made Stevens at age the youngest coach to lead a team to the Final Four since Bob Knight made his first Final Four appearance at age in Butler became the smallest school enrollment to make the Final Four since seeding began in
On April Brad Stevens and the Butler Bulldogs faced off with Michigan State in the national semi finals Michigan State took an early lead and Matt Howard got in early foul trouble sitting most the first half Stevens kept the team focused with a next man up attitude and the game was tied at at halftime The second half was dominated by tight defense for both sides With to go in the game the score was Butler Michigan State called a time out to set up a play Stevens correctly anticipated the play call and had Ronald Nored the team s best defender switch onto Korie Lucious off a screen Nored stole the ball and Shawn Vanzant got fouled on the resulting run out hitting of Trailing with under seconds remaining Michigan State came up empty and was forced to foul Nored hit both foul shots giving Butler a lead After a Michigan State time out Stevens had his team foul Lucious with seconds remaining to prevent a potentially game tying pointer After making the first Lucious intentionally missed the second free throw Hayward came down with the rebound to seal the victory Butler became the first team since the shot clock was adopted for the season to hold five straight tournament opponents under points
On April Butler and Duke faced off in what The New York Times called the most eagerly awaited championship game in years Late in the first half Duke went on an run to take a lead Stevens called a timeout With starters Matt Howard and Ronald Nored on the bench in foul trouble Stevens was forced to call on backup center Avery Jukes who came up big for Butler Jukes scored first half points tying his season high At half time Duke s lead stood at
The second half was played very closely with neither team taking a substantial lead With to play Duke took a lead on two made free throws by Nolan Smith Butler cut the lead to one point in the final minute and after a missed Kyle Singler jump shot with seconds remaining got a chance to retake the lead Butler was unable to initiate their offense and Stevens called a timeout to set up a play A failed inbounds attempt and a timeout later Hayward missed a baseline fade away jumper and Brian Zoubek came down with the rebound for Duke He was quickly fouled with less than seconds remaining Hayward narrowly missed a desperation half court shot court as time expired making the final margin
The loss snapped Butler s game winning streak the longest in school history Butler became the smallest school to play for a National Championship since Jacksonville in Stevens became the second youngest head coach to coach in the NCAA National Championship Game behind Branch McCracken who led the Indiana Hoosiers to the National Championship at age Stevens was named as both a Hugh Durham and Jim Phelan Award finalist for the third consecutive year losing to Mike Young and Jamie Dixon respectively He was also a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award which was won by Bob Marlin
Butler finished the year ranked in the Coaches Poll the highest ranking in school history The school was ranked for consecutive weeks tying the school record
After the end of the season Brad Stevens and Butler continued to attract considerable attention President Barack Obama personally called Stevens to congratulate him on Butler s season David Letterman had Stevens on his show for a guest appearance Butler admissions inquiries shot up Stevens received fan letters from around the world and his phone rang off the hook He was invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch before the Chicago Cubs vs Florida Marlins game in Chicago on May It s all been very surreal Stevens said If you are the runner up you don t expect to talk to the president It s been a little overwhelming because I m a pretty simple guy he added
The season also helped increase Butler s recruiting profile Asked if the increased fame would change things Stevens said it better not spoil him or the university I look at this new challenge of not changing and sticking to your core values and making sure you remain humble as a great coaching opportunity
Rankings by ESPN s Andy Katz and Fox Sports Jeff Goodman released shortly after the Championship game both had Butler third for the season Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski agreed saying Butler would be right up there No or No They ll be a favorite next year However Hayward chose to leave early for the NBA Draft and Butler went through a rough patch early in the season at one point losing three straight games and having a conference record Bolstered by the emergence of Andrew Smith at center and Matt Howard s success as a perimeter forward Butler ended up winning a share of the conference title at The Bulldogs then won the Horizon League Tournament to secure an automatic NCAA tournament bid and received an seed
Picked by many to lose a first round match up against Old Dominion Butler advanced on a last second tip in by Howard Howard was also clutch in their next game hitting a free throw with a less than one second remaining to beat Pitt in a dramatic finish Shelvin Mack scored points in the win Butler won their next game when they defeated Wisconsin On March the Bulldogs beat Florida in overtime to earn back to back trips to the Final Four On April Butler beat fellow Cinderella team VCU to make it to a second consecutive national championship game For the second consecutive year the Bulldogs fell in the national championship game this time to Connecticut
On April Stevens signed a long term deal with Butler extending his contract through the season Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed however Butler president Bobby Fong had publicly stated that the university could afford to increase Stevens base salary to approximately US a few days prior Stevens had previously made US plus benefits in base salary a relatively low figure for a successful Division I head basketball coach His total compensation for was estimated at US Stevens had received a raise after each of his three seasons at Butler and his contract contains a buyout clause estimated in the high six or low seven figures
By re signing with Butler Stevens temporarily ended speculation that he would leave the university for a higher paying job Oregon Clemson and Wake Forest were all said to be interested in offering Stevens multi million dollar contracts to leave Butler First and foremost I m loyal to Butler Stevens said When asked if he would ever leave Butler Stevens replied I guess if they kicked me out
After the season Stevens was pursued vigorously by Illinois to fill their coaching vacancy before he declined their offer
In March UCLA reportedly offered Stevens between and million a year to leave Butler Rumors circulated that Stevens was in contract negotiations with UCLA but ultimately the rumors proved false and Stevens stayed at Butler Commenting on the situation a source close to Stevens said Brad doesn t understand why people would assume he s leaving A few days later Stevens reiterated that he was very happy at Butler and had no intentions to leave as long as he had the support of the university to continue running the program the right way
On July Stevens was signed as the head coach by the Boston Celtics Reports state that his new contract is a six year million deal In April Stevens led the Celtics to the NBA Playoffs as the th seed in the Eastern Conference with a record On April it was announced that Stevens finished fourth in voting for the NBA s Coach of the Year Award On March Stevens was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for games played during February In April Brad Stevens led the Celtics to their second consecutive playoff appearance under his tenure as the th seed in the NBA Playoffs finishing the season with a record On June Stevens received a contract extension
According to Stevens in one of his first games as head coach he was nervous and felt like our team played on edge because of it He decided that a team s play will reflect the mood of its coach a calm coach means a team that will remain poised in difficult game situations while a nervous coach means a team that plays on edge I don t want to lose a game because of my approach he told himself Accordingly he developed a strategy of always remaining calm and focused during games He rarely raises his voice or gets emotional instead quietly observing on the sideline with folded arms He does not get upset about bad calls by referees or player mistakes preferring to focus on the next play rather than what just happened Butler player Willie Veasley explained Butler s Final Four run by saying When those big runs by Syracuse and Kansas State came Coach called a timeout and said a few calm words Then he said he believes in us he loves us and we re going to win the game On the rare occasion Stevens feels the need to correct a player he does it with positive reinforcement just at a little louder decibel according to former assistant coach Matthew Graves Above all Stevens wants his players to be confident not living in fear of being yanked for making a bad play
Externally Stevens is always calm but internally he is far from it I m not as calm as everybody thinks Stevens says His wife Tracy adds He s calm and collected but he s fiercely competitive He s always thinking about how he can beat you Former player Joel Cornette says Everyone sees Brad as a level headed calm and cool coach but he s about as competitive of a guy as I know We would get into it constantly whether playing two on two or arguing about players having better college careers
Stevens spends a lot of time preparing for each game and always tries to add a few new wrinkles specific to that game s opponent Sports Illustrated calls Stevens an expert on breaking down tape and looking at statistical trends to find opponents weaknesses Former player Ronald Nored agrees We know everything we need to about our opponents all their tendencies are broken down ahead of time
Stevens is a proponent of using statistical analysis to enhance his coaching decisions spending almost as much time looking at statistics as watching game film I think it s a unique way of looking at the game that may be able to help best communicate to your players he explains For example when Butler was slumping in late Stevens challenged his team this defensive field goal percentage is where we are This isn t acceptable to get to where we want to go But what does that really mean It s not just get better defensively it is if we give up less baskets a game then we will be at percent field goal percentage defense which will be top in the country The team got the message improved throughout the season and ultimately went on a March run fueled by defense In Stevens became the first college coach to hire someone solely for statistical research when he added Drew Cannon to the staff If he had the resources Stevens says he would hire a team of statisticians to analyze the teams play
Stevens teams are built around solid basketball fundamentals and good team work rather than individual basketball skill His teams are known for their defense forcing opponents into uncharacteristic mistakes The secret to basketball and life is just to do the job to the best of your ability and don t worry about anything else Stevens says Win the next game Win the next possession That s our focus It s boring It s also the way championships are won he says In short Stevens is a strong believer in The Butler Way doing all the little things that transform a group of good basketball players into a great basketball team I tell the players the Butler Way isn t easy to define Stevens says but you can see it on the floor when we share the basketball play with great energy and defend
Stevens prefers to recruit strong team players instead of going after top recruits The guys we have recruited most of them weren t very highly ranked Stevens says They had very good high school careers or careers at other places transfers but for one reason or the other they weren t seen as great players But they all had intangibles Stevens puts a strong emphasis on education and has said he would only recruit a one and done player if he was committed to getting his degree while playing professionally
Stevens has often been referred to as a coaching prodigy but is not interested in self promotion He instead prefers to deflect the praise he receives to the players athletic department and his mentors He has not been known to posture for more money or to leak his name for open coaching positions He has been described as humble modest and not about the money
The New York Times USA Today ESPN and other commentators have attributed Butler s success against teams with superior athletes to Stevens coaching style The Times remarks the Bulldogs are very well prepared for their opponents and they do not rattle easily and says that the resulting confidence has led to the team s success He coaches to his personality and to his strengths Collier says Obviously he has great rapport and communication ability with his team Yahoo Sports compared Stevens to legendary coach John Wooden writing Brad Stevens is winning at Butler the Wooden way calm and composed on the sideline Wooden agreed saying I enjoy watching Stevens and very much enjoy Butler s style of play
Brad Stevens is known for his youthful looks often being described as baby faced One commentator remarked Stevens looks like he checks the mirror every morning to see if it s time to start shaving On occasion he has been mistaken for a player He is also known for projecting a professional corporate look from the sidelines Asked what his life would be like if he had never taken up coaching he replies If everything else remained the same I would have been as happy as heck Friends and family and faith they re going to take the cake over all this stuff Stevens met his wife Tracy ne Wilhelmy while attending DePauw University Tracy who played soccer for DePauw quickly learned of Brad s love for basketball on their third date he drove her an hour and a half to attend a high school basketball game Tracy graduated from Rocky River High School in and from DePauw in She returned to school in driving five hours from Case Western s law school to Indianapolis on weekends to see Brad She finished her final year of law school in Indianapolis and the couple married in August Tracy works as a labor and employment lawyer Tracy also serves as Brad s agent
Brad and Tracy Stevens are involved with the American Cancer Society s Coaches Vs Cancer Brad says that the cause really hit home for them after Tracy s mother died of the disease in June The day before Butler s Final Four appearance they hosted a fundraiser for the organization Brad Stevens has also volunteered his time to the Jukes Foundation for Kids a charity benefiting Ugandan children run by former Butler player Avery Jukes Stevens remains in close touch with the Butler basketball family he notably took a one game leave from the Celtics in January to visit with Andrew Smith a player on both of Butler s Final Four teams who was dying of cancer Smith died less than a week later At the request of Andrew s widow Sam Brad delivered the eulogy at the memorial service on January
Stevens father Mark is an orthopedic surgeon in Indianapolis and former Indiana Hoosiers football player His mother Jan is a university professor She has previously taught at Butler
Henry Iba Coach of the Year Award finalist
Horizon League Coach of the Year
Hugh Durham Award for Mid major Coach of the Year finalist
Hugh Durham Award Mid season honors
Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award finalist
Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award finalist
Shackleton is an impact crater that lies at the south pole of the Moon The peaks along the crater s rim are exposed to almost continual sunlight while the interior is perpetually in shadow a Crater of eternal darkness The low temperature interior of this crater functions as a cold trap that may capture and freeze volatiles shed during comet impacts on the Moon Measurements by the Lunar Prospector spacecraft showed higher than normal amounts of hydrogen within the crater which may indicate the presence of water ice The crater is named after Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton
The rotational axis of the Moon lies within Shackleton only a few kilometers from its center The crater is km in diameter and km deep From the Earth it is viewed edge on in a region of rough cratered terrain It is located within the South Pole Aitken basin on a massif The rim is slightly raised about the surrounding surface and it has an outer rampart that has been only lightly impacted No significant craters intersect the rim and it is sloped about toward the direction from the Earth The age of the crater is about billion years and it has been in the proximity of the south lunar pole for at least the last two billion years
Because the orbit of the Moon is tilted only from the ecliptic the interior of this crater lies in perpetual darkness Estimates of the area in permanent shadow were obtained from Earth based radar studies Peaks along the rim of the crater are almost continually illuminated by sunlight spending about of each lunar orbit exposed to the Sun Continuously illuminated mountains have been termed peaks of eternal light and have been predicted to exist since the s
The shadowed portion of the crater was imaged with the Terrain Camera of the Japanese SELENE spacecraft using the illumination of sunlight reflected off the rim The interior of the crater consists of a symmetrical slope that leads down to a km diameter floor The handful of craters along the interior span no more than a few hundred meters The bottom is covered by an uneven mound like feature that is to m thick The central peak is about m in height
The continuous shadows in the south polar craters cause the floors of these formations to maintain a temperature that never exceeds about K For Shackleton the average temperature was determined to be about K reaching K at the crater floor Under these conditions the estimated rate of loss from any ice in the interior would be to m s Any water vapor that arrives here following a cometary impact on the Moon would lie permanently frozen on or below the surface However the surface albedo of the crater floor matches the lunar far side suggesting that there is no exposed surface ice
This crater was named after Ernest Henry Shackleton an Anglo Irish explorer of Antarctica from until his death in The name was officially adopted by the International Astronomical Union in Nearby craters of note include Shoemaker Haworth de Gerlache Sverdrup and Faustini Somewhat farther away on the eastern hemisphere of the lunar near side are the larger craters Amundsen and Scott named after two other early explorers of the Antarctic continent
From the perspective of the Earth this crater lies along the southern limb of the Moon making observation difficult Detailed mapping of the polar regions and farside of the Moon did not occur until the advent of orbiting spacecraft Shackleton lies entirely within the rim of the immense South Pole Aitken basin which is one of the largest known impact formations in the Solar System This basin is over kilometers deep and an exploration of its properties could provide useful information about the lunar interior
A neutron spectrometer on board the Lunar Prospector spacecraft detected enhanced concentrations of hydrogen close to the northern and southern lunar poles including the crater Shackleton At the end of this mission in July the spacecraft was crashed into the nearby crater Shoemaker in the hope of detecting from Earth based telescopes an impact generated plume containing water vapor The impact event did not produce any detectable water vapor and this may be an indication that the hydrogen is not in the form of hydrated minerals or that the impact site did not contain any ice Alternatively it is possible that the crash did not excavate deeply enough into the regolith to liberate significant quantities of water vapor
From Earth based radar and spacecraft images of the crater edge Shackleton appears to be relatively intact much like a young crater that has not been significantly eroded from subsequent impacts This may mean that the inner sides are relatively steep which may make traversing the sides relatively difficult for a robotic vehicle In addition it is possible that the interior floor might not have collected a significant quantity of volatiles since its formation However other craters in the vicinity are considerably older and may contain significant deposits of hydrogen possibly in the form of water ice See Shoemaker lunar crater for example
Radar studies preceding and following the Lunar Prospector mission demonstrate that the inner walls of Shackleton are similar in reflective characteristics to those of some sunlit craters In particular the surroundings appear to contain a significant number of blocks in its ejecta blanket suggesting that its radar properties are a result of surface roughness and not ice deposits as was previously suggested from a radar experiment involving the Clementine mission This interpretation however is not universally agreed upon within the scientific community Radar images of the crater at a wavelength of cm show no evidence for water ice deposits
Optical imaging inside the crater was done for the first time by the Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft Kaguya in It did not have any evidence of significant amount of water ice down to the image resolution of m per pixel
On November a kg probe made a hard landing near the crater The moon impact probe MIP was launched from the Indian Chandrayaan I spacecraft and reached the surface minutes later The probe carried a radar altimeter video imaging system and a mass spectrometer which will be used to search for water
Some sites along Shackleton s rim receive almost constant illumination At these locales sunlight is almost always available for conversion into electricity using solar panels potentially making them good locations for future Moon landings The temperature at this site is also more favorable than at more equatorial latitudes as it does not experience the daily temperature extremes of C when the Sun is overhead to as low as C during the lunar night
While scientific experiments performed by Clementine and Lunar Prospector could indicate the presence of water in the polar craters the current evidence is far from definitive There are doubts among scientists as to whether or not the hydrogen is in the form of ice as well as to the concentration of this ore with depth below the surface Resolution of this issue will require future missions to the Moon The presence of water suggests that the crater floor could potentially be mined for deposits of hydrogen in water form a commodity that is expensive to deliver directly from the Earth
This crater has also been proposed as a future site for a large infrared telescope The low temperature of the crater floor makes it ideal for infrared observations and solar cells placed along the rim could provide near continuous power to the observatory About kilometers from the crater lies the km tall Malapert Mountain a peak that is perpetually visible from the Earth and which could serve as a radio relay station when suitably equipped
NASA has named the rim of Shackleton as a potential candidate for its lunar outpost slated to be up and running by and continuously staffed by a crew by The location would promote self sustainability for lunar residents as perpetual sunlight on the south pole would provide energy for solar panels Furthermore the shadowed polar regions are believed to contain the frozen water necessary for human consumption and could also be harvested for fuel manufacture
American Beauty is a American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham a year old advertising executive who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenaged daughter s best friend Angela Mena Suvari Annette Bening co stars as Lester s materialistic wife Carolyn and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter Jane Wes Bentley Chris Cooper and Allison Janney also feature The film is described by academics as a satire of American middle class notions of beauty and personal satisfaction analysis has focused on the film s explorations of romantic and paternal love sexuality beauty materialism self liberation and redemption
Ball began writing American Beauty as a play in the early s partly inspired by the media circus around the Amy Fisher trial in He shelved the play after realizing the story would not work on stage After several years as a television screenwriter Ball revived the idea in when attempting to break into the film industry The modified script had a cynical outlook that was influenced by Ball s frustrating tenures writing for several sitcoms Producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen took American Beauty to DreamWorks the then fledgling film studio bought Ball s script for outbidding several other production bodies DreamWorks financed the million production and served as its North American distributor American Beauty marked acclaimed theater director Mendes film debut courted after his successful productions of the musicals Oliver and Cabaret Mendes was nevertheless only given the job after others were considered and several A list directors turned down the opportunity
Spacey was Mendes first choice for the role of Lester though DreamWorks had urged the director to consider better known actors similarly the studio suggested several actors for the role of Carolyn until Mendes offered the part to Bening without DreamWorks knowledge Principal photography took place between December and February on soundstages at the Warner Bros backlot in Burbank California and on location in Los Angeles Mendes dominant style was deliberate and composed he made extensive use of static shots and slow pans and zooms to generate tension Cinematographer Conrad Hall complemented Mendes style with peaceful shot compositions to contrast with the turbulent on screen events During editing Mendes made several changes that gave the film a less cynical tone than the script
Released in North America on September American Beauty was positively received by critics and audiences it was the best reviewed American film of the year and grossed over million worldwide Reviewers praised most aspects of the production with particular emphasis on Mendes Spacey and Ball criticism focused on the familiarity of the characters and setting DreamWorks launched a major campaign to increase the film s chances of Academy Award success at the nd Academy Awards the following year the film won Best Picture Best Director Best Actor for Spacey Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography It was nominated for and won many other awards and honors mainly for the direction writing and acting
Lester Burnham is a middle aged advertising executive and magazine writer who despises his job He is unhappily married to Carolyn a neurotic yet fiercely ambitious real estate broker their teenaged daughter Jane abhors her parents and has low self esteem The Burnhams new neighbors are retired United States Marine Corps Colonel Frank Fitts and his near catatonic wife Barbara Their teenaged son Ricky constantly films his surroundings with a camcorder collecting hundreds of recordings on videotapes in his bedroom His job as a part time bar caterer serves as a front for his secret marijuana dealing Col Fitts is a strict disciplinarian who previously sent Ricky to a military school and briefly committed him to a psychiatric hospital Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley a gay couple who live nearby welcome the family to the neighborhood the homophobic Col Fitts angrily asks Ricky why these faggots have to rub it in your face
Lester becomes infatuated with Jane s vain friend Angela Hayes after seeing her perform a half time dance routine at a high school basketball game He starts having sexual fantasies about Angela in which red rose petals are a recurring motif Carolyn begins an affair with her married business rival Buddy Kane When Lester s boss Brad tells him that he is to be laid off Lester instead blackmails him for and quits his job Lester takes a minimum wage job at a fast food restaurant trades in his Toyota Camry for his dream car a Pontiac Firebird and starts working out after he overhears Angela tell Jane that she would find him sexually attractive if he got in shape He begins smoking marijuana supplied by Ricky The girls friendship wanes after Jane starts a relationship with Ricky Jane and Ricky bond over what Ricky considers the most beautiful imagery he has filmed a plastic bag being blown in the wind
Lester discovers Carolyn s infidelity but reacts indifferently Buddy ends the affair fearing an expensive divorce Col Fitts becomes suspicious of Lester and Ricky s friendship when he finds his son s footage of Lester lifting weights while nude which Ricky captured by chance leading him to believe that Ricky is gay After spying on Ricky and Lester through Lester s garage window the colonel mistakenly concludes the pair is sexually involved He later confronts and beats Ricky for the supposed affair and accuses him of being gay Ricky falsely admits the charges and goads his father into kicking him out of their home Meanwhile Carolyn is sitting in her car in the rain taking a gun out of the glove box while a voice on the radio talks about not being a victim Ricky goes to Jane s bedroom finding her arguing with Angela about Angela s flirtation with Lester Ricky convinces Jane to flee with him to New York City and assures Angela that she is ugly boring and ordinary
Col Fitts confronts Lester and attempts to kiss him Lester rebuffs the colonel who tearfully flees Carolyn puts the gun in her handbag shouting I refuse to be a victim Lester finds a distraught Angela sitting alone in the dark she asks him to tell her she is beautiful He does and they kiss
Carolyn drives through the rain rehearsing a confession to Lester Just as Lester and Angela are about to have sex she admits that she is a virgin and Lester changes his mind He instead comforts her and the pair bond over their shared frustrations Angela goes to the bathroom and Lester smiles at a family photograph in his kitchen An unseen figure raises a gun to the back of his head a gunshot sounds and blood sprays on the wall Ricky and Jane find Lester s body while Carolyn breaks down crying in the closet A bloodied Col Fitts returns home where a gun is shown to be missing from his collection Lester s closing narration describes meaningful experiences during his life he says that despite his death he is happy because there is so much beauty in the world
Scholars and academics have offered many possible readings of American Beauty film critics are similarly divided not so much about the quality of the film as their interpretations of it Described by many as about the meaning of life or the hollow existence of the American suburbs the film has defied categorization by even the filmmakers Mendes is indecisive saying the script seemed to be about something different each time he read it a mystery story a kaleidoscopic journey through American suburbia a series of love stories it was about imprisonment loneliness and beauty It was funny it was angry sad The literary critic and author Wayne C Booth concludes that the film resists any one interpretation American Beauty cannot be adequately summarized as here is a satire on what s wrong with American life that plays down the celebration of beauty It is more tempting to summarize it as a portrait of the beauty underlying American miseries and misdeeds but that plays down the scenes of cruelty and horror and Ball s disgust with our mores It cannot be summarized with either Lester or Ricky s philosophical statements about what life is or how one should live He argues that the problem of interpreting the film is tied with that of finding its center a controlling voice who unites all of the choices He contends that in American Beauty s case it is neither Mendes nor Ball Mendes considers the voice to be Ball s but even while the writer was strongly influential on set he often had to accept deviations from his vision particularly ones that transformed the cynical tone of his script into something more optimistic With innumerable voices intruding on the original author s Booth says those who interpret American Beauty have forgotten to probe for the elusive center According to Booth the film s true controller is the creative energy that hundreds of people put into its production agreeing and disagreeing inserting and cutting
Mendes called American Beauty a rite of passage film about imprisonment and escape from imprisonment The monotony of Lester s existence is established through his gray nondescript workplace and characterless clothing In these scenes he is often framed as if trapped reiterating rituals that hardly please him He masturbates in the confines of his shower the shower stall evokes a jail cell and the shot is the first of many where Lester is confined behind bars or within frames such as when he is reflected behind columns of numbers on a computer monitor confined and nearly crossed out The academic and author Jody W Pennington argues that Lester s journey is the story s center His sexual reawakening through meeting Angela is the first of several turning points as he begins to throw off the responsibilities of the comfortable life he has come to despise After Lester shares a joint with Ricky his spirit is released and he begins to rebel against Carolyn Changed by Ricky s attractive profound confidence Lester is convinced that Angela is attainable and sees that he must question his banal numbingly materialist suburban existence he takes a job at a fast food outlet which allows him to regress to a point when he could see his whole life ahead of him
When Lester is caught masturbating by Carolyn his angry retort about their lack of intimacy is the first time he says aloud what he thinks about her By confronting the issue and Carolyn s superficial investments in others Lester is trying to regain a voice in a home that only respects the voices of mother and daughter His final turning point comes when Angela and he almost have sex after she confesses her virginity he no longer thinks of her as a sex object but as a daughter He holds her close and wraps her up Mendes called it the most satisfying end to Lester s journey there could possibly have been With these final scenes Mendes intended to show Lester at the conclusion of a mythical quest After Lester gets a beer from the refrigerator the camera pushes toward him then stops facing a hallway down which he walks to meet his fate Having begun to act his age again Lester achieves closure As he smiles at a family photo the camera pans slowly from Lester to the kitchen wall onto which blood spatters as a gunshot rings out the slow pan reflects the peace of Lester s death His body is discovered by Jane and Ricky Mendes said that Ricky s staring into Lester s dead eyes is the culmination of the theme of the film that beauty is found where it is least expected
Like other American films of such as Fight Club Bringing Out the Dead and Magnolia American Beauty instructs its audience to lead more meaningful lives The film argues the case against conformity but does not deny that people need and want it even the gay characters just want to fit in Jim and Jim the Burnhams other neighbors are a satire of gay bourgeois coupledom who invest in the numbing sameness that the film criticizes in heterosexual couples The feminist academic and author Sally R Munt argues that American Beauty uses its art house trappings to direct its message of nonconformity primarily to the middle classes and that this approach is a clich of bourgeois preoccupation the underlying premise being that the luxury of finding an individual self through denial and renunciation is always open to those wealthy enough to choose and sly enough to present themselves sympathetically as a rebel
Professor Roy M Anker argues that the film s thematic center is its direction to the audience to look closer The opening combines an unfamiliar viewpoint of the Burnhams neighborhood with Lester s narrated admission that he will soon die forcing audiences to consider their own mortality and the beauty around them It also sets a series of mysteries Anker asks from what place exactly and from what state of being is he telling this story If he s already dead why bother with whatever it is he wishes to tell about his last year of being alive There is also the question of how Lester has died or will die Anker believes the preceding scene Jane s discussion with Ricky about the possibility of his killing her father adds further mystery Professor Ann C Hall disagrees she says by presenting an early resolution to the mystery the film allows the audience to put it aside to view the film and its philosophical issues Through this examination of Lester s life rebirth and death American Beauty satirizes American middle class notions of meaning beauty and satisfaction Even Lester s transformation only comes about because of the possibility of sex with Angela he therefore remains a willing devotee of the popular media s exaltation of pubescent male sexuality as a sensible route to personal wholeness Carolyn is similarly driven by conventional views of happiness from her belief in house beautiful domestic bliss to her car and gardening outfit Carolyn s domain is a fetching American millennial vision of Pleasantville or Eden The Burnhams are unaware that they are materialists philosophically and devout consumers ethically who expect the rudiments of American beauty to give them happiness Anker argues that they are helpless in the face of the prettified economic and sexual stereotypes that they and their culture have designated for their salvation
The film presents Ricky as its visionary spiritual and mystical center He sees beauty in the minutiae of everyday life videoing as much as he can for fear of missing it He shows Jane what he considers the most beautiful thing he has filmed a plastic bag tossing in the wind in front of a wall He says capturing the moment was when he realized that there was an entire life behind things he feels that sometimes there s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can t take it and my heart is going to cave in Anker argues that Ricky in looking past the cultural dross has grasped the radiant splendor of the created world to see God As the film progresses the Burnhams move closer to Ricky s view of the world Lester only forswears personal satisfaction at the film s end On the cusp of having sex with Angela he returns to himself after she admits her virginity Suddenly confronted with a child he begins to treat her as a daughter in doing so Lester sees himself Angela and his family for the poor and fragile but wondrous creatures they are He looks at a picture of his family in happier times and dies having had an epiphany that infuses him with wonder joy and soul shaking gratitude he has finally seen the world as it is
According to Patti Bellantoni colors are used symbolically throughout the film none more so than red which is an important thematic signature that drives the story and defines Lester s arc First seen in drab colors that reflect his passivity Lester surrounds himself with red as he regains his individuality The American Beauty rose is repeatedly used as symbol when Lester fantasizes about Angela she is usually naked and surrounded by rose petals In these scenes the rose symbolizes Lester s desire for her When associated with Carolyn the rose represents a faade for suburban success Roses are included in almost every shot inside the Burnhams home where they signify a mask covering a bleak unbeautiful reality Carolyn feels that as long as there can be roses all is well She cuts the roses and puts them in vases where they adorn her meretricious vision of what makes for beauty and begin to die The roses in the vase in the Angela Lester seduction scene symbolize Lester s previous life and Carolyn the camera pushes in as Lester and Angela get closer finally taking the roses and thus Carolyn out of the shot Lester s epiphany at the end of the film is expressed by rain and the use of red building to a crescendo that is a deliberate contrast to the release Lester feels The constant use of red lulls the audience subliminally into becoming used to it consequently it leaves the audience unprepared when Lester is shot and his blood spatters on the wall
Pennington argues that American Beauty defines its characters through their sexuality Lester s attempts to relive his youth are a direct result of his lust for Angela and the state of his relationship with Carolyn is in part shown through their lack of sexual contact Also sexually frustrated Carolyn has an affair that takes her from cold perfectionist to a more carefree soul who sings happily along with the music in her car Jane and Angela constantly reference sex through Angela s descriptions of her supposed sexual encounters and the way the girls address each other Their nude scenes are used to communicate their vulnerability By the end of the film Angela s hold on Jane has weakened until the only power she has over her friend is Lester s attraction to her Col Fitts reacts with disgust to meeting Jim and Jim he asks How come these faggots always have to rub it in your face How can they be so shameless To which Ricky replies That s the thing Dad they don t feel like it s anything to be ashamed of Pennington argues that Col Fitts reaction is not homophobic but an anguished self interrogation
With other turn of the millennium films such as Fight Club In the Company of Men American Psycho and Boys Don t Cry American Beauty raises the broader widely explored issue of masculinity in crisis Professor Vincent Hausmann charges that in their reinforcement of masculinity against threats posed by war by consumerism and by feminist and queer challenges these films present a need to focus on and even to privilege aspects of maleness deemed deviant Lester s transformation conveys that he and not the woman has borne the brunt of lack of being and he will not stand for being emasculated Lester s attempts to strengthen traditional masculinity conflict with his responsibilities as a father Although the film portrays the way Lester returns to that role positively he does not become the hypermasculine figure implicitly celebrated in films like Fight Club Hausmann concludes that Lester s behavior toward Angela is a misguided but nearly necessary step toward his becoming a father again
Hausmann says the film explicitly affirms the importance of upholding the prohibition against incest a recurring theme of Ball s work is his comparison of the taboos against incest and homosexuality Instead of making an overt distinction American Beauty looks at how their repression can lead to violence Col Fitts is so ashamed of his homosexuality that it drives him to murder Lester Ball said The movie is in part about how homophobia is based in fear and repression and about what they can do The film implies two unfulfilled incestuous desires Lester s pursuit of Angela is a manifestation of his lust for his own daughter while Col Fitts repression is exhibited through the almost sexualized discipline with which he controls Ricky Consequently Ricky realizes that he can only hurt his father by falsely telling him he is homosexual while Angela s vulnerability and submission to Lester reminds him of his responsibilities and the limits of his fantasy Col Fitts represents Ball s father whose repressed homosexual desires led to his own unhappiness Ball rewrote Col Fitts to delay revealing him as homosexual which Munt reads as a possible deferment of Ball s own patriarchal incest fantasies
American Beauty follows a traditional narrative structure only deviating with the displaced opening scene of Jane and Ricky from the middle of the story Although the plot spans one year the film is narrated by Lester at the moment of his death Jacqueline Furby says that the plot occupies no time or all time citing Lester s claim that life did not flash before his eyes but that it stretches on forever like an ocean of time Furby argues that a rhythm of repetition forms the core of the film s structure For example two scenes have the Burnhams sitting down to an evening meal shot from the same angle Each image is broadly similar with minor differences in object placement and body language that reflect the changed dynamic brought on by Lester s new found assertiveness Another example is the pair of scenes in which Jane and Ricky film each other Ricky films Jane from his bedroom window as she removes her bra and the image is reversed later for a similarly voyeuristic and exhibitionist scene in which Jane films Ricky at a vulnerable moment
Lester s fantasies are emphasized by slow and repetitive motion shots Mendes uses double and triple cutbacks in several sequences and the score alters to make the audience aware that it is entering a fantasy One example is the gymnasium scene Lester s first encounter with Angela While the cheerleaders perform their half time routine to On Broadway Lester becomes increasingly fixated on Angela Time slows to represent his voyeuristic hypnosis and Lester begins to fantasize that Angela s performance is for him alone On Broadway which provides a conventional underscore to the onscreen action is replaced by discordant percussive music that lacks melody or progression This nondiegetic score is important to creating the narrative stasis in the sequence it conveys a moment for Lester that is stretched to an indeterminate length The effect is one that Stan Link likens to vertical time described by the composer and music theorist Jonathan Kramer as music that imparts a single present stretched out into an enormous duration a potentially infinite now that nonetheless feels like an instant The music is used like a visual cue so that Lester and the score are staring at Angela The sequence ends with the sudden reintroduction of On Broadway and teleological time
According to Drew Miller of Stylus the soundtrack gives unconscious voice to the characters psyches and complements the subtext The most obvious use of pop music accompanies and gives context to Lester s attempts to recapture his youth reminiscent of how the counterculture of the s combated American repression through music and drugs Lester begins to smoke cannabis and listen to rock music Mendes song choices progress through the history of American popular music Miller argues that although some may be over familiar there is a parodic element at work making good on the film s encouragement that viewers look closer Toward the end of the film Thomas Newman s score features more prominently creating a disturbing tempo that matches the tension of the visuals The exception is Don t Let It Bring You Down which plays during Angela s seduction of Lester At first appropriate its tone clashes as the seduction stops The lyrics which speak of castles burning can be seen as a metaphor for Lester s view of Angela the rosy fantasy driven exterior of the American Beauty as it burns away to reveal the timid small breasted girl who like his wife has willfully developed a false public self
In Alan Ball resolved to move into the film industry after several frustrating years writing for the television sitcoms Grace Under Fire and Cybill He joined the United Talent Agency where his representative Andrew Cannava suggested he write a spec script to reintroduce himself to the town as a screenwriter Ball pitched three ideas to Cannava two conventional romantic comedies and American Beauty which he had originally conceived as a play in the early s Despite the story s lack of an easily marketable concept Cannava selected American Beauty because he felt it was the one for which Ball had the most passion While developing the script Ball created another television sitcom Oh Grow Up He channeled his anger and frustration at having to accede to network demands on that show and during his tenures on Grace Under Fire and Cybill into writing American Beauty
Ball did not expect to sell the script believing it would act as more of a calling card but American Beauty drew interest from several production bodies Cannava passed the script to several producers including Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen who took it to DreamWorks With the help of executives Glenn Williamson and Bob Cooper and Steven Spielberg in his capacity as studio partner Ball was convinced to develop the project at DreamWorks he received assurances from the studio known at the time for its more conventional fare that it would not iron the edges out In an unusual move DreamWorks decided not to option the script instead in April the studio bought it outright for outbidding Fox Searchlight Pictures October Films Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Lakeshore Entertainment DreamWorks planned to make the film for million
Jinks and Cohen involved Ball throughout the film s development including casting and director selection The producers met with about interested directors several of whom were considered A list at the time Ball was not keen on the more well known directors because he believed their involvement would increase the budget and lead DreamWorks to become nervous about the content Nevertheless the studio offered the film to Mike Nichols and Robert Zemeckis neither accepted In the same year Mendes then a theater director revived the musical Cabaret in New York with fellow director Rob Marshall Beth Swofford of the Creative Artists Agency arranged meetings for Mendes with studio figures in Los Angeles to see if film direction was a possibility Mendes came across American Beauty in a pile of eight scripts at Swofford s house and knew immediately that it was the one he wanted to make early in his career he had been inspired by how the film Paris Texas presented contemporary America as a mythic landscape and he saw the same theme in American Beauty as well as parallels with his own childhood Mendes later met with Spielberg impressed by Mendes productions of Oliver and Cabaret Spielberg encouraged him to consider American Beauty
Mendes found that he still had to convince DreamWorks production executives to let him direct He had already discussed the film with Jinks and Cohen and felt they supported him Ball was also keen having seen Cabaret he was impressed with Mendes keen visual sense and thought he did not make obvious choices Ball felt that Mendes liked to look under the story s surface a talent he felt would be a good fit with the themes of American Beauty Mendes background also reassured him because of the prominent role the playwright usually has in a theater production Over two meetings the first with Cooper Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald the second with Cooper alone Mendes pitched himself to the studio The studio soon approached Mendes with a deal to direct for the minimum salary allowed under Directors Guild of America rules Mendes accepted and later recalled that after taxes and his agent s commission he only earned In June DreamWorks confirmed that it had contracted Mendes to direct the film
Ball was partly inspired by two encounters he had in the early s In about Ball saw a plastic bag blowing in the wind outside the World Trade Center He watched the bag for minutes saying later that it provoked an unexpected emotional response In Ball became preoccupied with the media circus around the Amy Fisher trial Discovering a comic book telling of the scandal he was struck by how quickly it had become commercialized He said he felt like there was a real story underneath that was more fascinating and way more tragic than the story presented to the public and attempted to turn the idea into a play Ball produced around pages but stopped when he realized it would work better as a film He felt that because of the visual themes and because each character s story was intensely personal it could not be done on a stage All the main characters appeared in this version but Carolyn did not feature strongly Jim and Jim instead had much larger roles
Ball based Lester s story on aspects of his own life Lester s re examination of his life parallels feelings Ball had in his mid s like Lester Ball put aside his passions to work in jobs he hated for people he did not respect Scenes in Ricky s household reflect Ball s own childhood experiences Ball suspected his father was homosexual and used the idea to create Col Fitts a man who gave up his chance to be himself Ball said the script s mix of comedy and drama was not intentional but that it came unconsciously from his own outlook on life He said the juxtaposition produced a starker contrast giving each trait more impact than if they appeared alone
In the script that was sent to prospective actors and directors Lester and Angela had sex by the time of shooting Ball had rewritten the scene to the final version Ball initially rebuffed counsel from others that he change the script feeling they were being puritanical the final impetus to alter the scene came from DreamWorks then president Walter Parkes He convinced Ball by indicating that in Greek mythology the hero has a moment of epiphany before tragedy occurs Ball later said his anger when writing the first draft had blinded him to the idea that Lester needed to refuse sex with Angela to complete his emotional journey to achieve redemption Jinks and Cohen asked Ball not to alter the scene right away as they felt it would be inappropriate to make changes to the script before a director had been hired Early drafts also included a flashback to Col Fitts service in the Marines a sequence that unequivocally established his homosexual leanings In love with another Marine Col Fitts sees the man die and comes to believe that he is being punished for the sin of being gay Ball removed the sequence because it did not fit the structure of the rest of the film Col Fitts was the only character to have a flashback and because it removed the element of surprise from Col Fitts later pass at Lester Ball said he had to write it for his own benefit to know what happened to Col Fitts though all that remained in later drafts was subtext
Ball remained involved throughout production he had signed a television show development deal so had to get permission from his producers to take a year off to be close to American Beauty Ball was on set for rewrites and to help interpret his script for all but two days of filming His original bookend scenes in which Ricky and Jane are prosecuted for Lester s murder after being framed by Col Fitts were excised in post production the writer later felt the scenes were unnecessary saying they were a reflection of his anger and cynicism at the time of writing see Editing Ball and Mendes revised the script twice before it was sent to the actors and twice more before the first read through
The shooting script features a scene in Angela s car in which Ricky and Jane talk about death and beauty the scene differed from earlier versions which set it as a big scene on a freeway in which the three witness a car crash and see a dead body The change was a practical decision as the production was behind schedule and they needed to cut costs The schedule called for two days to be spent filming the crash but only half a day was available Ball agreed but only if the scene could retain a line of Ricky s where he reflects on having once seen a dead homeless woman When you see something like that it s like God is looking right at you just for a second And if you re careful you can look right back Jane asks And what do you see Ricky Beauty Ball said They wanted to cut that scene They said it s not important I said You re out of your fucking mind It s one of the most important scenes in the movie If any one line is the heart and soul of this movie that is the line Another scene was rewritten to accommodate the loss of the freeway sequence set in a schoolyard it presents a turning point for Jane in that she chooses to walk home with Ricky instead of going with Angela By the end of filming the script had been through drafts
Mendes had Spacey and Bening in mind for the leads from the beginning but DreamWorks executives were unenthusiastic The studio suggested several alternatives including Bruce Willis Kevin Costner or John Travolta to play Lester and Helen Hunt or Holly Hunter to play Carolyn Mendes did not want a big star weighing the film down he felt Spacey was the right choice based on his performances in the films The Usual Suspects and Seven and s Glengarry Glen Ross Spacey was surprised he said I usually play characters who are very quick very manipulative and smart I usually wade in dark sort of treacherous waters This is a man living one step at a time playing by his instincts This is actually much closer to me to what I am than those other parts Mendes offered Bening the role of Carolyn without the studio s consent although executives were upset at Mendes by September DreamWorks had entered negotiations with Spacey and Bening
Spacey loosely based Lester s early schlubby deportment on Walter Matthau During the film Lester s physique improves from flabby to toned Spacey worked out during filming to improve his body but because Mendes shot the scenes out of chronological order Spacey varied postures to portray the stages Before filming Mendes and Spacey analyzed Jack Lemmon s performance in The Apartment because Mendes wanted Spacey to emulate the way Lemmon moved the way he looked the way he was in that office and the way he was an ordinary man and yet a special man Spacey s voiceover is a throwback to Sunset Boulevard which is also narrated in retrospect by a dead character Mendes felt it evoked Lester s and the film s loneliness Bening recalled women from her youth to inform her performance I used to babysit constantly You d go to church and see how people present themselves on the outside and then be inside their house and see the difference Bening and a hair stylist collaborated to create a PTA president coif hairstyle and Mendes and production designer Naomi Shohan researched mail order catalogs to better establish Carolyn s environment of a spotless suburban manor To help Bening get into Carolyn s mindset Mendes gave her music that he believed Carolyn would like He lent Bening the Bobby Darin version of the song Don t Rain on My Parade which she enjoyed and persuaded the director to include it for a scene in which Carolyn sings in her car
For the roles of Jane Ricky and Angela DreamWorks gave Mendes carte blanche By November Thora Birch Wes Bentley and Mena Suvari had been cast in the parts in Birch s case despite the fact she was underage for her nude scene As Birch was at the time she made the film and thus classified as a minor in the United States her parents had to approve her brief topless scene in the movie Child labor representatives and they were on the set for the shooting of the scene Bentley overcame competition from top actors under the age of to be cast The documentary My Big Break followed Bentley and several other young actors before and after he landed the part To prepare Mendes provided Bentley with a video camera telling the actor to film what Ricky would Peter Gallagher and Alison Janney were cast as Buddy Kane and Barbara Fitts after filming began in December Mendes gave Janney a book of paintings by Edvard Munch He told her Your character is in there somewhere Mendes cut much of Barbara s dialogue including conversations between Colonel Fitts and her as he felt that what needed to be said about the pair their humanity and vulnerability was conveyed successfully through their shared moments of silence Chris Cooper plays Colonel Fitts Scott Bakula plays Jim Olmeyer and Sam Robards plays Jim Berkley Jim and Jim were deliberately depicted as the most normal happy and boring couple in the film Ball s inspiration for the characters came from a thought he had after seeing a bland boring heterosexual couple who wore matching clothes I can t wait for the time when a gay couple can be just as boring Ball also included aspects of a gay couple he knew who had the same forename
Mendes insisted on two weeks of cast rehearsals although the sessions were not as formal as he was used to in the theater and the actors could not be present at every one Several improvisations and suggestions by the actors were incorporated into the script An early scene showing the Burnhams leaving home for work was inserted later on to show the low point that Carolyn and Lester s relationship had reached Spacey and Bening worked to create a sense of the love that Lester and Carolyn once had for one another for example the scene in which Lester almost seduces Carolyn after the pair argues over Lester s buying a car was originally strictly contentious
Principal photography lasted about days from December to February American Beauty was filmed on soundstages at the Warner Bros backlot in Burbank California and at Hancock Park and Brentwood in Los Angeles The aerial shots at the beginning and end of the film were captured in Sacramento California and many of the school scenes were shot at South High School in Torrance California several extras in the gym crowd were South High students The film is set in an upper middle class neighborhood in an unidentified American town Production designer Naomi Shohan likened the locale to Evanston Illinois but said it s not about a place it s about an archetype The milieu was pretty much Anywhere USA upwardly mobile suburbia The intent was for the setting to reflect the characters who are also archetypes Shohan said All of them are very strained and their lives are constructs The Burnhams household was designed as the reverse of the Fitts the former a pristine ideal but graceless and lacking in inner balance leading to Carolyn s desire to at least give it the appearance of a perfect all American household the Fitts home is depicted in exaggerated darkness and symmetry
The production selected two adjacent properties on the Warner backlot s Blondie Street for the Burnham and Fitts homes The crew rebuilt the houses to incorporate false rooms that established lines of sight between Ricky and Jane s bedroom windows and between Ricky s bedroom and Lester s garage The garage windows were designed specifically to obtain the crucial shot toward the end of the film in which Col Fitts watching from Ricky s bedroom mistakenly assumes that Lester is paying Ricky for sex Mendes made sure to establish the line of sight early on in the film to make the audience feel a sense of familiarity with the shot The house interiors were filmed on the backlot on location and on soundstages when overhead shots were needed The inside of the Burnhams home was shot at a house close to Interstate and Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles the inside of the Fitts home was shot in the city s Hancock Park neighborhood Ricky s bedroom was designed to be cell like to suggest his monkish personality while at the same time blending with the high tech equipment to reflect his voyeuristic side The production deliberately minimized the use of red as it was an important thematic signature elsewhere The Burnhams home uses cool blues while the Fitts is kept in a depressed military palette
Mendes dominating visual style was deliberate and composed with a minimalist design that provided a sparse almost surreal feeling a bright crisp hard edged near Magritte like take on American suburbia Mendes constantly directed his set dressers to empty the frame He made Lester s fantasy scenes more fluid and graceful and Mendes made minimal use of steadicams feeling that stable shots generated more tension For example when Mendes used a slow push in to the Burnhams dinner table he held the shot because his training as a theater director taught him the importance of putting distance between the characters He wanted to keep the tension in the scene so he only cut away when Jane left the table Mendes did use a hand held camera for the scene in which Col Fitts beats Ricky Mendes said the camera provided the scene with a kinetic off balance energy He also went hand held for the excerpts of Ricky s camcorder footage Mendes took a long time to get the quality of Ricky s footage to the level he wanted For the plastic bag footage Mendes used wind machines to move the bag in the air The scene took four takes two by the second unit did not satisfy Mendes so he shot the scene himself He felt his first take lacked grace but for the last attempt he changed the location to the front of a brick wall and added leaves on the ground Mendes was satisfied by the way the wall gave definition to the outline of the bag
Mendes avoided using close ups as he believed the technique was overused he also cited Spielberg s advice that he should imagine an audience silhouetted at the bottom of the camera monitor to keep in mind that he was shooting for display on a foot m screen Spielberg who visited the set a few times also advised Mendes not to worry about costs if he had a great idea toward the end of a long working day Mendes said That happened three or four times and they are all in the movie Despite Spielberg s support DreamWorks and Mendes fought constantly over the schedule and budget although the studio interfered little with the film s content Spacey Bening and Hall worked for significantly less than their usual rates American Beauty cost DreamWorks million to produce slightly above their projected sum Mendes was so dissatisfied with his first three days filming that he obtained permission from DreamWorks to reshoot the scenes He said I started with a wrong scene actually a comedy scene And the actors played it way too big it was badly shot my fault badly composed my fault bad costumes my fault and everybody was doing what I was asking It was all my fault Aware that he was a novice Mendes drew on the experience of Hall I made a very conscious decision early on if I didn t understand something technically to say without embarrassment I don t understand what you re talking about please explain it
Mendes encouraged some improvisation for example when Lester masturbates in bed beside Carolyn the director asked Spacey to improvise several euphemisms for the act in each take Mendes said I wanted that not just because it was funny but because I didn t want it to seem rehearsed I wanted it to seem like he was blurting it out of his mouth without thinking Spacey is so in control I wanted him to break through Spacey obliged eventually coming up with phrases but Bening could not always keep a straight face which meant the scene had to be shot times The production used small amounts of computer generated imagery Most of the rose petals in Lester s fantasies were added in post production although some were real and had the wires holding them digitally removed When Lester fantasizes about Angela in a rose petal bath the steam was real save for in the overhead shot To position the camera a hole had to be cut in the ceiling through which the steam escaped it was instead added digitally
American Beauty was edited by Christopher Greenbury and Tariq Anwar Greenbury began in the position but had to leave halfway through post production because of a scheduling conflict with Me Myself and Irene in which Chris Cooper also starred Mendes and an assistant edited the film for days between the appointments Mendes realized during editing that the film was different from the one he had envisioned He believed he had been making a much more whimsical kaleidoscopic film than what came together in the edit suite Instead Mendes was drawn to the emotion and darkness he began to use the score and shots he had intended to discard to craft the film along these lines In total he cut about minutes from his original edit The opening included a dream in which Lester imagines himself flying above the town Mendes spent two days filming Spacey against bluescreen but removed the sequence as he believed it to be too whimsical like a Coen brothers movie and therefore inappropriate for the tone he was trying to set The opening in the final cut reused a scene from the middle of the film where Jane tells Ricky to kill her father This scene was to be the revelation to the audience that the pair was not responsible for Lester s death as the way it was scored and acted made it clear that Jane s request was not serious However in the portion he used in the opening and when the full scene plays out later Mendes used the score and a reaction shot of Ricky to leave a lingering ambiguity as to his guilt The subsequent shot an aerial view of the neighborhood was originally intended as the plate shot for the bluescreen effects in the dream sequence
Mendes spent more time recutting the first minutes than the rest of the film taken together He trialled several versions of the opening the first edit included bookend scenes in which Jane and Ricky are convicted of Lester s murder but Mendes excised these in the last week of editing because he felt they made the film lose its mystery and because they did not fit with the theme of redemption that had emerged during production Mendes believed the trial drew focus away from the characters and turned the film into an episode of NYPD Blue Instead he wanted the ending to be a poetic mixture of dream and memory and narrative resolution When Ball first saw a completed edit it was a version with truncated versions of these scenes He felt that they were so short that they didn t really register Mendes and he argued but Ball was more accepting after Mendes cut the sequences completely Ball felt that without the scenes the film was more optimistic and had evolved into something that for all its darkness had a really romantic heart
Conrad Hall was not the first choice for director of photography Mendes believed he was too old and too experienced to want the job and he had been told that Hall was difficult to work with Instead Mendes asked Fred Elmes who turned the job down because he did not like the script Hall was recommended to Mendes by Tom Cruise because of Hall s work on Without Limits which Cruise had executive produced Mendes was directing Cruise s then wife Nicole Kidman in the play The Blue Room during preproduction on American Beauty and had already storyboarded the whole film Hall was involved for one month during preproduction his ideas for lighting the film began with his first reading of the script and further passes allowed him to refine his approach before meeting Mendes Hall was initially concerned that audiences would not like the characters he only felt able to identify with them during cast rehearsals which gave him fresh ideas on his approach to the visuals
Hall s approach was to create peaceful compositions that evoked classicism to contrast with the turbulent on screen events and allow audiences to take in the action Hall and Mendes first discussed the intended mood of a scene but he was allowed to light the shot in any way he felt necessary In most cases Hall first lit the scene s subject by painting in the blacks and whites before adding fill light which he reflected from beadboard or white card on the ceiling This approach gave Hall more control over the shadows while keeping the fill light unobtrusive and the dark areas free of spill Hall shot American Beauty in a aspect ratio in the Super format using Kodak Vision T mm film stock He used Super partly because its larger scope allowed him to capture elements such as the corners of the petal filled pool in its overhead shot creating a frame around Angela within He shot the whole film at the same T stop T given his preference for shooting that wide Hall favored high speed stocks to allow for more subtle lighting effects He used Panavision Platinum cameras with the company s Primo series of prime and zoom lenses Hall employed Kodak Vision T and EXR stock for scenes with daylight effects He had difficulty adjusting to Kodak s newly introduced Vision release print stock which combined with his contrast heavy lighting style created a look with too much contrast Hall contacted Kodak who sent him a batch of that was lower in contrast Hall used a inch Tiffen Black ProMist filter for almost every scene which he said in retrospect may not have been the best choice as the optical steps required to blow Super up for its anamorphic release print led to a slight amount of degradation therefore the diffusion from the filter was not required When he saw the film in a theater Hall felt that the image was slightly unclear and that had he not used the filter the diffusion from the Super anamorphic conversion would have generated an image closer to what he originally intended
A shot where Lester and Ricky share a cannabis joint behind a building came from a misunderstanding between Hall and Mendes Mendes asked Hall to prepare the shot in his absence Hall assumed the characters would look for privacy so he placed them in a narrow passage between a truck and the building intending to light from the top of the truck When Mendes returned he explained that the characters did not care if they were seen He removed the truck and Hall had to rethink the lighting he lit it from the left with a large light crossing the actors and with a soft light behind the camera Hall felt the consequent wide shot worked perfectly for the tone of the scene Hall made sure to keep rain or the suggestion of it in every shot near the end of the film In one shot during Lester s encounter with Angela at the Burnhams home Hall created rain effects on the foreground cross lights in another he partly lit the pair through French windows to which he had added material to make the rain run slower intensifying the light although the strength of the outside light was unrealistic for a night scene Hall felt it justified because of the strong contrasts it produced For the close ups when Lester and Angela move to the couch Hall tried to keep rain in the frame lighting through the window onto the ceiling behind Lester He also used rain boxes to produce rain patterns where he wanted without lighting the entire room
Thomas Newman s score was recorded in Santa Monica California He mainly used percussion instruments to create the mood and rhythm the inspiration for which was provided by Mendes Newman favored pulse rhythm and color over melody making for a more minimalist score than he had previously created He built each cue around small endlessly repeating phrases often the only variety through a thinning of the texture for eight bars The percussion instruments included tablas bongos cymbals piano xylophones and marimbas also featured were guitars flute and world music instruments Newman also used electronic music and on quirkier tracks employed more unorthodox methods such as tapping metal mixing bowls with a finger and using a detuned mandolin Newman believed the score helped move the film along without disturbing the moral ambiguity of the script It was a real delicate balancing act in terms of what music worked to preserve that
The soundtrack features songs by Newman Bobby Darin The Who Free Eels The Guess Who Bill Withers Betty Carter Peggy Lee The Folk Implosion Gomez and Bob Dylan as well as two cover versions The Beatles Because performed by Elliott Smith and Neil Young s Don t Let It Bring You Down performed by Annie Lennox Produced by the film s music supervisor Chris Douridas an abridged soundtrack album was released on October and went on to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album An album featuring tracks from Newman s score was released on January and won the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album Filmmaker considered the score to be one of Newman s best saying it enabled the film s transcendentalist aspirations In the magazine chose the score as one of essential soundtracks it believed spoke to the complex and innovative relationships between music and screen storytelling
DreamWorks contracted Amazoncom to create the official website marking the first time that Amazon had created a special section devoted to a feature film The website included an overview a photo gallery cast and crew filmographies and exclusive interviews with Spacey and Bening The film s tagline look closer originally came from a cutting pasted on Lester s workplace cubicle by the set dresser DreamWorks ran parallel marketing campaigns and trailers one aimed at adults the other at teenagers Both trailers ended with the poster image of a girl holding a rose Reviewing the posters of several films David Hochman of Entertainment Weekly rated American Beauty s highly saying it evoked the tagline he said You return to the poster again and again thinking this time you re gonna find something DreamWorks did not want to test screen the film according to Mendes the studio was pleased with it but he insisted on one where he could question the audience afterward The studio reluctantly agreed and showed the film to a young audience in San Jose California Mendes claimed the screening went very well
The film had its world premiere on September at Grauman s Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles Three days later the film appeared at the Toronto International Film Festival With the filmmakers and cast in attendance it screened at several American universities including the University of California at Berkeley New York University the University of California at Los Angeles the University of Texas at Austin and Northwestern University
On September American Beauty opened to the public in limited release at three theaters in Los Angeles and three in New York More theaters were added during the limited run and on October the film officially entered wide release by screening in theaters across North America The film grossed over the weekend ranking third at the box office Audiences polled by the market research firm CinemaScore gave American Beauty a B grade on average The theater count hit a high of at the end of the month before a gradual decline Following American Beauty s wins at the th Golden Globe Awards DreamWorks re expanded the theater presence from a low of in mid February to a high of in March The film ended its North American theatrical run on June having grossed million
American Beauty had its European premiere at the London Film Festival on November in January it began to screen in various territories outside North America It debuted in Israel to potent returns and limited releases in Germany Italy Austria Switzerland the Netherlands and Finland followed on January After January opening weekends in Australia the United Kingdom Spain and Norway American Beauty had earned million in countries for a total of million outside North America On February American Beauty debuted in France and Belgium Expanding to theaters in the United Kingdom the film ranked first at the box office with million On the weekend of February following American Beauty s eight nominations for the nd Academy Awards the film grossed million from territories for a total of million outside North America The film had dazzling debuts in Hungary Denmark the Czech Republic Slovakia and New Zealand
As of February the most successful territories were the United Kingdom million Italy million Germany million Australia million and France million The Academy Award nominations meant strong performances continued across the board the following weekend American Beauty grossed million in countries with strong debuts in Brazil Mexico and South Korea Other high spots included robust returns in Argentina Greece and Turkey On the weekend of March American Beauty debuted strongly in Hong Kong Taiwan and Singapore markets traditionally not receptive to this kind of upscale fare The impressive South Korean performance continued with a return of million after nine days In total American Beauty grossed million in North America and million internationally for million worldwide
American Beauty was released on VHS on May and on DVD with the DTS format on October Before the North American rental release on May Blockbuster Video wanted to purchase hundreds of thousands of extra copies for its guaranteed title range whereby anyone who wanted to rent the film would be guaranteed a copy Blockbuster and DreamWorks could not agree on a profit sharing deal so Blockbuster ordered two thirds the number of copies it originally intended DreamWorks made around one million copies available for rental Blockbuster s share would usually have been about of these Some Blockbuster stores only displayed copies and others did not display the film at all forcing customers to ask for it The strategy required staff to read a statement to customers explaining the situation Blockbuster claimed it was only monitoring customer demand due to the reduced availability Blockbuster s strategy leaked before May leading to a order increase from other retailers In its first week of rental release American Beauty made million This return was lower than would have been expected had DreamWorks and Blockbuster reached an agreement In the same year The Sixth Sense made million while Fight Club made million though the latter s North American theatrical performance was just that of American Beauty Blockbuster s strategy also affected rental fees American Beauty averaged compared with for films that Blockbuster fully promoted Only of the film s rentals were from large outlets in the first week compared with the usual
The DVD release included a behind the scenes featurette film audio commentary from Mendes and Ball and a storyboard presentation with discussion from Mendes and Hall In the film commentary Mendes refers to deleted scenes he intended to include in the release However these scenes are not on the DVD as he changed his mind after recording the commentary Mendes felt that to show scenes he previously chose not to use would detract from the film s integrity
On September Paramount Home Entertainment released American Beauty on Blu ray as part of Paramount s Sapphire Series All the extras from the DVD release were present with the theatrical trailers upgraded to HD
American Beauty was widely considered the best film of by the American press It received overwhelming praise chiefly for Spacey Mendes and Ball Variety reported that no other movie has benefited from such universal raves It was the best received title at the Toronto International Film Festival TIFF where it won the People s Choice award after a ballot of the festival s audiences TIFF s director Piers Handling said American Beauty was the buzz of the festival the film most talked about
Writing in Variety Todd McCarthy said the cast ensemble could not be better he praised Spacey s handling of innuendo subtle sarcasm and blunt talk and the way he imbued Lester with genuine feeling Janet Maslin in The New York Times said Spacey was at his wittiest and most agile to date and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times singled Spacey out for successfully portraying a man who does reckless and foolish things but who doesn t deceive himself Kevin Jackson of Sight Sound said Spacey impressed in ways distinct from his previous performances the most satisfying aspect being his portrayal of both sap and hero Writing in Film Quarterly Gary Hentzi praised the actors but said that characters such as Carolyn and Col Fitts were stereotypes Hentzi accused Mendes and Ball of identifying too readily with Jane and Ricky saying the latter was their fantasy figure a teenaged boy who s an absurdly wealthy artist able to finance his own projects Hentzi said Angela was the most believable teenager in particular with her painfully familiar attempts to live up to an unworthy image of herself Maslin agreed that some characters were unoriginal but said their detailed characterizations made them memorable Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said the actors coped faultlessly with what were difficult roles he called Spacey s performance the energy that drives the film saying the actor commanded audience involvement despite Lester not always being sympathetic Against considerable odds we do like these characters Turan concluded
Maslin felt that Mendes directed with terrific visual flair saying his minimalist style balanced the mordant and bright and that he evoked the delicate eroticized power playing vignettes of his theater work Jackson said Mendes theatrical roots rarely showed and that the most remarkable aspect was that Spacey s performance did not overshadow the film He said that Mendes worked the script s intricacies smoothly to the ensemble s strengths and staged the tonal shifts skillfully McCarthy believed American Beauty a stunning card of introduction for film dbutantes Mendes and Ball He said Mendes sure hand was as precise and controlled as his theater work McCarthy cited Hall s involvement as fortunate for Mendes as the cinematographer was unsurpassed at conveying the themes of a work Turan agreed that Mendes choice of collaborators was shrewd naming Hall and Newman in particular Turan suggested that American Beauty may have benefited from Mendes inexperience as his anything s possible daring made him attempt beats that more seasoned directors might have avoided Turan felt that Mendes accomplishment was to capture and enhance the duality of Ball s script the simultaneously caricatured and painfully real characters Hentzi while critical of many of Mendes and Ball s choices admitted the film showed off their considerable talents
Turan cited Ball s lack of constraint when writing the film as the reason for its uniqueness in particular the script s subtle changes in tone McCarthy said the script was as fresh and distinctive as any of its American film contemporaries and praised how it analyzed the characters while not compromising narrative pace He called Ball s dialogue tart and said the characters Carolyn excepted were deeply drawn One other flaw McCarthy said was the revelation of Col Fitts homosexuality which he said evoked hoary Freudianism Jackson said the film transcended its clichd setup to become a wonderfully resourceful and sombre comedy He said that even when the film played for sitcom laughs it did so with unexpected nuance Hentzi criticized how the film made a mystery of Lester s murder believing it manipulative and simply a way of generating suspense McCarthy cited the production and costume design as pluses and said the soundtrack was good at creating ironic counterpoint s to the story Hentzi concluded that American Beauty was vital but uneven he felt the film s examination of the ways which teenagers and adults imagine each other s lives was its best point and that although Lester and Angela s dynamic was familiar its romantic irony stood beside the most enduring literary treatments of the theme such as Lolita Nevertheless Hentzi believed that the film s themes of materialism and conformity in American suburbia were hackneyed McCarthy conceded that the setting was familiar but said it merely provided the film with a starting point from which to tell its subtle and acutely judged tale Maslin agreed she said that while it takes aim at targets that are none too fresh and that the theme of nonconformity did not surprise the film had its own corrosive novelty Ebert awarded American Beauty four stars out of four and Turan said it was layered subversive complex and surprising concluding it was a hell of a picture
A few months after the film s release reports of a backlash appeared in the American press and the years since have seen its critical regard wane In Premiere named American Beauty as one of most overrated movies of all time Mendes accepted the inevitability of the critical reappraisal saying I thought some of it was entirely justified it was a little overpraised at the time
Currently the film holds an score on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews with an average rating of the critical consensus reads Flawlessly cast and brimming with dark acid wit American Beauty is a smart provocative high point of late s mainstream Hollywood film Metacritic gives the film a score of based on reviews indicating universal acclaim
American Beauty was not considered an immediate favorite to dominate the American awards season Several other contenders opened at the end of and US critics spread their honors among them when compiling their end of year lists The Chicago Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Film Critics Association named the film the best of but while the New York Film Critics Circle the National Society of Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association recognized American Beauty they gave their top awards to other films By the end of the year reports of a critical backlash suggested American Beauty was the underdog in the race for Best Picture however at the Golden Globe Awards in January American Beauty won Best Film Best Director and Best Screenplay
As the nominations for the nd Academy Awards approached a frontrunner had not emerged DreamWorks had launched a major campaign for American Beauty five weeks before ballots were due to be sent to the Academy Award voters Its campaign combined traditional advertising and publicity with more focused strategies Although direct mail campaigning was prohibited DreamWorks reached voters by promoting the film in casual comfortable settings in voters communities The studio s candidate for Best Picture the previous year Saving Private Ryan lost to Shakespeare in Love so the studio took a new approach by hiring outsiders to provide input for the campaign It hired three veteran consultants who told the studio to think small Nancy Willen encouraged DreamWorks to produce a special about the making of American Beauty to set up displays of the film in the communities bookstores and to arrange a question and answer session with Mendes for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Dale Olson advised the studio to advertise in free publications that circulated in Beverly Hills home to many voters in addition to major newspapers Olson arranged to screen American Beauty to about members of the Actors Fund of America as many participating actors were also voters Bruce Feldman took Ball to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival where Ball attended a private dinner in honor of Anthony Hopkins meeting several voters who were in attendance
In February American Beauty was nominated for eight Academy Awards its closest rivals The Cider House Rules and The Insider received seven nominations each In March the major industry labor organizations all awarded their top honors to American Beauty perceptions had shifted the film was now the favorite to dominate the Academy Awards American Beauty s closest rival for Best Picture was still The Cider House Rules from Miramax Both studios mounted aggressive campaigns DreamWorks bought more advertising space in Variety than Miramax On March American Beauty won five Academy Awards Best Picture Best Director Best Actor Spacey Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography At the rd British Academy Film Awards American Beauty won six of the awards for which it was nominated Best Film Best Actor Best Actress Bening Best Cinematography Best Film Music and Best Editing In the Publicists Guild of America recognized DreamWorks for the best film publicity campaign In September Empire named American Beauty the th Greatest Movie of All Time after a poll of readers filmmakers and film critics the fourth highest ranked movie from behind Fight Club The Matrix and Magnolia In the Writers Guild of America ranked the screenplay number on its list of greatest screenplays
The film was nominated for AFI s Years Movies th Anniversary Edition in
Christopher Gore September March was a prominent Massachusetts lawyer Federalist politician and US diplomat Born into a family divided by the American Revolution Gore sided with the victorious Patriots established a successful law practice in Boston and built a fortune by purchasing Revolutionary government debts at a discount and receiving full value for them from the government
Gore entered politics in serving briefly in the Massachusetts legislature before being appointed US District Attorney for Massachusetts He was then appointed by President George Washington to a diplomatic commission dealing with maritime claims in Great Britain He returned to Massachusetts in and reentered state politics running unsuccessfully for governor several times before winning in He served one term losing to Democratic Republican Elbridge Gerry in He was appointed to the US Senate by Governor Caleb Strong in where he led opposition to the War of
Gore invested his fortune in a variety of businesses including important infrastructure projects such as the Middlesex Canal and a bridge across the Charles River He was a major investor in the early textile industry funding the Boston Manufacturing Company and the Merrimack Manufacturing Company whose business established the city of Lowell Massachusetts Gore was involved in a variety of charitable causes and was a major benefactor of Harvard College where the first library was named in his honor His palatial mansion in Waltham Massachusetts now known as Gore Place is one of the finest extant examples of Federalist architecture and has been declared a National Historic Landmark
Christopher Gore was born in Boston on September one of many children of Frances and John Gore a successful merchant and artisan He was the youngest of their three sons to survive to adulthood He attended Boston Latin School and entered Harvard College at the young even for the time age of thirteen At the outset of the American Revolutionary War and the Siege of Boston in Harvard s buildings were occupied by the Continental Army and Gore temporarily continued his studies in Bradford until Harvard could resume operations in Concord While at Harvard Gore participated in a speaking club and formed significant lifelong friendships with Rufus King and John Trumbull
Gore graduated in and promptly enlisted in the Continental artillery regiment of his brother in law Thomas Crafts where he served as a clerk until The Gore family was divided by the war Gore s father was a Loyalist who left Boston when the British Army evacuated the city in March Gore was consequently called upon to support his mother and three sisters who remained in Boston In Gore successfully petitioned the state for the remaining family s share of his father s seized assets
After his military service Gore studied law with John Lowell and was admitted to the bar in after a comparatively brief tutelage Gore s law practice flourished in part because many Loyalist lawyers had fled Massachusetts Gore s clients included Loyalists seeking to recover some of their assets as well as London based British merchants with claims to pursue His briefs were generally well reasoned and he was seen as a successful trial lawyer
Gore grew his fortune by investing carefully in revolutionary currency and bonds The securities he purchased were paper that had been given to Continental Army soldiers in lieu of pay which they often sold at a steep discount One batch of securities he purchased for instance cost him about but had a face value of In he married Rebecca Amory Payne daughter of a wealthy merchant maritime insurer and director of the Bank of Massachusetts The couple were known for their social graces and became prominent members of Boston society
In Gore became concerned about a rise in anti lawyer sentiment in Massachusetts Grievances over harsh policies pursued by Governor James Bowdoin blossomed into Shays Rebellion which required militia action to crush in Gore was one of several high profile lawyers assigned to defend participants in the rebellion included in this group were Theodore Sedgwick Caleb Strong James Sullivan Levi Lincoln Sr and Thomas Dawes Although many rebels were ultimately convicted a large number received amnesty In Gore was elected a delegate to the Massachusetts convention that ratified the United States Constitution His election was contested because Boston where he lived was at the time more inclined toward state power Gore nonetheless was strongly Federalist urging support of the new Constitution
In Gore was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives He took a leading role in adopting the state s rules for actions required of it by the new federal constitution By his proposal the legislature decided that presidential electors would be chosen by a joint session He also proposed that the state House and Senate agree by separate votes on choices for the United States Senate a process that would significantly reduce popular input to the choice His choice was ultimately rejected in favor of a process whereby the House selected a slate of candidates from which the Senate would choose one In Gore decided to stand for reelection but lost owing to strong anti nationalist fervor in Boston at the time He managed to win a seat later when a special election was held after resignations opened several seats
Gore s financial speculations in the late s significantly multiplied his wealth In he and Andrew Craigie a Boston businessman who had retained Gore for legal services entered into a secret agreement to purchase Continental securities with a face value of in a speculative bid that their value would rise By late October of that year the pair had met this goal Gore had purchased worth of paper for about and encouraged Craigie to purchase more than the he had acquired if his funding would allow for it Gore also purchased Massachusetts war related debts and lobbied Massachusetts Congressmen for the US government to assume those as well
Gore s windfall was realized when in the United States Congress acting on a proposal made by Alexander Hamilton and supported by Gore s friend Rufus King passed legislation that exchanged Continental and state paper for new US paper at face value Not only did Gore win on this exchange but the paper he received appreciated in value before he sold it The exact amount he made is unclear from the surviving documents John Quincy Adams wrote that Gore s speculations made him the wealthiest lawyer in the country
The success of Gore s speculations prompted him to enter a partnership with Craigie William Duer and Daniel Parker in an attempt to acquire US foreign debt obligations on favorable terms Parker was a business partner of Craigie s and Duer was an influential New York businessman and Treasury Department official whose lavish lifestyle impressed Gore The partnership promoted sales of US lands in Europe and sought to acquire US obligations to France Although Gore sank into this venture it failed more powerful and experienced Dutch bankers outmaneuvered the Americans Gore also engaged in other ventures with these partners but apparently carefully stayed with financial speculations and avoided the partners less successful land ventures
Much of Gore s financial activity was mediated through the Bank of Massachusetts where his father in law was a director Gore himself was elected to its board in when he also became a shareholder During his time on the board the bank tightened its regulations on loan repayments a move that improved the stability of its capital Gore used the bank for most of his personal deposits but also drew on lines of credit for as much as several thousand dollars The bank shares he held paid relatively high dividends until when the bank received serious competition from the First Bank of the United States
The Bank of the United States was established by Alexander Hamilton to provide stable banking services on a national scale and sought to open a branch in Boston Hamilton recruited heavily in the Bank of Massachusetts and Gore decided to make the move He sold his shares in the Massachusetts bank and became a director of the Boston branch of the US Bank He also purchased shares in the new bank a relatively large investment Gore was influential in making hiring decisions for the branch and sought to merge state chartered banks into the organization arguing that only a nationally chartered bank could provide consistent and stable service Gore resigned from the board in citing the demands of his law practice
Gore s financial successes enabled him to join the elite society of Boston In he purchased a large mansion on fashionable Bowdoin Square and also bought a country estate in Waltham that grew over time to acres ha He had a house built on the estate most of which he operated as a gentleman farmer He and other similarly situated Federalists formed the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture of which he served as a trustee for several years the organization was not seen as significantly contributing to advances in agriculture
In President George Washington appointed Gore the first United States Attorney for Massachusetts as a reward for his support Gore controversially refused to resign from the state legislature arguing that the state constitution s prohibitions against holding multiple offices did not apply to federal posts He eventually resigned the legislative seat under protest because of pressure from his fellow legislators
Gore served as district attorney until His principal matter of concern was the enforcement of US neutrality with respect to the French Revolutionary Wars He attempted several times to prosecute the French consul in Boston Antoine Duplaine for arming and operating privateers out of the Port of Boston but he was stymied by local juries that sympathized with the French Duplaine was eventually expelled on orders from President George Washington based on evidence provided by Gore
Gore also promoted anti French sentiment with political writings in Massachusetts newspapers Writing under the pseudonym Manlius he denounced the formation of Democratic Societies formed to oppose Federalist policy and support pro French positions He suggested to President Washington that someone be sent to England to negotiate with the British John Jay traveled to London in and negotiated the Jay Treaty whose ratification Gore vocally supported Although Gore was hostile to French policy he was on friendly terms with individual Frenchmen he hosted the future French statesman Talleyrand when he visited the US
In Washington appointed him as a commissioner representing the United States to handle maritime claims under the terms the Jay Treaty As a result the Gores moved to England that year establishing a residence in the fashionable Hyde Park area The commission was established to arbitrate claims emanating from British seizures of American vessels and cargoes and from British claims relating to violations of American neutrality in the ongoing French Revolutionary Wars It consisted of three Americans Gore William Pinkney and John Trumbull and two British commissioners John Nicoll and Nicholas Astley Trumbull was chosen by the other four because he was deemed to sufficiently fair minded to cast deciding votes in the event of disagreements That year he was also elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Although Gore was well received by the British establishment the work suffered from what Gore called a tediousness of process and he considered requesting a transfer in In it ground to a halt because another board established by the treaty to resolve outstanding Revolutionary War claims against the United States had not yet met and the British stopped the claims processing until resolution of the other issues got underway Gore used this break to briefly return to America and assess the condition of his Waltham estate where the house had been largely destroyed by fire in After his return to London with the commission work still stopped he and Rebecca embarked on a tour of Europe They visited Holland Belgium and Switzerland and spent six months in Paris During this trip and later ones in England and Scotland they took note of the architecture of country estates and began planning a new house for their Waltham property
The commission resumed its work in early and had resolved all outstanding claims by August It awarded to British claimants and over million to American claimants The lopsided result is due to the vastly larger number of American claims but also to some key early decisions that favored American interpretations in the processing of the claims and by a British administration that sought to remain in America s good graces
The Gore s social circle in England revolved around his good friend Rufus King who was appointed Ambassador to Great Britain in along with other Massachusetts expatriates When King left his post in May he named Gore to head the London embassy as charg d affaires Although President Thomas Jefferson never issued a formal appointment the British government accepted his role for the two month interval between King s departure and the arrival of James Monroe as King s replacement The Gores sailed for Boston in the spring of
Rebecca Gore used their exposure to European country estates to design a lavish new building for their Waltham estate during their English sojourn Designed with the assistance of French architect Joseph Guillaume Legrand and probably also influenced by the works of English architect Sir John Soane the house that was built upon their return to the United States in now known as Gore Place is one of the finest extant examples of Federalist architecture
Soon after his return to the United States Gore reentered state politics winning election to the Massachusetts Senate He was active in the state Federalist Party organization sitting on its secret central committee He resumed his law practice in which he took on as a student Daniel Webster One of the highest profile cases he took on was the defense of Thomas Selfridge accused of murdering Charles Austin Selfridge an older Federalist attorney had been retained to assist in the collection of a debt from Austin s Republican father In the politically charged atmosphere of the day in Boston Selfridge fearing for his own safety had armed himself with a dueling pistol The younger Austin had apparently on his own initiative sought to beat Selfridge with a cane and Selfridge fatally shot him in the encounter Selfridge was prosecuted by Attorney General and future Gore gubernatorial opponent James Sullivan and the defense also included arch Federalist Harrison Gray Otis Gore argued Selfridge acted in self defense Selfridge was acquitted of murder by a jury whose foreman was Patriot and Federalist Paul Revere after fifteen minutes deliberation
Gore also resumed business activities upon his return He invested in a wide variety of businesses and infrastructure spurring economic activity in the state His investments ranged widely including maritime insurance where is father in law had made his fortune bridges locks canals and textiles He was a major investor in the Middlesex Canal the Craigie Bridge the first to connect Boston to Cambridge and the Boston Manufacturing Company whose factory proving the single site production of textiles was in Waltham near his estate Not all of his ventures panned out the canal was in the long run a financial failure as were efforts with other collaborators to develop Lechmere Point the Cambridge side of the Craigie Bridge The textile mill however was a success and Gore invested in the Merrimack Manufacturing Company When it decided to locate in what is now Lowell Massachusetts Gore purchased shares in the Proprietors of Locks and Canals which operated and still owns today the Lowell canals
In Gore won election to the State Senate That year the Republicans were in the majority and the election for governor was close enough to require a recount The legislature scrutinized the ballots in a partisan manner for example retaining ballots containing misspelled versions of Republican James Sullivan s name and discarding similar ballots marked for Federalist Caleb Strong Gore and other Federalists raised a public outcry and the legislature relented eventually certifying Strong as the winner
Gore ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Massachusetts in and against a rising tide of Republicanism in the state losing both times to moderate Republican James Sullivan The Federalists gained control of the state legislature in in a backlash against Republican economic policies but Gore was criticized for his failure to aggressively support state protests against the Embargo Act of which had a major negative effect on the state s large merchant fleet Gore was in elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he successfully led Federalist efforts to ensure the selection of a Federalist slate of presidential electors He also spearheaded actions to drive Senator John Quincy Adams from the Federalist Party over his support of Thomas Jefferson s foreign policy The legislature elected Adams successor nine months early and gave Adams sufficiently distasteful instructions that he resigned the post and joined with the Republicans
Gore led the Federalists to victory in against Sullivan s successor Levi Lincoln Sr who had taken over as acting governor upon Sullivan s death late in During Gore s term the principal domestic issue occupying state politics was a banking crisis stimulated by the federal policy of embargoing trade with Great Britain and France then embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars Although the crisis caused a number of bank failures in New England Massachusetts banks largely escaped unscathed
Foreign policy played a major role in Gore s administration The legislature passed resolves opposing the federal government s hardline policy against trade and diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom then embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars and Gore in early invited Francis James Jackson who had been rejected as the UK s ambassador to the US to visit the state This pressure may have played a role in President James Madison s decision to renew relations with the UK and accept Jackson s credentials
The lessening of the war threat and the choice by the Republicans of the popular Elbridge Gerry as their candidate brought a challenge to Federalist control of Massachusetts in the elections The unostentatious Gerry and Republican partisans criticized Gore for his lavish lifestyle including his palatial Waltham residence and pompous activities he organized as governor and highlighted his Loyalist family connections while emphasizing Gerry s unimpeachable patriotism Gerry won the election Jackson did visit Boston but he was greeted not by Gore but Gerry Gore ran against Gerry again in but lost in another acrimonious campaign
Gore was granted an honorary law degree from Harvard in He served on the college s Board of Overseers from to and as a Fellow from to Harvard s first library building a Gothic structure built in of Quincy granite was named in his honor but was demolished when Widener Library was built in its place in This structure is found on the seal of the city of Cambridge One of the residential Winthrop House s buildings is called Gore Hall in his honor
In the spring of he was appointed by Governor Caleb Strong to fill the US Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Senator James Lloyd He served from May to May winning reelection to the seat in He opposed the ongoing War of in these years with his earlier diplomatic experience providing valuable knowledge to Federalist interests He expressed approval of the Hartford Convention in which the New England states aired grievances concerning Republican governance of the country and the conduct of the war
Gore assented to the Treaty of Ghent that ended the war but was unhappy that the nation had not gained anything from the war He resigned in June unhappy with the politics of Washington and suffering from poor health Although he was no longer active in politics he continued to express opinions on the subjects of the day opposing the Missouri Compromise and bemoaning the great moderation mediocrity of Federalist Governor John Brooks
Gore remained active in the administration of Harvard and was active in a number of organizations including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Massachusetts Historical Society whose president he was from to He was also elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in Gore spent most of his later years at his country estate in Waltham suffering from worsening rheumatoid arthritis that made walking increasingly difficult His declining health and lack of social scene in Waltham led him in to return to Boston in the winters He died on March in Boston and is buried in its Granary Burying Ground
Gore s wife died in the couple had no children The major beneficiary of the Gore estate was Harvard which received an estimated although bequests were also made to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Massachusetts Historical Society The Waltham estate passed through several hands and was subdivided over time The mansion was saved from demolition by the Gore Place Society established for the purpose of preserving it which now operates it as a museum It was declared a National Historic Landmark in
Nero nro Latin Ner Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus December AD June AD was Roman Emperor from to and the last in the Julio Claudian dynasty Nero was adopted by his grand uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor and succeeded to the throne in following Claudius death
Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy trade and enhancing the cultural life of the empire but according to the historian Tacitus he was viewed by the Roman people as compulsive and corrupt He ordered theatres built and promoted athletic games During his reign the redoubtable general Corbulo conducted a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire His general Suetonius Paulinus crushed a revolt in Britain Nero annexed the Bosporan Kingdom to the empire and began the First Jewish Roman War
In AD most of Rome was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome which many Romans believed Nero himself had started in order to clear land for his planned palatial complex the Domus Aurea In the rebellion of Vindex in Gaul and later the acclamation of Galba in Hispania drove Nero from the throne Facing a false report of being denounced as a public enemy who was to be executed he committed suicide on June the first Roman emperor to do so His death ended the Julio Claudian dynasty sparking a brief period of civil wars known as the Year of the Four Emperors Nero s rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance He is known for many executions including that of his mother and the probable murder by poison of his stepbrother Britannicus
Nero was rumored to have had captured Christians dipped in oil and set on fire in his garden at night as a source of light This view is based on the writings of Tacitus Suetonius and Cassius Dio the main surviving sources for Nero s reign but a few surviving sources paint Nero in a more favourable light Some sources including some mentioned above portray him as an emperor who was popular with the common Roman people especially in the East Some modern historians question the reliability of ancient sources when reporting on Nero s tyrannical acts
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus Nero was born on December in Antium modern Anzio and Nettuno near Rome He was the only son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger sister of Emperor Caligula
Nero s father Gnaeus was the son of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus consul BC and Antonia Major Gnaeus was thus the grandson of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus consul BC and probably Aemilia Lepida on his father s side and the grandson of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor on his mother s side Thus Nero had as his paternal grandmother Antonia Major and also claimed more remote descent from Antonia Minor as a great grandson later grandson after Claudius adopted him
Through Octavia Nero was the great nephew of Caesar Augustus Nero s father had been employed as a praetor and was a member of Caligula s staff when the latter travelled to the East some apparently think Suetonius refers to Augustus s adopted son Gaius Caesar here but this is not likely
Nero s father was described by Suetonius as a murderer and a cheat who was charged by Emperor Tiberius with treason adultery and incest Tiberius died allowing him to escape these charges Nero s father died of edema dropsy in when Nero was two
Nero s mother was Agrippina the Younger a great granddaughter of Caesar Augustus and his wife Scribonia through their daughter Julia the Elder and her husband Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Agrippina s father Germanicus was a grandson of Augustus s wife Livia on one side and to Mark Antony and Octavia on the other Germanicus mother Antonia Minor was a daughter of Octavia Minor and Mark Antony Octavia was Augustus elder sister Germanicus was also the adopted son of Tiberius Agrippina poisoned her second husband Passienus Crispus so many ancient historians also accuse her of murdering her third husband the emperor Claudius
Nero was not expected to become Emperor because his maternal uncle Caligula had begun his reign at the age of with enough time to produce his own heir Nero s mother Agrippina lost favour with Caligula and was exiled in after her husband s death Caligula seized Nero s inheritance and sent him to be brought up by his less wealthy aunt Domitia Lepida who was the mother of Valeria Messalina Claudius s third wife Caligula his wife Caesonia and their infant daughter Julia Drusilla were murdered on January These events led Claudius Caligula s uncle to become emperor Claudius allowed Agrippina to return from exile
Claudius had married twice before marrying Valeria Messalina His previous marriages produced three children including a son Drusus who died at a young age He had two children with Messalina Claudia Octavia born and Britannicus born Messalina was executed by Claudius in the year
In AD Claudius married a fourth time to Nero s mother Agrippina despite her being his niece To aid Claudius politically young Nero was adopted in and took the name Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus see adoption in Rome Nero was older than his stepbrother Britannicus and thus became heir to the throne
Nero was proclaimed an adult in at the age of He was appointed proconsul entered and first addressed the Senate made joint public appearances with Claudius and was featured in coinage In he married his stepsister Claudia Octavia
Claudius died in and Nero taking the name Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was established as Emperor Though accounts vary many ancient historians state Agrippina poisoned Claudius According to Pliny the Elder she used poison mushrooms It is not known how much Nero knew or if he was even involved in the death of Claudius
Suetonius wrote for even if he was not the instigator of the emperor s death he was at least privy to it as he openly admitted for he used afterwards to laud mushrooms the vehicle in which the poison was administered to Claudius as the food of the gods as the Greek proverb has it At any rate after Claudius death he vented on him every kind of insult in act and word charging him now with folly and now with cruelty for it was a favourite joke of his to say that Claudius had ceased to play the fool among mortals lengthening the first syllable of the word morari and he disregarded many of his decrees and acts as the work of a madman and a dotard Finally he neglected to enclose the place where his body was burned except with a low and mean wall
According to Suetonius Nero became Emperor at the age of when the news of Claudius death was made known making him the youngest emperor at that time Although what Suetonius may have meant is that he was in his seventeenth year as his date of birth also listed by Suetonius would have made him at the time of Claudius death Tacitus in book XIII of his Annals describes Nero as being scarcely out of his boyhood at the time he became emperor Ancient historians describe Nero s early reign as being strongly influenced by his mother Agrippina his tutor Lucius Annaeus Seneca and the Praetorian Prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus especially in the first year Other tutors were less often mentioned such as Alexander of Aegae
Very early in Nero s rule problems arose from competition for influence between Agrippina and Nero s two main advisers Seneca and Burrus Agrippina also attempted to influence the young Nero Agrippina also is mentioned by ancient sources as scheming for her son Nero This scheming continued as is evidenced by the coin of the both of them It is extremely unusual to see a women s face on a coin in the ancient world It is because of this position of power Agrippina felt jealous as Seneca in particular rose up in Nero s court as he offered the advice Nero wanted to hear unlike his mother
In Agrippina tried to sit down next to Nero while he met with an Armenian envoy but Seneca stopped her and prevented a scandalous scene as it was unimaginable at that time for a woman to be in the same room as men doing official business Nero s friends also mistrusted Agrippina and told Nero to beware of his mother
Nero was reportedly unsatisfied with his marriage to Octavia and entered into an affair with Claudia Acte a former slave In Agrippina attempted to intervene in favor of Octavia and demanded that her son dismiss Acte Nero with the support of Seneca resisted the intervention of his mother in his personal affairs
With Agrippina s influence over her son severed she reportedly began pushing for Britannicus Nero s stepbrother to become emperor Nearly fourteen year old Britannicus heir designate prior to Nero s adoption was still legally a minor but was approaching legal adulthood According to Tacitus Agrippina hoped that with her support Britannicus being the blood son of Claudius would be seen as the true heir to the throne by the state over Nero However the youth died suddenly and suspiciously on February the very day before his proclamation as an adult had been set
Nero claimed that Britannicus died from an epileptic seizure but ancient historians all claim Britannicus death came from Nero s poisoning him Supposedly he enlisted the services of Locusta a woman who specialized in the manufacture of poisons She devised a mixture to kill Britannicus but after testing it unsuccessfully on a slave Nero angrily threatened to have her put to death if she did not come up with something usable Locusta then devised a new concoction that she promised would kill swifter than a viper
Her promise was fulfilled after Britannicus consumed it at a dinner party from water used to cool his wine which had already been tasted and succumbed within minutes After the death of Britannicus Agrippina was accused of slandering Octavia and Nero ordered her out of the imperial residence
Over time Nero became progressively more powerful freeing himself of his advisers and eliminating rivals to the throne In he removed Marcus Antonius Pallas an ally of Agrippina from his position in the treasury Pallas along with Burrus was accused of conspiring against the Emperor to bring Faustus Sulla to the throne Seneca was accused of having relations with Agrippina and embezzlement Seneca succeeded in having himself Pallas and Burrus acquitted According to Cassius Dio at this time Seneca and Burrus reduced their role in governing from careful management to mere moderation of Nero
In Nero became romantically involved with Poppaea Sabina the wife of his friend and future emperor Otho Reportedly because a marriage to Poppaea and a divorce from Octavia did not seem politically feasible with Agrippina alive Nero ordered the murder of his mother in A number of modern historians find this an unlikely motive as Nero did not marry Poppaea until
Additionally according to Suetonius Poppaea did not divorce her husband until after Agrippina s death making it unlikely that the already married Poppaea would be pressing Nero for marriage Some modern historians theorize that Nero s execution of Agrippina was prompted by her plotting to set Rubellius Plautus on the throne According to Suetonius Nero tried to kill his mother through a shipwreck planned by his freedman tutor Anicetus Instead it took the life of Agrippina s friend Acerronia Polla When Agrippina survived he had her executed by Anicetus and framed it as a suicide The incident is also recorded by Tacitus
In Nero s adviser Burrus died Additionally Seneca was again faced with embezzlement charges Seneca asked Nero for permission to retire from public affairs Nero divorced and banished Octavia on grounds of infertility leaving him free to marry the pregnant Poppaea After public protests Nero was forced to allow Octavia to return from exile but she was executed shortly after her return
Nero also was reported to have kicked Poppaea to death in before she could have his second child However modern historians noting Suetonius Tacitus and Cassius Dio s possible bias against Nero and the likelihood that they did not have eyewitness accounts of private events postulate that Poppaea may have died because of complications of miscarriage or childbirth
Accusations of treason being plotted against Nero and the Senate first appeared in The Senate ruled that Antistius a praetor should be put to death for speaking ill of Nero at a party Later Nero ordered the exile of Fabricius Veiento who slandered the Senate in a book Tacitus writes that the roots of the conspiracy led by Gaius Calpurnius Piso began in this year To consolidate power Nero executed a number of people in and including his rivals Pallas Rubellius Plautus and Faustus Sulla According to Suetonius Nero showed neither discrimination nor moderation in putting to death whomsoever he pleased during this period
Nero s consolidation of power also included a slow usurping of authority from the Senate In Nero promised to give the Senate powers equivalent to those under Republican rule By senators complained that they had no power left and this led to the Pisonian conspiracy
When Nero s wife Poppaea Sabina died in Nero went into deep mourning Her body was not cremated it was stuffed with spices embalmed and put in the Mausoleum of Augustus She was given a state funeral Nero praised her during the funeral eulogy and gave her divine honors It is said that Nero burned ten years worth of Arabia s incense production at her funeral
In the beginning of he married Statilia Messalina She was already married when she became Nero s mistress in AD with Statilia s husband being driven to suicide in so Nero could marry Statilia She was one of the few of Nero s courtiers who survived the fall of his reign
In Nero ordered a young freedman Sporus to be castrated and then married him According to Dion Cassius Sporus bore an uncanny resemblance to Sabina and Nero even called him by his dead wife s name
Over the course of his reign Nero often made rulings that pleased the lower class Nero was criticized as being obsessed with personal popularity
Nero began his reign in by promising the Senate more autonomy In this first year he forbade others to refer to him with regard to enactments for which he was praised by the Senate Nero was known for spending his time visiting brothels and taverns during this period
In Nero began taking on a more active role as an administrator He was consul four times between and During this period some ancient historians speak fairly well of Nero and contrast it with his later rule
Under Nero restrictions were put on the amount of bail and fines Also fees for lawyers were limited There was a discussion in the Senate on the misconduct of the freedmen class and a strong demand was made that patrons should have the right of revoking freedom Nero supported the freedmen and ruled that patrons had no such right
The Senate tried to pass a law in which the crimes of one slave applied to all slaves within a household Despite riots from the people Nero supported the Senate on their measure and deployed troops to organise the execution of slaves affected by the law However he vetoed strong measures against the freedmen affected by the case
After tax collectors were accused of being too harsh to the poor Nero transferred collection authority to lower commissioners Nero banned any magistrate or procurator from exhibiting public entertainment for fear that the venue was being used as a method to sway the populace Additionally there were many impeachments and removals of government officials along with arrests for extortion and corruption
When further complaints arose that the poor were being overly taxed Nero attempted to repeal all indirect taxes The Senate convinced him this action would bankrupt the public treasury As a compromise taxes were cut from to Additionally secret government tax records were ordered to become public To lower the cost of food imports merchant ships were declared tax exempt
In imitation of the Greeks Nero built a number of gymnasiums and theatres Enormous gladiatorial shows were also held Nero also established the quinquennial Neronia The festival included games poetry and theater Historians indicate that there was a belief that theatre led to immorality Others considered that to have performers dressed in Greek clothing was old fashioned Some questioned the large public expenditure on entertainment
In Rome burned Nero enacted a public relief effort as well as significant reconstruction A number of other major construction projects occurred in Nero s late reign Nero had the marshes of Ostia filled with rubble from the fire He erected the large Domus Aurea In Nero attempted to have a canal dug at the Isthmus of Corinth Ancient historians state that these projects and others exacerbated the drain on the State s budget
The cost to rebuild Rome was immense requiring funds the state treasury did not have Nero devalued the Roman currency for the first time in the Empire s history He reduced the weight of the denarius from per Roman pound to grams to grams He also reduced the silver purity from to the silver weight dropping from grams to grams Furthermore Nero reduced the weight of the aureus from per Roman pound to grams to grams
Between and according to Plinius the Elder and Seneca Nero promoted an expedition to discover the sources of the Nile River It was the first exploration of equatorial Africa from Europe in history However Nero s expedition up the Nile failed upon reaching the impenetrable Sudd of present day South Sudan
The economic policy of Nero is a point of debate among scholars According to ancient historians Nero s construction projects were overly extravagant and the large number of expenditures under Nero left Italy thoroughly exhausted by contributions of money with the provinces ruined Modern historians though note that the period was riddled with deflation and that it is likely that Nero s spending came in the form of public works projects and charity intended to ease economic troubles
The Great Fire of Rome erupted on the night of July to July The fire started at the southeastern end of the Circus Maximus in shops selling flammable goods
The extent of the fire is uncertain According to Tacitus who was nine at the time of the fire it spread quickly and burned for over five days It destroyed three of fourteen Roman districts and severely damaged seven The only other historian who lived through the period and mentioned the fire is Pliny the Elder who wrote about it in passing Other historians who lived through the period including Josephus Dio Chrysostom Plutarch and Epictetus make no mention of it in what remains of their work
It is uncertain who or what actually caused the fire whether accident or arson Suetonius and Cassius Dio favor Nero as the arsonist so he could build a palatial complex Tacitus mentions that Christians confessed to the crime but it is not known whether these confessions were induced by torture However accidental fires were common in ancient Rome In fact Rome suffered other large fires in and in
It was said by Suetonius and Cassius Dio that Nero sang the Sack of Ilium in stage costume while the city burned Popular legend claims that Nero played the fiddle at the time of the fire an anachronism based merely on the concept of the lyre a stringed instrument associated with Nero and his performances The fiddle was not invented until the th century Tacitus s account however has Nero in Antium at the time of the fire Tacitus also said that Nero playing his lyre and singing while the city burned was only rumor
According to Tacitus upon hearing news of the fire Nero returned to Rome to organize a relief effort which he paid for from his own funds Nero s contributions to the relief extended to personally taking part in the search for and rescue of victims of the blaze spending days searching the debris without even his bodyguards After the fire Nero opened his palaces to provide shelter for the homeless and arranged for food supplies to be delivered in order to prevent starvation among the survivors
In the wake of the fire he made a new urban development plan Houses after the fire were spaced out built in brick and faced by porticos on wide roads Nero also built a new palace complex known as the Domus Aurea in an area cleared by the fire This included lush artificial landscapes and a meter tall statue of himself the Colossus of Nero The size of this complex is debated from to acres To find the necessary funds for the reconstruction tributes were imposed on the provinces of the empire
Tacitus in one of the earliest non Christian references to the origins of Christianity notes that the population searched for a scapegoat and rumors held Nero responsible To deflect blame Nero targeted Christians He ordered Christians to be thrown to dogs while others were crucified and burned
Nero enjoyed driving a one horse chariot singing to the lyre and poetry He even composed songs that were performed by other entertainers throughout the empire At first Nero only performed for a private audience
In AD Nero began singing in public in Neapolis in order to improve his popularity He also sang at the second quinquennial Neronia in It was said that Nero craved the attention but historians also write that Nero was encouraged to sing and perform in public by the Senate his inner circle and the people Ancient historians strongly criticize his choice to perform calling it shameful
Nero was persuaded to participate in the Olympic Games of in order to improve relations with Greece and display Roman dominance As a competitor Nero raced a ten horse chariot and nearly died after being thrown from it He also performed as an actor and a singer Though Nero faltered in his racing in one case dropping out entirely before the end and acting competitions he won these crowns nevertheless and paraded them when he returned to Rome The victories are attributed to Nero bribing the judges and his status as emperor
Shortly after Nero s accession to the throne in the Roman vassal kingdom of Armenia overthrew their Iberian prince Rhadamistus and he was replaced with the Parthian prince Tiridates This was seen as a Parthian invasion of Roman territory There was concern in Rome over how the young Emperor would handle the situation Nero reacted by immediately sending the military to the region under the command of Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo The Parthians temporarily relinquished control of Armenia to Rome
The peace did not last and full scale war broke out in The Parthian king Vologases I refused to remove his brother Tiridates from Armenia The Parthians began a full scale invasion of the Armenian kingdom Commander Corbulo responded and repelled most of the Parthian army that same year Tiridates retreated and Rome again controlled most of Armenia
Nero was acclaimed in public for this initial victory Tigranes a Cappadocian noble raised in Rome was installed by Nero as the new ruler of Armenia Corbulo was appointed governor of Syria as a reward
In Tigranes invaded the Parthian province of Adiabene Again Rome and Parthia were at war and this continued until Parthia began building up for a strike against the Roman province of Syria Corbulo tried to convince Nero to continue the war but Nero opted for a peace deal instead There was anxiety in Rome about eastern grain supplies and a budget deficit
The result was a deal where Tiridates again became the Armenian king but was crowned in Rome by Emperor Nero In the future the king of Armenia was to be a Parthian prince but his appointment required approval from the Romans Tiridates was forced to come to Rome and partake in ceremonies meant to display Roman dominance
This peace deal of was a considerable victory for Nero politically Nero became very popular in the eastern provinces of Rome and with the Parthians as well The peace between Parthia and Rome lasted years until Emperor Trajan of Rome invaded Armenia in
The war with Parthia was not Nero s only major war but he was both criticized and praised for an aversion to battle Like many emperors Nero faced a number of rebellions and power struggles within the empire
British Revolt of Boudica s Uprising
In a major rebellion broke out in the province of Britannia While the governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus and his troops were busy capturing the island of Mona Anglesey from the druids the tribes of the southeast staged a revolt led by queen Boudica of the Iceni Boudica and her troops destroyed three cities before the army of Paulinus could return receive reinforcements and quell the rebellion in Fearing Paulinus himself would provoke further rebellion Nero replaced him with the more passive Publius Petronius Turpilianus
In Gaius Calpurnius Piso a Roman statesman organized a conspiracy against Nero with the help of Subrius Flavus and Sulpicius Asper a tribune and a centurion of the Praetorian Guard According to Tacitus many conspirators wished to rescue the state from the emperor and restore the Republic The freedman Milichus discovered the conspiracy and reported it to Nero s secretary Epaphroditos As a result the conspiracy failed and its members were executed including Lucan the poet Nero s previous advisor Seneca was ordered to commit suicide after admitting he discussed the plot with the conspirators
The First Jewish War of
In there was a Jewish revolt in Judea stemming from Greek and Jewish religious tension In Nero dispatched Vespasian to restore order This revolt was eventually put down in after Nero s death This revolt is famous for Romans breaching the walls of Jerusalem and destroying the Second Temple of Jerusalem
In March Gaius Julius Vindex the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis rebelled against Nero s tax policies Lucius Verginius Rufus the governor of Germania Superior was ordered to put down Vindex s rebellion In an attempt to gain support from outside his own province Vindex called upon Servius Sulpicius Galba the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis to join the rebellion and further to declare himself emperor in opposition to Nero
At the Battle of Vesontio in May Verginius forces easily defeated those of Vindex and the latter committed suicide However after putting down this one rebel Verginius legions attempted to proclaim their own commander as Emperor Verginius refused to act against Nero but the discontent of the legions of Germany and the continued opposition of Galba in Spain did not bode well for him
While Nero had retained some control of the situation support for Galba increased despite his being officially declared a public enemy The prefect of the Praetorian Guard Gaius Nymphidius Sabinus also abandoned his allegiance to the Emperor and came out in support for Galba
In response Nero fled Rome with the intention of going to the port of Ostia and from there to take a fleet to one of the still loyal eastern provinces According to Suetonius Nero abandoned the idea when some army officers openly refused to obey his commands responding with a line from Vergil s Aeneid Is it so dreadful a thing then to die Nero then toyed with the idea of fleeing to Parthia throwing himself upon the mercy of Galba or to appeal to the people and beg them to pardon him for his past offences and if he could not soften their hearts to entreat them at least to allow him the prefecture of Egypt Suetonius reports that the text of this speech was later found in Nero s writing desk but that he dared not give it from fear of being torn to pieces before he could reach the Forum
Nero returned to Rome and spent the evening in the palace After sleeping he awoke at about midnight to find the palace guard had left Dispatching messages to his friends palace chambers for them to come he received no answers Upon going to their chambers personally he found them all abandoned When he called for a gladiator or anyone else adept with a sword to kill him no one appeared He cried Have I neither friend nor foe and ran out as if to throw himself into the Tiber
Returning Nero sought for some place where he could hide and collect his thoughts An imperial freedman Phaon offered his villa located miles outside the city Travelling in disguise Nero and four loyal freedmen Epaphroditos Phaon Neophytus and Sporus reached the villa where Nero ordered them to dig a grave for him
At this time a courier arrived with a report that the Senate had declared Nero a public enemy and that it was their intention to execute him by beating him to death and that armed men had been sent to apprehend him for the act to take place in the Forum The Senate actually was still reluctant and deliberating on the right course of action as Nero was the last member of the Julio Claudian Family Indeed most of the senators had served the imperial family all their lives and felt a sense of loyalty to the deified bloodline if not to Nero himself The men actually had the goal of returning Nero back to the Senate where the Senate hoped to work out a compromise with the rebelling governors that would preserve Nero s life so that at least a future heir to the dynasty could be produced
Nero however did not know this and at the news brought by the courier he prepared himself for suicide pacing up and down muttering Qualis artifex pereo which translates to English as What an artist dies in me Losing his nerve he first begged for one of his companions to set an example by first killing himself At last the sound of approaching horsemen drove Nero to face the end However he still could not bring himself to take his own life but instead he forced his private secretary Epaphroditos to perform the task
When one of the horsemen entered upon his seeing Nero all but dead he attempted to stop the bleeding in vain Nero s final words were Too late This is fidelity He died on June the anniversary of the death of Octavia and was buried in the Mausoleum of the Domitii Ahenobarbi in what is now the Villa Borghese Pincian Hill area of Rome
With his death the Julio Claudian dynasty ended The Senate when news of his death reached Rome posthumously declared Nero a public enemy to appease the coming Galba as the Senate had initially declared Galba as a public enemy and proclaimed Galba the new emperor Chaos would ensue in the year of the Four Emperors
According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio the people of Rome celebrated the death of Nero Tacitus though describes a more complicated political environment Tacitus mentions that Nero s death was welcomed by Senators nobility and the upper class The lower class slaves frequenters of the arena and the theater and those who were supported by the famous excesses of Nero on the other hand were upset with the news Members of the military were said to have mixed feelings as they had allegiance to Nero but were bribed to overthrow him
Eastern sources namely Philostratus II and Apollonius of Tyana mention that Nero s death was mourned as he restored the liberties of Hellas with a wisdom and moderation quite alien to his character and that he held our liberties in his hand and respected them
Modern scholarship generally holds that while the Senate and more well off individuals welcomed Nero s death the general populace was loyal to the end and beyond for Otho and Vitellius both thought it worthwhile to appeal to their nostalgia
Nero s name was erased from some monuments in what Edward Champlin regards as an outburst of private zeal Many portraits of Nero were reworked to represent other figures according to Eric R Varner over fifty such images survive This reworking of images is often explained as part of the way in which the memory of disgraced emperors was condemned posthumously see damnatio memoriae Champlin however doubts that the practice is necessarily negative and notes that some continued to create images of Nero long after his death
The civil war during the year of the Four Emperors was described by ancient historians as a troubling period According to Tacitus this instability was rooted in the fact that emperors could no longer rely on the perceived legitimacy of the imperial bloodline as Nero and those before him could Galba began his short reign with the execution of many allies of Nero and possible future enemies One such notable enemy included Nymphidius Sabinus who claimed to be the son of Emperor Caligula
Otho overthrew Galba Otho was said to be liked by many soldiers because he had been a friend of Nero s and resembled him somewhat in temperament It was said that the common Roman hailed Otho as Nero himself Otho used Nero as a surname and reerected many statues to Nero Vitellius overthrew Otho Vitellius began his reign with a large funeral for Nero complete with songs written by Nero
After Nero s suicide in there was a widespread belief especially in the eastern provinces that he was not dead and somehow would return This belief came to be known as the Nero Redivivus Legend
The legend of Nero s return lasted for hundreds of years after Nero s death Augustine of Hippo wrote of the legend as a popular belief in
At least three Nero imposters emerged leading rebellions The first who sang and played the cithara or lyre and whose face was similar to that of the dead emperor appeared in during the reign of Vitellius After persuading some to recognize him he was captured and executed Sometime during the reign of Titus another impostor appeared in Asia and sang to the accompaniment of the lyre and looked like Nero but he too was killed Twenty years after Nero s death during the reign of Domitian there was a third pretender He was supported by the Parthians who only reluctantly gave him up and the matter almost came to war
In his book The Lives of the Twelve Caesars Suetonius describes Nero as about the average height his body marked with spots and malodorous his hair light blonde his features regular rather than attractive his eyes blue and somewhat weak his neck over thick his belly prominent and his legs very slender
The history of Nero s reign is problematic in that no historical sources survived that were contemporary with Nero These first histories at one time did exist and were described as biased and fantastical either overly critical or praising of Nero The original sources were also said to contradict on a number of events Nonetheless these lost primary sources were the basis of surviving secondary and tertiary histories on Nero written by the next generations of historians A few of the contemporary historians are known by name Fabius Rusticus Cluvius Rufus and Pliny the Elder all wrote condemning histories on Nero that are now lost There were also pro Nero histories but it is unknown who wrote them or for what deeds Nero was praised
The bulk of what is known of Nero comes from Tacitus Suetonius and Cassius Dio who were all of the senatorial class Tacitus and Suetonius wrote their histories on Nero over fifty years after his death while Cassius Dio wrote his history over years after Nero s death These sources contradict on a number of events in Nero s life including the death of Claudius the death of Agrippina and the Roman fire of but they are consistent in their condemnation of Nero
A handful of other sources also add a limited and varying perspective on Nero Few surviving sources paint Nero in a favourable light Some sources though portray him as a competent emperor who was popular with the Roman people especially in the east
Cassius Dio c was the son of Cassius Apronianus a Roman senator He passed the greater part of his life in public service He was a senator under Commodus and governor of Smyrna after the death of Septimius Severus and afterwards suffect consul around and also proconsul in Africa and Pannonia
Books of Dio s Roman History describe the reign of Nero Only fragments of these books remain and what does remain was abridged and altered by John Xiphilinus an th century monk
Dio Chrysostom c a Greek philosopher and historian wrote the Roman people were very happy with Nero and would have allowed him to rule indefinitely They longed for his rule once he was gone and embraced imposters when they appeared
Indeed the truth about this has not come out even yet for so far as the rest of his subjects were concerned there was nothing to prevent his continuing to be Emperor for all time seeing that even now everybody wishes he were still alive And the great majority do believe that he still is although in a certain sense he has died not once but often along with those who had been firmly convinced that he was still alive
Epictetus c was the slave to Nero s scribe Epaphroditos He makes a few passing negative comments on Nero s character in his work but makes no remarks on the nature of his rule He describes Nero as a spoiled angry and unhappy man
The historian Josephus c while calling Nero a tyrant was also the first to mention bias against Nero Of other historians he said
But I omit any further discourse about these affairs for there have been a great many who have composed the history of Nero some of which have departed from the truth of facts out of favour as having received benefits from him while others out of hatred to him and the great ill will which they bore him have so impudently raved against him with their lies that they justly deserve to be condemned Nor do I wonder at such as have told lies of Nero since they have not in their writings preserved the truth of history as to those facts that were earlier than his time even when the actors could have no way incurred their hatred since those writers lived a long time after them
Though more of a poet than historian Lucanus c has one of the kindest accounts of Nero s rule He writes of peace and prosperity under Nero in contrast to previous war and strife Ironically he was later involved in a conspiracy to overthrow Nero and was executed
Philostratus II the Athenian c spoke of Nero in the Life of Apollonius Tyana Books Though he has a generally bad or dim view of Nero he speaks of others positive reception of Nero in the East
The history of Nero by Pliny the Elder c did not survive Still there are several references to Nero in Pliny s Natural Histories Pliny has one of the worst opinions of Nero and calls him an enemy of mankind
Plutarch c mentions Nero indirectly in his account of the Life of Galba and the Life of Otho Nero is portrayed as a tyrant but those that replace him are not described as better
It is not surprising that Seneca c BC Nero s teacher and advisor writes very well of Nero
Suetonius c was a member of the equestrian order and he was the head of the department of the imperial correspondence While in this position Suetonius started writing biographies of the emperors accentuating the anecdotal and sensational aspects
The Annals by Tacitus c is the most detailed and comprehensive history on the rule of Nero despite being incomplete after the year Tacitus described the rule of the Julio Claudian emperors as generally unjust He also thought that existing writing on them was unbalanced
The histories of Tiberius Caius Claudius and Nero while they were in power were falsified through terror and after their death were written under the irritation of a recent hatred
Tacitus was the son of a procurator who married into the elite family of Agricola He entered his political life as a senator after Nero s death and by Tacitus own admission owed much to Nero s rivals Realising that this bias may be apparent to others Tacitus protests that his writing is true
In Girolamo Cardano published in Basel his Encomium Neronis which was one of the first historical references of the Modern era to portray Nero in a positive light
At the end of conflict broke out between Greeks and Jews in Jerusalem and Caesarea According to the Talmud Nero went to Jerusalem and shot arrows in all four directions All the arrows landed in the city He then asked a passing child to repeat the verse he had learned that day The child responded I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel Ez Nero became terrified believing that God wanted the Temple in Jerusalem to be destroyed but would punish the one to carry it out Nero said He desires to lay waste His House and to lay the blame on me whereupon he fled and converted to Judaism to avoid such retribution Vespasian was then dispatched to put down the rebellion
The Talmud adds that the sage Reb Meir Baal HaNess Rabbi Meir or Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes Rabbi Meir the miracle maker was a Jewish sage who lived in the time of the Mishna a prominent supporter of the Bar Kokhba rebellion against Roman rule He was considered one of the greatest of the Tannaim of the third generation According to the Talmud his father was a descendant of the Roman Emperor Nero who had converted to Judaism His wife Bruriah is one of the few women cited in the Gemara He is the third most frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah
Roman and Greek sources nowhere report Nero s alleged trip to Jerusalem or his alleged conversion to Judaism There is also no record of Nero having any offspring who survived infancy his only recorded child Claudia Augusta died aged months
Non Christian historian Tacitus describes Nero extensively torturing and executing Christians after the fire of Suetonius also mentions Nero punishing Christians though he does so because they are given to a new and mischievous superstition and does not connect it with the fire
Christian writer Tertullian c was the first to call Nero the first persecutor of Christians He wrote Examine your records There you will find that Nero was the first that persecuted this doctrine Lactantius c also said that Nero first persecuted the servants of God as does Sulpicius Severus However Suetonius writes that since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus he emperor Claudius expelled them from Rome Iudaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantis Roma expulit These expelled Jews may have been early Christians although Suetonius is not explicit Nor is the Bible explicit calling Aquila of Pontus and his wife Priscilla both expelled from Italy at the time Jews
The first text to suggest that Nero ordered the execution of an apostle is a letter by Clement to the Corinthians traditional dated to around AD The apocryphal Ascension of Isaiah a Christian writing from the nd century says the slayer of his mother who himself even this king will persecute the plant which the Twelve Apostles of the Beloved have planted Of the Twelve one will be delivered into his hands was interpreted to mean Nero
Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea c was the first to write explicitly that Paul was beheaded in Rome during the reign of Nero He states that Nero s persecution led to Peter and Paul s deaths but that Nero did not give any specific orders However several other accounts going back to the st century have Paul surviving his two years in Rome and travelling to Hispania before facing trial in Rome again prior to his death
Peter is first said to have been crucified upside down in Rome during Nero s reign but not by Nero in the apocryphal Acts of Peter c The account ends with Paul still alive and Nero abiding by God s command not to persecute any more Christians
By the th century a number of writers were stating that Nero killed Peter and Paul
The Sibylline Oracles Book and written in the nd century speak of Nero returning and bringing destruction Within Christian communities these writings along with others fueled the belief that Nero would return as the Antichrist In Lactantius wrote that Nero suddenly disappeared and even the burial place of that noxious wild beast was nowhere to be seen This has led some persons of extravagant imagination to suppose that having been conveyed to a distant region he is still reserved alive and to him they apply the Sibylline verses Lactantius maintains that it is not right to believe this
In Augustine of Hippo wrote about Thessalonians where he believed Paul mentioned the coming of the Antichrist Though he rejects the theory Augustine mentions that many Christians believed that Nero was the Antichrist or would return as the Antichrist He wrote so that in saying For the mystery of iniquity doth already work he alluded to Nero whose deeds already seemed to be as the deeds of Antichrist
Some modern biblical scholars such as Delbert Hillers Johns Hopkins University of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the editors of the Oxford Harper Collins Study Bibles contend that the number in the Book of Revelation is a code for Nero a view that is also supported in Roman Catholic Biblical commentaries
The concept of Nero as the Antichrist is often a central belief of Preterist eschatology
Manila mnl is the capital city of the Philippines founded on June by Spanish conquistador Miguel Lpez de Legazpi It is one of the oldest cities in the country and was the seat of power for most of the colonial rules of the Philippines It is situated on the eastern shore of Manila Bay and contains a multitude of landmarks some of which date back to the th century such as the Spanish colonial era Walled City of Intramuros
Manila is the second most populous city in the Philippines after the former capital Quezon City with a population of in Because of its small land area and huge population Manila is regarded as one of the most densely populated cities in the world with people per square kilometer Manila is one of the sixteen cities and a municipality that make up Metro Manila the National Capital Region of the Philippines In Globalization and World Cities Research Network listed Manila as a global city
Manila has six representative districts for the lower house of the Philippine Congress Furthermore the city is composed of districts namely Binondo Ermita Intramuros Malate Paco Pandacan Port Area Quiapo Sampaloc San Andres San Miguel San Nicolas Santa Ana Santa Cruz Santa Mesa and Tondo
The Kingdom of Tondo once ruled in the vicinity of Manila before it briefly became a province of the Hindu Majapahit Empire During the Brunei invasion of the Philippines Sultan Bolkiah of Brunei captured Seludong a village in modern day Manila and renamed it Maynil a Tagalog term referring to the presence of the Nila shrub Maynila was a vassal state of Brunei established to overpower Tondo Maynil had been Indianized since the sixth century CE and earlier It had become partly Islamic and Hindu animist by the th century CE
In Spanish Conquistadors arrived from Mexico from across the Pacific and founded present day Manila in what today is Intramuros Spanish missionaries soon Christianized the city and incorporated Tondo under Manila and then built some of the oldest churches in the country including San Agustin Church The Conquistadors renamed the area Nuevo Reino de Castilla New Kingdom of Castille and shortened the name to Manila
Manila became the center of Spanish activity in the Far East and one end of the Manila Acapulco Galleon trade route linking Spanish America with Asia one of the earliest examples of globalization Due to the central location in the Pacific sea trade routes Manila received the moniker of the Pearl of the Orient Spanish rule of Manila and the entire Philippine archipelago lasted for over three centuries until At different times during the long Spanish period there were local revolts Chinese insurrections massive pirate attacks great earthquakes Dutch raids and invasion attempts and a British occupation of the city during their unsuccessful attempt to conquer the Philippines Order was usually quickly restored and the city returned to the business of trade In the th century Manila was one of the most modern cities in Asia Before the Spanish American War Manila saw the rise of the Philippine Revolution Under the American rule following the Spanish American War the United States changed the official language from Spanish to English and made some changes in education local laws and urban planning Towards the end of World War II during the Battle of Manila most of the city was flattened by intensive aerial bombardment by the United States Air Force As a result relatively little remains of Manila s prewar and colonial architecture although there are ongoing restoration projects especially within the old walled city Intramuros
The earliest evidence of human life in and around the area of Manila is the nearby Angono Petroglyphs dated to around BC Furthermore negritos a class of Australoid peoples became the aboriginal inhabitants of the Philippines They were found across Luzon before the Malayo Polynesians migrated in and assimilated them
The Kingdom of Tondo flourished during the latter half of the Ming Dynasty as a result of direct trade relations with China Tondo district was maintained as the traditional capital of the empire with its rulers as sovereign kings and not mere chieftains and were addressed variously as panginuan ln Meranau or panginon in Tagalog lords ank banwa son of heaven or lakandula lord of the palace the Emperor of China considered the Lakans rulers of ancient Manila Kings
In the th century Manila consisted of a fortified settlement and trading quarter at the shores of the Pasig River on top of previous older towns Manila was then settled by the Indianized empire of Majapahit as referenced in the epic eulogy poem Nagarakretagama which inscribed its conquest by Maharaja Hayam Wuruk Selurong which is a historical name for the city of Manila is listed in Canto alongside Sulot which is now Sulu and Kalka
During the reign of Sultan Bolkiah from to the Bruneian Empire invaded wanting to take advantage of Tondo s China trade by attacking its environs and establishing Kota Saludong The Kingdom of Maynila They ruled under and gave yearly tribute to the Sultanate of Brunei as its satellite state They established a new dynasty under the local leader who accepted Islam and became Rajah Salalila or Tariq Sulayman I He also established a trading challenge to the already rich House of Lakan Dula in Tondo Islam was further strengthened by the arrival of Muslim traders from the Arab Indian area and Southeast Asia Manila was temporarily besieged by the invasion of Chinese pirate warlord Limahong but was thwarted by the local inhabitants before it became the seat of the colonial government of Spain
On June Spanish conquistador Miguel Lpez de Legazpi arrived from New Spain now Mexico and then exercised rule of the Spanish city of Manila as a territory of New Spain with the establishment of a city council in what today is the district of Intramuros Lpez de Legazpi had the local royalty executed or exiled after the failure of the Tondo Conspiracy a plot wherein an alliance between Japanese merchants Luzon s Huangs with several Datus and Rajahs plus the Bruneian Empire would band together to execute the Spaniards and their Latin American mercenaries and Visayan allies At the conclusion of which the victorious Spaniards made Manila the capital of the Spanish East Indies and of the Philippines which the empire would control for the next three centuries from to
Manila then became famous during the Manila Acapulco Galleon trade which lasted for three centuries and brought goods from Europe Africa and Latin America across the Pacific Islands to Southeast Asia Which was already an entrepot for goods coming from India Indonesia and China and trade also flowed vice versa Silver that was mined in Mexico and Peru were exchanged for Chinese silk Indian gems and the spices of the Southeast Asia some of which even flowed to Europe Likewise wines and olives grown from Europe and North Africa were transshipped via Mexico towards Manila
Manila was occupied by British forces for twenty months from to and used as a base for an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the Philippines during the Seven Years War Eventually the British withdrew from Manila as per agreements in the Treaty of Paris The Chinese were punished for supporting the British invasion and the small fortress city of Intramuros mostly populated by Europeans and Mexicans kept its cannons pointed at Binondo the world s oldest Chinatown
Mexican Independence in necessitated direct rule from Spain Under direct Spanish rule banking industry and education flourished more than it had in the previous two centuries The opening of the Suez Canal in facilitated direct trade and communications with Spain
The growing wealth and education attracted indigenous Chinese Indians Latinos and Europeans from the provinces to Manila all of whom elected a nascent Filipino citizenship regardless of ethnicity The developments also facilitated the rise of an illustrado class which espoused liberal ideas the ideological foundations of the Philippine Revolution which sought independence from Spain
After the Battle of Manila Spain ceded the surrendered city of Manila to the United States The First Philippine Republic based at nearby Bulacan fought against the Americans for control of the city of Manila The Americans defeated the First Philippine Republic and captured president Emilio Aguinaldo who announced allegiance to the United States on April
Upon drafting a new charter for Manila in June the Americans made official what had long been tacit that the City of Manila was not Intramuros alone but also all its arrabales The new city charter proclaimed that Manila was composed of eleven municipal districts presumably Tondo Binondo Santa Cruz Sampaloc San Miguel Pandacan Santa Ana Paco Malate Ermita and Intramuros In addition to these the Church recognized five parishes as Manileno namely Gagalangin Trozo Balic Balic Santa Mesa and Singalong Later times would add two more Balut and San Andres Bukid
Under American control a new civilian oriented Insular Government headed by then Governor General William Howard Taft invited city planner Daniel Burnham for the transformation of Manila to adapt the old city to changed times and modern needs The Burnham Plan included development of the road system the use of waterways for transportation and beautification of Manila with the improvement of waterfronts construction of parks parkways and various building for various activities
The latter included a government center occupying all of Wallace Field which extends from Luneta to the present Taft Avenue The Philippine Capitol was to rise at the Taft Avenue end of the field facing toward the sea and would form with the buildings of different government bureaus and departments a quadrangle lagoon in the center and a monument to Jos Rizal at its Luneta end Of Burnham s proposed government center only three units the Legislative Building and the building of the Finance and Agricultural departments were completed when World War II erupted
Due to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines American soldiers were ordered to withdraw from the city and all military installations were removed on December General Douglas MacArthur declared Manila an open city to prevent further death and destruction despite this the Japanese warplanes continued to bomb the city Manila was occupied by the Japanese forces on January
Manila was also the site of the bloodiest battle in the Pacific theater during the Second World War After falling to the Empire of Japan on January it was recaptured by joint American and Filipino troops from February to March Some civilians were killed in Manila in February It was the second most devastated city in the world after Warsaw during the Second World War At the end of World War II almost all of the structures in the city particularly Intramuros were destroyed but after the war reconstruction took place
In President Elpidio Quirino moved the seat of government of the Philippines to Quezon City a new capital city in the suburbs and fields northeast of Manila created in by former President Manuel L Quezon which was named after him The move ended any implementation of the Burnham Plan s intent for the government centre to be at Luneta
With the Visayan born Arsenio Lacson as its first elected mayor in all mayors were appointed prior to this Manila underwent The Golden Age once again earning its status as the Pearl of the Orient a moniker it earned before the Second World War After Lacson s term in the s Manila was led by Antonio Villegas for most of the s Ramon Bagatsing an Indian Filipino was mayor for nearly the entire s until the People Power Revolution Mayors Lacson Villegas and Bagatsing are often collectively considered as the Big Three of Manila less for their rather long tenures as the city s chief executive continuously for over three decades from but more for their indelible contribution to the development and progress of the city and their lasting legacy in uplifting the quality of life and welfare of the people of Manila
During the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos the region of the Metro Manila was created as an integrated unit with the enactment of Presidential Decree No on November The area encompassed four cities and thirteen adjoining towns as a separate regional unit of government On the th anniversary of the city s foundation on June Manila was reinstated by Marcos as the capital of the Philippines for its historical significance as the seat of government since the Spanish Period Presidential Decree No states that Manila has always been to the Filipino people and in the eyes of the world the premier city of the Philippines being the center of trade commerce education and culture
During the martial law era Manila became a hot bed of resistance activity as youth and student demonstrators repeatedly clashed with the police and military which were subservient to the Marcos regime After decades of resistance the non violent People Power Revolution predecessor to the peaceful revolutions that toppled the iron curtain in Europe ousted the authoritarian Marcos from power
In Alfredo Lim was elected mayor the first Chinese Filipino to hold the office He was known for his anti crime crusades Lim was succeeded by Lito Atienza who served as his vice mayor Atienza was known for his campaign and city slogan Buhayin ang Maynila Revive Manila which saw the establishment of several parks and the repair and rehabilitation of the city s deteriorating facilities He was the city s mayor for terms years before being termed out of office
Alfredo Lim once again ran for mayor and defeated Atienza s son Ali in the city election and immediately reversed all of Atienza s projects claiming Atienza s projects made little contribution to the improvements of the city The relationship of both parties turned bitter with the two pitting again during the city elections in which Lim won against Atienza
Lim was sued by councilor Dennis Alcoreza on over human rights charged with graft over the rehabilitation of public schools and was heavily criticized for his haphazard resolution of the Rizal Park hostage taking incident one of the deadliest hostage crisis in the Philippines Later on Vice Mayor Isko Moreno and city councilors filed another case against Lim in stating that Lim s statement in a meeting were life threatening to them On the elections former President Joseph Estrada defeated Lim in the mayoral race During his term Estrada has paid the city s over billion debts increase revenues by times from billion in to billion by spent from to an unprecedented billion for the city s infrastructure built and or renovated seven city public markets built schools increased teachers incomes modernized the six city hospitals and bought dialysis machines and magnetic resonance imaging scanners increased the efficiency of the police force and reduced crime Manila has become the most competitive city in the Philippines by making the city the best place for doing business and for living in
Despite his achievements and unprecedented feat as the Mayor of Manila however Estrada was re elected as Manila mayor in the election against Lim and Amado Bagatsing only winning by an infinitesimal votes
Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila bay which rests on the western shores of Luzon Manila lies miles kilometers from mainland Asia The Pasig River bisects Manila
Almost all of Manila sits on top of centuries of prehistoric alluvial deposits built by the waters of the Pasig and on some land reclaimed from Manila Bay Manila s land has been altered substantially by human intervention with considerable land reclamation along the waterfronts since the American colonial times Some of the natural variations in topography have been evened out due to the urbanization of the city As of Manila has a total area of square kilometres sq mi
Manila sits astride the Pacific typhoon belt and is criss crossed by several fault lines This led to Manila and its metropolitan region to be ranked as the second riskiest capital city to live in according to Swiss Re The seismically active Marikina Valley Fault System poses a threat to Manila and the surrounding regions
Manila has endured several deadly earthquakes notably in and in which destroyed the stone and brick medieval city The Earthquake Baroque style was used by the Colonial architects during the Spanish colonial period in order to adapt to the frequent earthquakes
Under the Kppen climate classification system Manila features a tropical savanna climate Kppen climate classification Aw Together with the rest of the Philippines Manila lies entirely within the tropics Its proximity to the equator means that the temperature range is very small rarely going below C F or above C F Temperature extremes have ranged from C F on January to C F on May
Humidity levels are usually very high all year round Manila has a distinct dry season from December through May and a relatively lengthy wet season that covers the remaining period with slightly cooler temperatures In the rainy season it rarely rains all day but the rainfall is very heavy during short periods Typhoons usually occur from June to September
Due to industrial waste and automobiles Manila suffers from air pollution affecting of the population Annually the air pollution causes more than deaths Ermita is Manila s most air polluted district due to open dump sites and industrial waste According to a report in The Pasig River is one of the most polluted rivers in the world with tons of domestic waste and tons of industrial waste dumped daily
Annually Manila is hit with to typhoons creating floods In Typhoon Ketsana struck Philippines In the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana the lack of infrastructure led to one of the worst floodings in the Philippines and creating a significant amount of pollution Following the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana the city began to dredge its rivers and improve its drainage network The Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission is in charge of cleaning up the Pasig River and tributaries for transportation recreation and tourism purposes Rehabilitation efforts have resulted in the creation of parks along the riverside along with stricter pollution controls
Manila has architecturally significant buildings in a wide range of styles spanning distinct historical and cultural periods Architectural styles reflect American Spanish Chinese and Malay influences Prominet Filipino architects such as Antonio Toledo Felipe Roxas Juan M Arellano and Toms Mapa have designed significant buildings in Manila such as churches government offices theaters mansions schools and universities
Manila is known for its distinct Art Deco theaters which are designed by National Artists such as Juan Nakpil and Pablo Antonio The historic Escolta Street in Binondo features many buildings of neo classical and beaux arts architectural style many of which were designed by prominent Filipino architects during the American Rule in the s to the late s Many architects artists historians and heritage advocacy groups are pushing for the revival of Escolta Street which was once the premier street of the Philippines
Unfortunately much of Manila s prewar and Spanish colonial architecture was destroyed during World War II Reconstruction took place afterwards replacing the destroyed historic Spanish era buildings with modern ones erasing much of the city s character Some buildings destroyed by the war have been reconstructed such as the Old Legislative Building National Museum Ayuntamiento de Manila Bureau of the Treasury and the currently under construction San Ignacio Church Museo de Intramuros Plans have been laid out to rehabilitate several neglected historic buildings and places such as Plaza Del Carmen San Sebastian Church and the Manila Metropolitan Theater and soon Spanish era shops and houses in Quiapo Binondo and San Nicolas will be restored to its former splendor as a part of a movement to restore Manila to its former glory
Since Manila is prone to earthquakes the Spanish colonial architects invented the style called Earthquake Baroque which the churches and government buildings during the Spanish colonial period adopted As a result succeeding earthquakes of the th and th centuries barely affected Manila although it did periodically level the surrounding area Modern buildings in and around Manila are designed or have retrofitted to withstand an magnitude quake in accordance to the country s building code
Manila is composed of fourteen districts according to Republic Act No otherwise known as the Revised Charter of the City of Manila Two were later added which are Santa Mesa partitioned off from Sampaloc and San Andres partitioned off from Santa Ana
The city has barangays that are known by sequential numbers instead of names These barangays are further group into zones for administrative and municipal purposes
The headquarters of the Philippine Coast Guard is located at the South Harbor in Port Area near Intramuros and Ermita The Philippine Navy on the other hand has its headquarters in Naval Station Jose Andrada located along Roxas Boulevard in Malate Furthermore the AFP Joint Task Force National Capital Region was created in to ensure peace and stability in Metro Manila of which Manila is a part It bears the same functions of the deactivated National Capital Regional Command although it operates on a much smaller size than its predecessor
There are an estimated million slum dwellers living in Manila as of
According to the census the population of the city was making it the second most populous city in the Philippines
Manila is the most densely populated city in the world with inhabitants per km District is listed as being the most dense with inhabitants per km followed by District with and District with respectively District is the least densely populated area with
Manila s population density dwarfs that of Kolkata inhabitants per km Mumbai inhabitants per km Paris inhabitants per km Dhaka inhabitants per km Shanghai inhabitants per km with its most dense district Nanshi having a density of inhabitants per km and Tokyo inhabitants per km
The vernacular language is Filipino based mostly on the Tagalog of surrounding areas and this Manila form of speaking Tagalog has essentially become the lingua franca of the Philippines having spread throughout the archipelago through mass media and entertainment Meanwhile English is the language most widely used in education business and heavily in everyday usage throughout the Metro Manila region and the Philippines itself
A number of older residents can still speak basic Spanish which used to be a mandatory subject in the curriculum of Philippine universities and colleges and many children of Japanese Filipino Indian Filipino and other migrants or expatriates also speak their parents languages at home aside from English and or Filipino for everyday use Minnan Chinese known as Lannang oe is spoken by the city s Chinese Filipino community
The city is a major center for commerce banking and finance retailing transportation tourism real estate new media as well as traditional media advertising legal services accountancy insurance theater fashion and the arts in the Philippines
The Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index published by the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines ranks the cities municipalities and provinces of the country according to their economic dynamism government efficiency and infrastructure Manila placed third in the Highly Urbanized City HUC category Previously Manila was the country s most competitive city in making it the best place to live in and do business
The Port of Manila is the largest seaport in the Philippines making it the premier international shipping gateway to the country The Philippine Ports Authority is government agency responsible to oversee the operation and management of the ports The International Container Terminal Services Inc cited by the Asian Development Bank as one of the top five major maritime terminal operators in the world has its headquarters and main operations on the ports of Manila Another port operator the Asian Terminal Incorporated has its corporate office and main operations in the Manila South Harbor and its container depository located in Santa Mesa
Binondo the oldest and one of the largest Chinatown in the world was the center of commerce and business activities in the city Numerous residential and office skyscrapers are found within its medieval streets Plans to make the Chinatown area into a business process outsourcing BPO hub progresses and is aggressively pursued by the city government of Manila buildings are already identified to be converted into BPO offices These buildings are mostly located along the Escolta Street of Binondo which are all unoccupied and can be converted into offices
Divisoria in Tondo is dubbed as the shopping mecca of the Philippines Numerous shopping malls are located in this place which sells products and goods at bargain price Small vendors occupies several roads that causes pedestrian and vehicular traffic A famous landmark in Divisoria is the Tutuban Center a large shopping mall that is a part of the Philippine National Railways Main Station It attracts million people every month but is expected to add another people when the LRT West Extension is constructed making it Manila s busiest transfer station
Diverse manufacturers within the city produce industrial related products such as chemicals textiles clothing and electronic goods Food and beverages and tobacco products also produced Local entrepreneurs continue to process primary commodities for export including rope plywood refined sugar copra and coconut oil The food processing industry is one of the most stable major manufacturing sector in the city
The Pandacan Oil Depot houses the storage facilities and distribution terminals of the three major players in the country s petroleum industry namely Caltex Philippines Pilipinas Shell and Petron Corporation The oil depot has been a subject of various concerns including its environmental and health impact to the residents of Manila The Supreme Court has ordered that the oil depot to be relocated outside the city by July but it failed to meet this deadline It is currently being demolished which is expected to be finished before the year ends and plans have been set up to turn this hectare facility into a transport hub or even a food park
Manila is a major publishing center in the Philippines Manila Bulletin the Philippines largest broadsheet newspaper by circulation is headquartered inside Intramuros Other major publishing companies in the country like The Manila Times The Philippine Star and Manila Standard Today are headquartered inside the Port Area The Chinese Commercial News the Philippines oldest existing Chinese language newspaper and the country s third oldest existing newspaper is headquartered in Binondo
Manila serves as the headquarters of the Central Bank of the Philippines which is located along Roxas Boulevard Some universal banks in the Philippines that has its headquarters in the city are the Landbank of the Philippines and Philippine Trust Company Philam Life Insurance Company currently the largest life insurance company in the Philippines in terms of assets net worth investment and paid up capital has its headquarters along United Nations Avenue in Ermita Unilever Philippines has its corporate office along United Nations Avenue in Paco Toyota a company listed in the Forbes Global also has its regional office along UN Avenue
Tourism is a vital industry in Manila and it welcomes approximately over million tourists each year Major destinations include the walled city of Intramuros the National Theater at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Manila Ocean Park Binondo Ermita Malate Manila Zoo National Museum of the Philippines and Rizal Park
Rizal Park also known as Luneta Park is the national park of the country and has an area of hectares acres making it the largest urban park in Asia In the Tourism Act of Rizal Park along with Intramuros are designated as flagship destination to become a tourism enterprise zone A new attraction called Paseo de Manila is expected to rise in the park The park was constructed as an honor and dedication to the country s national hero Jos Rizal who was executed by the Spaniards on charges of subversion The flagpole west of the Rizal Monument is the Kilometer Zero marker for distances to the rest of the country
Intramuros is the historic center of Manila Originally it was considered to be Manila itself at the time when the Philippines was under the Spanish Empire colonial rule Owing to its history and cultural value Intramuros and Rizal Park are designated as flagship destination to become a tourism enterprise zone in the Tourism Act of Intramuros is managed by the Intramuros Administration IA
The architecture of Intramuros reflects the Spanish colonial style and the American neoclassical architectural style since the Philippines was a colony of Spain and the United States before it is granted its independence in Kalesa is a popular mode of transportation in Intramuros and nearby places such as Binondo Ermita and the Rizal Park
Popular tourist destinations in Intramuros include the Baluarte de San Diego Club Intramuros Golf Course Cuartel de Santa Lucia Fort Santiago Manila Cathedral Palacio Arzobispal Palacio de Santa Potenciana Palacio del Gobernador Plaza Mexico Plaza de Roma San Agustin Church and the Ayuntamiento de Manila
Some of the country s oldest schools are founded in Intramuros these are the University of Santo Tomas Colegio de San Juan de Letran and Ateneo de Manila University Only Colegio de San Juan de Letran remains at Intramuros the University of Santo Tomas transferred to a new campus at Sampaloc in and Ateneo left Intramuros for Loyola Heights Quezon City while still retaining de Manila in its name in Other prominent educational institutions include the Manila High School and the University of the City of Manila
The Department of Tourism designates Manila as the pioneer of medical tourism expecting it to generate billion in revenue annually However lack of progressive health system inadequate infrastructure and the unstable political environment are seen as hindrances for its growth
Manila is a well known shopping hub of the country and it has been named as one of the best shopping destinations in Asia Major shopping malls markets and bazaars thrives in Manila
Robinsons Place Manila is the largest shopping mall in the city The mall was the second and by far the largest Robinson Mall ever built by John Gokongwei SM Supermall maintains presence in the city One of their shopping mall is the SM City Manila the first SM Supermall in the city featuring major SM brands like The SM Store SM Supermarket SM Cinemas and SM Foodcourt It is located right beside the Manila City Hall SM City San Lazaro is the second SM Supermall in Manila It is located in Santa Cruz SM City San Lazaro was constructed on the site of the former San Lazaro Hippodrome The building of the former Manila Royal Hotel in Quiapo which is famed for its revolving restaurant atop is now the SM Clearance Center which was established in The site of the first SM Store is located at Carlos Palanca Sr formerly Echague Street in San Miguel
Quiapo is referred as the Old Downtown where tiangges markets botique shops music and electronics stores are common CM Recto Avenue is where lots of department stores are located One of Recto Avenue s famous destination is Divisoria home to numerous shopping malls in the city It is also dubbed as the shopping mecca of the Philippines where everything is sold at bargain price Binondo the oldest Chinatown in the world is the city s center of commerce and trade for all types of businesses run by Filipino Chinese merchants with a wide variety of Chinese and Filipino shops and restaurants
As a result of Spanish cultural influence Manila is a predominantly Christian Catholic city As of Roman Catholics comprises of the population followed by adherents of the Philippine Independent Church Iglesia ni Cristo various Protestant churches and Buddhists Members of Islam and other religions comprises the remaining of the city s population
Manila is the site of prominent Catholic churches and institutions The Manila Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila and the oldest established church in the country Aside from the Manila Cathedral there are also three other basilicas in the city Quiapo Church Binondo Church and the Minor Basilica of San Sebastin The San Agustn Church in Intramuros is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the two fully air conditioned Catholic churches in the city Manila also has other parishes located throughout the city with some of them dating back to the Spanish Colonial Period when the city serves as the base for numerous Catholic missions both within the Philippines and to Asia beyond
Several Mainline Protestant denominations are headquartered in the city St Stephen s Parish pro cathedral in the Sta Cruz district is the see of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines Diocese of Central Philippines while align Taft Avenue are the main cathedral and central offices of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente also called the Aglipayan Church a national church that was a product of the Philippine Revolution Other faiths like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints maintains a presence in the city
The indigenous Iglesia ni Cristo has several locales akin to parishes in the city including its very first chapel now a museum in Punta Sta Ana Evangelical Pentecostal and Seventh day Adventist denominations also thrives within the city The headquarters of the Philippine Bible Society is in Manila Also the main campus of the Cathedral of Praise is located along Taft Avenue Jesus Is Lord Church also has several branches and campuses in Manila and celebrates its anniversary yearly at the Burnham Green and Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park
The city also hosts other religions There are many Buddhist and Taoist temples serving the Chinese Filipino community Quiapo is home to a sizable Muslim population which worships at Masjid Al Dahab Members of the Indian expatriate population have the option of worshiping at the large Hindu temple in the city or at the Sikh gurdwara along United Nations Avenue The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bah s of the Philippines the governing body of the Filipino Bah community is headquartered near Manila s eastern border with Makati
Manila celebrates civic and national holidays Manila Day which celebrates the city s founding on June was first proclaimed by Herminio A Astorga then Vice Mayor of Manila on June and has been annually commemorated under the patronage of John the Baptist Locally each of the city s barangays also have their own festivities guided by their own patron saint The city is also the host to the Feast of the Black Nazarene held every January which draws millions of Catholic devotees Another religious feasts held in Manila was the Feast of the Nuestra Seora de los Desamparados de Manila Our Lady of the Abandoned the patron saint of Santa Ana and was held every May Non religious holidays include the New Year s Day National Heroes Day Bonifacio Day and Rizal Day
As the cultural center of the Philippines Manila is the home to a number of museums The National Museum of the Philippines Complex which include the National Museum of Fine Arts Museum of Anthropology and the Museum of Natural History is located on the northeast part of Rizal Park facing Taft Avenue proposed national government center during the American time Museums established by educational institutions include the Mabini Shrine the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design UST Museum of Arts and Sciences and the UP Museum of a History of Ideas
Bahay Tsinoy one of Manila s most prominent museums documents the Chinese lives and contributions in the history of the Philippines The Intramuros Light and Sound Museum chronicles the Filipinos desire for freedom during the revolution under Rizal s leadership and other revolutionary leaders The Metropolitan Museum of Manila exhibits the Filipino arts and culture
Other museums in the city are the Museum of Manila the city owned museum that exhibits the city s culture and history Museo Pambata a children s museum the Museum of Philippine Political History which exhibits notable political events in the country the Parish of the Our Lady of the Abandoned and the San Agustin Church Museum which houses religious artifacts and Plaza San Luis a public museum
Sports in Manila have a long and distinguished history The city s and in general the country s main sport is basketball and most barangays have a makeshift basketball court with court markings drawn on the streets Larger barangays have covered courts where interbarangay leagues are held every summer April to May
The city has several well known sports venues such as the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and San Andres Gym the home of the now defunct Manila Metrostars The Rizal Memorial Sports Complex houses the Rizal Memorial Track and Football Stadium the Baseball Stadium Tennis Courts Memorial Coliseum and the Ninoy Aquino Stadium the latter two are indoor arenas
The Rizal complex had hosted several multi sport events such as the Asian Games and the Far Eastern Games Whenever the country hosts the Southeast Asian Games most of the events are held at the complex but in the Games most events were held elsewhere The ABC Championship and the ABC Championship forerunners of the FIBA Asia Championship was hosted by the complex with the national basketball team winning on both tournaments The FIBA World Championship was held at the complex although the latter stages were held in the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City Southeast Asia s largest indoor arena at that time
Manila also hosts several well known sports facilities such as the Enrique M Razon Sports Center and the University of Santo Tomas Sports Complex both of which are private venues owned by a university collegiate sports are also held with the University Athletic Association of the Philippines and the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball games held at Rizal Memorial Coliseum and Ninoy Aquino Stadium although basketball events had transferred to San Juan s Filoil Flying V Arena and the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City Other collegiate sports are still held at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex Professional basketball also used to play at the city but the Philippine Basketball Association now holds their games at Araneta Coliseum and Cuneta Astrodome at Pasay the now defunct Philippine Basketball League played some of their games at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex
The Manila Storm are the city s rugby league team training at Rizal Park Luneta Park and playing their matches at Southern Plains Field Calamba Laguna
Previously a widely played sport in the city Manila is now the home of the only sizable baseball stadium in the country at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium The stadium hosts games of Baseball Philippines Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth were the first players to score a home run at the stadium at their tour of the country on December
Another popular sport in the city are cue sports and billiard halls are a feature in most barangays The World Cup of Pool was held at Robinsons Place Manila
The Rizal Memorial Track and Football Stadium hosted the first FIFA World Cup qualifier in decades when the Philippines hosted Sri Lanka in July The stadium which was previously unfit for international matches had undergone a major renovation program prior to the match The Football Stadium now regularly hosts matches of the United Football League The stadium also hosted its first rugby test when it hosted the Asian Five Nations Division I tournaments
The government of Manila is divided into three branches executive legislative and judiciary The judicial branch is administered solely by the Supreme Court of the Philippines under the Metro Manila judicial region The city government have control of the executive and legislative branch Manila employs personnel at the end of
The current Mayor of Manila is Joseph Estrada who served as the President of the Philippines from He is also the head of the executive department of the city The legislative arm which is composed of six elected city councilors is headed by the Vice Mayor Former actor Isko Moreno currently serves as the city s vice mayor Altogether they are assisted by the Manila City Council the local President of the Association of Barangay Captains and the President of the Sangguniang Kabataan Their offices are located at the Manila City Hall
On September the Commission on Audit released its Annual Financial Report citing the city s income at billion with an asset worth of billion Its local income stood at billion and its national government allocation was billion having an annual regular income ARI of an estimated billion Manila s net income stood at billion in
Among the local government units Manila has the highest budget allocation to health It was also one of the cities with the highest tax and internal revenue Tax revenue accounts for of the city s income in
Manila has six legislative districts that serve as the constituencies for the election of the city s representatives to the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines and of the regular members to the Sangguniang Panlungsod SP City Council Each district elects one representative to the House of Representatives and six SP members to the council The city along with the rest of the nation elects senators as one at large district
Manila is politically divided into barangays the smallest unit of local government in the Philippines Each barangay has its own chairperson and councilors For administrative convenience all the barangays in Manila are grouped into zones These zones have no form of local government
The st District population is Manila s and the country s most densely populated congressional district It covers the western portion of Tondo that lies along Manila Bay
The nd District population covers the eastern inland portion of Tondo a neighborhood or sub district known as Gagalangin
The rd District population covers Binondo Quiapo San Nicolas and Santa Cruz
The th District population covers Sampaloc
The th District population covers Ermita Malate Port Area Intramuros San Andres Bukid and a portion of Paco except Zone
The th District population covers Paco Zone only Pandacan San Miguel Santa Ana and Santa Mesa
Manila has the most number of barangays of any city or municipality in the Philippines Attempts at reducing its number have not prospered despite local legislation Ordinance passed on April reducing the number from to by merging existing barangays because of the failure to hold a plebiscite
Manila being the seat of political power of the Philippines has several national government offices headquartered at the city Planning for the development for being the center of government started during the early years of American colonization to the country when they envisioned a well designed city outside the walls of Intramuros The strategic location chosen was Bagumbayan a former town which is now the Rizal Park to become the center of government and a design commission was given to Daniel Burnham to create a master plan for the city patterned after Washington DC These improvements were eventually abandoned under the Commonwealth Government of Manuel L Quezon
A new government center was to be built on the hills northeast of Manila or what is now Quezon City Several government agencies have set up their headquarters in Quezon City but several key government offices still reside in Manila However many of the plans were substantially altered after the devastation of Manila during World War II and by subsequent administrations
The city as the capital still hosts the Office of the President as well as the president s official residence Aside from these important institutions such as the Supreme Court the Court of Appeals the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas the Departments of Budget and Management Finance Health Justice Labor and Employment and Public Works and Highways still call the city home Manila also hosts important national institutions such as the National Library National Archives National Museum and the Philippine General Hospital
Congress previously held office at the Old Congress Building In due to declaration of martial law Congress was dissolved its successor the unicameral Batasang Pambansa held office at the new Batasang Pambansa Complex When a new constitution restored the bicameral Congress the House of Representatives stayed at the Batasang Pambansa Complex while the Senate remained at the Old Congress Building In May the Senate transferred to a new building it shares with the Government Service Insurance System at reclaimed land at Pasay
Water services used to be provided by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System which served of the city with most other sewage being directly dumped into storm drains septic tanks or open canals MWSS was privatized in which split the water concession into the east and west zones The Maynilad Water Services took over the west zone of which Manila is a part It now provides the supply and delivery of potable water and sewerage system in Manila but it does not provide service to the southeastern part of the city which belongs to the east zone that is served by Manila Water Electric services are provided by Meralco the sole electric power distributor in Metro Manila
One of the more famous modes of transportation in Manila is the jeepney Patterned after US army jeeps these have been in use since the years immediately following World War II The Tamaraw FX the third generation Toyota Kijang which competed directly with jeepneys and followed fixed routes for a set price once plied the streets of Manila
On a for hire basis the city is served by numerous taxicabs tricycles motorcycles with sidecars the Philippine version of the auto rickshaw and trisikads or sikads bicycles with a sidecars the Philippine version of pedicabs In some areas especially in Divisoria motorized pedicabs are popular Spanish era horse drawn calesas are still a popular tourist attraction and mode of transportation in the streets of Binondo and Intramuros All types of public road transport are privately owned and operated under government franchise
The city is serviced by the LRT and LRT which forms the LRTA system as distinct from the MRT which is under the MRTC system that services other parts of Metro Manila Development of the railway system began in the s under the Marcos administration making it the first light rail transport in Southeast Asia These systems are currently undergoing a multibillion dollar expansion LRT Line runs along the length of Taft Avenue R and Rizal Avenue R and the LRT Line runs along Claro M Recto Avenue C and Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard R from Santa Cruz through Quezon City up to Santolan in Marikina
The main terminal of the Philippine National Railways lies within the city One commuter railway within Metro Manila is in operation The line runs in a general north south direction from Tutuban Tondo toward Laguna The Port of Manila located in the vicinity of Manila Bay is the chief seaport of the Philippines The Pasig River Ferry Service which runs on the Pasig River is another form of transportation The city is also served by the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Clark International Airport
In Forbes magazine ranked Manila the world s most congested city Manila has become notorious for its frequent traffic jams and high densities The government has undertaken several projects to alleviate the traffic in the city Some of the projects include the construction of a new flyover at Sampaloc the construction of the Metro Manila Skyway Stage the proposed LRT Line west extension from Recto to Tondo or the Port Area and the expansion of several national and local roads However such projects have yet to make any meaningful impact and the traffic jams and congestion continue unabated The urban planning of the Manila and the whole metropolis was based on the Metro Manila Dream Plan which seeks to address the problems of Metro Manila s urban planning and transportation It consists of a list of short term priority projects and medium to long term infrastructure projects that will last up to
The Manila Health Department is responsible for the planning and implementation of the health care programs provided by the city government It operates health centers and six city run hospitals which are free of charge The six public city run hospitals are the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center Ospital ng Sampaloc Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center Ospital ng Tondo Sta Ana Hospital and Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital Manila is also the site of the Philippine General Hospital the tertiary state owned hospital administered and operated by the University of the Philippines Manila
Manila s healthcare is also provided by private corporations Private hospitals that operates in the city are the Manila Doctors Hospital Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center Dr Jos R Reyes Memorial Medical Center Metropolitan Medical Center Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and the University of Santo Tomas Hospital
The Department of Health has its main office in Manila The national health department also operates the San Lazaro Hospital a special referral tertiary hospital Manila is also the home to the headquarters of the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific and the World Health Organization Country Office for the Philippines
The center of education since the colonial period Manila particularly Intramuros is home to several Philippine universities and colleges as well as its oldest ones It served as the home of the University of Santo Tomas Colegio de San Juan de Letran Ateneo de Manila University Lyceum of the Philippines University and the Mapua Institute of Technology Only Colegio de San Juan de Letran remains at Intramuros the University of Santo Tomas transferred to a new campus at Sampaloc in and Ateneo left Intramuros for Loyola Heights Quezon City while still retaining de Manila in its name in
The University of the City of Manila Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila located at Intramuros and Universidad de Manila located just outside the walled city are both owned and operated by the Manila city government The national government controls the University of the Philippines Manila the oldest of the University of the Philippines constituent universities and the center of health sciences education in the country The city is also the site of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines the largest university in the country in terms of student population
The University Belt refers to the area where there is a high concentration or a cluster of colleges and universities in the city and it is commonly understood as the one where the San Miguel Quiapo and Sampaloc districts meet Generally it includes the western end of Espaa Boulevard Nicanor Reyes St formerly Morayta St the eastern end of Claro M Recto Avenue formerly Azcarraga Legarda Avenue Mendiola Street and the different side streets Each of the colleges and universities found here are at a short walking distance of each other Another cluster of colleges lies along the southern bank of the Pasig River mostly at the Intramuros and Ermita districts and still a smaller cluster is found at the southernmost part of Malate near the border with Pasay such as the private co educational institution of De La Salle University the largest of all De La Salle University System of schools
The Division of the City Schools of Manila a branch of the Department of Education refers to the city s three tier public education system It governs the public elementary schools public high schools
The city also contains the Manila Science High School the pilot science high school of the Philippines the National Museum where the Spoliarium of Juan Luna is housed the Metropolitan Museum of Manila a museum of modern and contemporary visual arts the Museo Pambata the Children s Museum a place of hands on discovery and fun learning and the National Library the repository of the country s printed and recorded cultural heritage and other literary and information resources
Attalea is a large genus of palms native to Mexico the Caribbean Central and South America This pinnately leaved non spiny genus includes both small palms lacking an aboveground stem and large trees The genus has a complicated taxonomic history and has often been split into four or five genera based on differences in the male flowers Since the genera can only be distinguished on the basis of their male flowers the existence of intermediate flower types and the existence of hybrids between different genera has been used as an argument for keeping them all in the same genus This has been supported by a recent molecular phylogeny
Somewhere between and species are recognised in the genus with estimates of as many as Incomplete herbarium collections make it difficult to determine whether certain groups represent single species or groups of similar species Attalea species have a long history of human use and include economically important sources of palm oil and fibre Many species are fire tolerant and thrive in disturbed habitats Their seeds are animal dispersed including some which are thought to have been adapted for dispersal by now extinct Pleistocene megafauna
The genus Attalea has pinnately compound leaves rows of leaflets emerge on either side of the axis of the leaf in a feather like or fern like pattern Species are also non spiny palms and includes both large trees with stout stems up to metres ft tall and acaulescent palms one which lack an aboveground stem The number of leaves per individual varies from about three to thirty five larger plants tend to have more and longer leaves
Inflorescences are large branched and borne among the leaves The inflorescence consists of a main axis the peduncle and the rachis and a series of smaller branches the rachillae The rachillae which bear the flowers emerge from the rachis The peduncle is the main stalk connecting the rachis with the stem Inflorescences either consist entirely of male flowers or are predominantly female with a few male flowers Fruit usually have two or three seeds although fewer or more are present in some species and are usually brown yellow orange brown or purple when mature
Four different types of male flowers exist On the basis of these flower types the genus has often been split into four genera a more narrowly defined Attalea Orbignya Maximiliana and Scheelea The species sometimes referred to Orbignya have coiled anthers while the other groups have straight ones The petals of those placed in Maximiliana are much shorter than the stamens while those placed in Scheelea and a more narrowly defined Attalea have petals that are longer than the stamens Five species do not fit easily into any of these groups this fact has been used as an argument in favour of considering this group a single genus
Attalea has been placed in the subfamily Arecoideae the tribe Cocoseae and the subtribe Attaleinae together with the genera Allagoptera Beccariophoenix Butia Cocos Jubaea Jubaeopsis Lytocaryum Parajubaea Syagrus and Voanioala Within this subtribe Attalea has been found to be a monophyletic group and sister to the clade containing Allagoptera Polyandrococos Parajubaea Butia and Jubaea
Disagreement exists as to whether Attalea should be considered a single genus or a group of related genera In their Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas Andrew Henderson Gloria Galeano and Rodrigo Bernal combined all the species in the subtribe Attaleinae as it was then defined into a single genus Attalea In his Taxonomic Treatment of Palm Subtribe Attaleinae American botanist Sidney F Glassman divided the group into five genera a more narrowly defined Attalea Orbignya Maximiliana Scheelea and Ynesa Rafel Govaerts and John Dransfield recognised a single genus in their World Checklist of Palms and Jean Christophe Pintaud continued this usage in his review of the genus
The multi genus approach is based solely on the structure of the male flowers no other characters could be consistently associated with one genus or another Four of the genera Attalea in a narrow sense Orbignya Maximiliana and Scheelea correspond to four different types of male flowers found within the genus However a few species have flowers that are intermediate between these four types including A colenda which Glassman placed in its own genus Ynesa and this has been used as an argument for the single genus approach In addition there are several hybrids between species that would be considered different genera under Glassman s five genus system which has also been used as an argument for placing them in a single genus In Alan Meerow and colleagues published a molecular phylogeny of the subtribe which found that some species placed in Orbignya were actually more closely related to species placed in Scheelea than they were to other members of that genus if the five genus approach was used while A crassispatha placed in Orbignya by Glassman was actually a sister to both Scheelea and Orbignya
The genus Attalea was first described Carl Sigismund Kunth in based on specimens collected by Alexander von Humboldt and Aim Bonpland although older pre Linnaean descriptions exist including Charles Plumier s description of A crassispatha The genus was named for Attalus III Philometor king of Pergamon known for his interest in medicinal plants The type species is A amygdalina a Colombian endemic The genera Maximiliana and Orbignya were described by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius in and respectively Scheelea was described by Hermann Karsten in and Ynesa by Orator F Cook in
Experts disagree about the number of species in the genus Attalea broadly defined In Dutch taxonomist Jan Gerard Wessels Boer estimated that there may be as many as species in the genus In their Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas Andrew Henderson and coauthors recognised species in the genus while Sidney Glassman recognised species in his treatment of the group Largely following Glassman s lead Rafal Govaerts and John Dransfield recognised species in their World Checklist of Palms An important element of this disagreement is the decision by Glassman to define species more narrowly than Henderson As a result what Henderson interpreted as variation within species Glassman took as differences between morphologically similar species This problem is complicated by the fact that many of these species are poorly represented in herbarium collections The large size of the leaves inflorescences and fruit of many Attalea species makes them difficult to collect In addition many important collections including type specimen have been lost or destroyed Sparse or incomplete collections make it difficult to differentiate variation within a single species from variation between different species
The three recent treatments Henderson and coauthors Glassman and Govaerts and Dransfield recognised a total of species but only species are accepted by all of them The remainder account for either nine species or more than For example what Andrew Henderson considered a single species Attalea attaleoides other authors have considered a species complex consisting of four or five species Glassman doubted the validity of A attaleoides as a species and described four new species from material that had previously been attributed to A attaleoides A camopiensis A degranvillei A guianensis and A maripensis Govaerts and Dransfield accepted both Glassman s four species and A attaleoides However Jean Christophe Pintaud was of the opinion that A guianensis A maripensis and A attaleoides were all very similar and thought it likely that they all represented the same species
Another species complex in Attalea includes A speciosa and related species Henderson recognised A speciosa and A spectabilis considering the latter to either be an acaulescent form of A speciosa or a hybrid between it and A microcarpa Govaerts and Dransfield accepted A spectabilis but Glassman considered it a dubious taxon Attalea vitrivir was recognised as a distinct species by Michael Balick and coauthors Glassman and Govaerts and Dransfield concurred but Henderson considered it part of A speciosa Glassman also described a fourth member of this group A brejinhoensis and it is accepted by Govaerts and Dransfield
Attalea species are monoecious male and female flowers are separate but are borne by the same plant Various species have been described as being insect pollinated including A phalerata while pollination in A colenda and A speciosa has been attributed both to insects and wind
Seed germination is remote tubular during germination as the cotyledon expands it pushes the young shoot away from the seed After germination the stem initially grows downward before turning to grow upward and produce the aboveground stem This produces a saxophone shaped belowground portion of the stem The fact that the shoot tips of Attalea seedlings are underground it likely to contribute to their fire tolerance
Species range across the Neotropics from Mexico in the north to Bolivia Paraguay and southern Brazil in the south According to Govaerts and coauthors three species are found in Mexico four in Central America and in South America Three species are present in the Caribbean two in Trinidad and Tobago along the southern edge of the region and one in Haiti
Attalea includes both large trees and small acaulescent palms which occupy a number of different ecological niches Dense stands of some of the larger species are conspicuous elements on the landscape while smaller species are found in both in the forest understorey and in savannas
Disturbance has been implicated in the formation of vegetation dominated by large Attalea species In seasonally dry Amazonian forests the density of large adult A maripa palms was correlated with canopy openness the species also dominates savannas formed by repeated forest fires in Trinidad and Tobago Attalea speciosa forms pure stands in many parts of Brazil where natural forest vegetation has been cleared Similarly stands of A funifera in Bahia Brazil which are cultivated for piassava fibre are managed using fire the seedlings survive cutting and burning and are able to dominate burned forest patches
The fruit are dispersed by animals fruit which are not dispersed frequently suffer seed predation by bruchid beetles Certain species of Attalea have been mentioned as examples of anachronistic species which are adapted for dispersal by now extinct Pleistocene megafauna On Marac Island Roraima in the Brazilian Amazon Attalea maripa fruit were consumed by tapirs collared peccaries deer and primates Rodents including agoutis fed upon the fruit and as the fruit availability declined they fed on the seeds Other dispersers of Attalea fruit include Crested Caracaras which consume the fruit and disperse the seeds of A phalerata in the Brazilian Pantanal
Attalea species have a long history of human utilisation Carbonised Attalea maripa seeds have been found in archaeological sites in Colombia dating back to BP A variety of species remain important sources of edible oil thatch edible seeds and fibre The leaves of Attalea butyracea and A maripa are used extensively for thatching Several species are oil palms with A speciosa among the most important economically Products extracted from A speciosa were reported to support over households in the Brazilian state of Maranho in and in it was estimated to support over households throughout the Brazil Piassava fibres extracted from the leaf bases of A funifera are commercially important and generated about US million in annual income to Brazilian farmers in
The Heart of Ezra Greer is a American silent drama film produced by the Thanhouser Company and directed by Emile Chautard The film focuses on Ezra Greer a successful middle aged man who searches for his college age daughter Mary The wayward Mary was romanced and abandoned by Jack Denbeigh later bearing his child Once Ezra becomes broke he finds employment as the valet for Jack Denbeigh After Jack s engagement to a cabaret girl Mary becomes upset and leaves her child at Jack s home Contrary to Jack s wishes Ezra keeps the child and Jack ultimately reveals that the child is his own Ezra convinces Jack to make things right and Ezra convinces the cabaret girl to leave Jack After a carriage accident in which the baby is injured Ezra and Jack rush to the hospital and find Mary as a nurse crying over the child The film ends with the marriage of Jack and Mary The film was released by Path on October The film was the final release from Thanhouser and was deemed to be an average film by most reviewers Criticism for the film hinged on far fetched coincidences to drive the plot The film is presumed lost
The film follows Ezra Greer a middle aged man who has worked hard since his youth He cares deeply for his motherless daughter Mary but was unable to attend the annual commencement at her co educational college He awaits for her to return from college but Mary leaves with her romantic interest Jack Denbeigh On promise of marriage and wealth Mary is romanced and gives birth to a fatherless child Without word from his daughter Ezra resigns from his job and attempts to seek her out and finds a poor motherless child Marie With Ezra s money exhausted he seeks employment and finds it as the valet of Jack
One day Mary seeks an announcement of Jack s engagement to a cabaret girl known as The Baby Vamp Bitter over the prospect of her child s future she leaves the child at Jack s home during his absence with a note Jack orders Ezra to take the baby to an orphanage but Marie begs Ezra to keep him After continually seeing the child Jack is overcome with remorse and explains to Ezra and seeks his advice Not knowing he was making the case for his own daughter Ezra convinces Jack to seek out Mary and forget the Baby Vamp The Baby Vamp seeks out Jack but finds Ezra who convinces her to leave Jack Jack s son is later injured in a coach accident and is taken to the hospital Jack and Ezra rush to the hospital and find Mary as a nurse crying over the injured child Ezra is enraged upon learning that his own daughter was mistreated by Jack but Mary steps between the two men Jack apologizes and wants to make it right The film concludes with Jack and Mary
Frederick Warde as Ezra Greer
George Forth as Jack Denbeigh
Thomas A Curran as Denbeigh s guardian
Lillian Mueller as Amy Devers
Carey L Hastings as Denbeigh s housekeeper
Helen Badgley as the poor little girl
Gerald Badgley as the millionaire s baby
The film was the final production and release of the Thanhouser Company and it was to be released through Path Numerous factors would play into the winding down and eventual closing of the Thanhouser Film Corporation with much advance notice by Edwin Thanhouser Q David Bowers writes that it was easy to understand Thanhouser s decision to retire due to numerous aspects including that releases through Path were based on their decision to release or discard the work the New Rochelle studio was miles from the center of the trade activity and the slump in industry tied to World War I Weeks before the film was released Variety told of the winding down of the Thanhouser with the studio s staff consisting of Edwin Thanhouser and the bookkeeper Jessie B Bishop The article concluded with the announcement that Lloyd F Lonergan the scenario writer of the company had retired from the company As it wound down the Thanhouser Company was announced to have no liabilities would close with a positive bank balance Little is known of the production of this final film but it was directed by Emile Chautard from a scenario written by Lloyd F Lonergan The cameraman was Jacques Bizeul
The five reel film was released through the Path Exchange as a Path Gold Rooster Play on October Charles E Wagner of the Exhibitor s Trade Review found it to be a good film with great direction and photography but was concerned that the stunt in which the baby appeared to be involved in the accident was too real Wagner stated the film had sufficient action and pathos without sexual suggestiveness which should prove a strong program for the Path program Frances Agnew of The Morning Telegraph found it to be an average picture that was not exceptional for audiences but it would hold sentimental appeal for the average viewer A reviewer for the The New York Dramatic Mirror found the film s excessive use of coincidental meetings to be highly improbable but found Warde s performance to be excellent and the rest of the cast give good performances The reviewer said that Emile Chautard had made the improbable story more plausible
Like many American films of the time The Heart of Ezra Greer was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards The Chicago Board of Censors required the cutting in Reel of a letter stating I cannot face my father etc and two closeups of gambling scenes and in Reel a change of the intertitle Because it means her whole future to Because she is his wife
Free Derry Irish Saor Dhoire was a self declared autonomous nationalist area of Derry Northern Ireland that existed between and Its name was taken from a sign painted on a gable wall in the Bogside in January which read You are now entering Free Derry The area which included the Bogside and Creggan neighbourhoods was secured by community activists for the first time on January following an incursion into the Bogside by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary RUC Residents built barricades and carried clubs and similar arms to prevent the RUC from entering After six days the residents took down the barricades and RUC patrols resumed but tensions remained high over the following months
Violence reached a peak on August culminating in the Battle of the Bogside a three day pitched battle between residents and the RUC On August units of the British Army were deployed at the edge of the Bogside and the RUC were withdrawn The Derry Citizens Defence Association DCDA declared their intention to hold the area against both the RUC and the British Army until their demands were met The British Army made no attempt to enter the area The situation continued until October when following publication of the Hunt Report military police were allowed in
The Irish Republican Army IRA began to re arm and recruit after August In December it split into the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA Both were supported by the people of the Free Derry area Meanwhile relations between the British Army and the nationalist community which were initially good deteriorated In July there was a surge of recruitment into the IRA after two young men were shot and killed by British troops The government introduced internment on August and in response barricades went up once more in the Bogside and Creggan This time Free Derry was a no go area defended by armed members of both the Official and Provisional IRA From within the area they launched attacks on the British Army and the Provisionals began a bombing campaign in the city centre As before unarmed auxiliaries manned the barricades and crime was dealt with by a voluntary body known as the Free Derry Police
Support for the IRA increased further after Bloody Sunday in January when thirteen unarmed men and boys were shot dead by the British Army s Parachute Regiment at a march in the Bogside a th man was wounded and died months later The support began to wane after the killing by the Official IRA of a local youth who was home on leave from the British Army After a Provisional IRA ceasefire during which it entered talks with the British government broke down the British took the decision to move against the no go areas Free Derry came to an end on July when thousands of British troops moved in with armoured cars and bulldozers to occupy the area
Derry City lies near the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland It has a majority nationalist population and nationalists won a majority of seats in the local elections Despite this the Ulster Unionist Party controlled the local council Londonderry Corporation from onwards The Unionists maintained their majority firstly by manipulating the constituency boundaries gerrymandering so that the South Ward with a nationalist majority returned eight councillors while the much smaller North Ward and Waterside Ward with unionist majorities returned twelve councillors between them secondly by allowing only ratepayers to vote in local elections rather than one man one vote so that a higher number of nationalists who did not own homes were disenfranchised and thirdly by denying houses to nationalists outside the South Ward constituency The result was that there were about nationalist families and practically no unionists on the housing waiting list and that housing in the nationalist area was crowded and of a very poor condition The South Ward comprised the Bogside Brandywell Creggan Bishop Street and Foyle Road and it was this area that would become Free Derry
The Derry Housing Action Committee DHAC was formed in March by members of the Derry Branch of the Northern Ireland Labour Party and the James Connolly Republican Club including Eamonn McCann and Eamon Melaugh It disrupted a meeting of Londonderry Corporation in March and in May blocked traffic by placing a caravan that was home to a family of four in the middle of the Lecky Road in the Bogside and staging a sit down protest at the opening of the second deck of the Craigavon Bridge After the meeting of Londonderry Corporation was again disrupted in August Eamon Melaugh telephoned the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association NICRA and invited them to hold a march in Derry The date chosen was October an adhoc committee was formed although in reality most of the organizing was done by McCann and Melaugh and the route was to take the marchers inside the city walls where nationalists were traditionally not permitted to march The Minister of Home Affairs William Craig made an order on October prohibiting the march on the grounds that the Apprentice Boys of Derry were intending to hold a march on the same day In the words of Martin Melaugh of CAIN this particular tactic provided the excuse needed to ban the march When the marchers attempted to defy the ban on October they were stopped by a Royal Ulster Constabulary RUC cordon The police drew their batons and struck marchers including Stormont MP Eddie McAteer and Westminster MP Gerry Fitt Subsequently the police broke ranks and used their batons indiscriminately on people in Duke Street Marchers trying to escape met another party of police and these police also used their batons indiscriminately Water cannons were also used The police action caused outrage in the nationalist area of Derry and at a meeting four days later the Derry Citizens Action Committee DCAC was formed with John Hume as chairman and Ivan Cooper as vice chairman
Another group formed as a result of the events of October was People s Democracy a group of students in Queen s University Belfast They organised a march from Belfast to Derry in support of civil rights starting out with about forty young people on January The march met with violent opposition from loyalist counter demonstrators at several points along the route Finally at Burntollet Bridge five miles outside Derry they were attacked by a mob of about two hundred wielding clubs some of them studded with nails and stones Half of the attackers were later identified from press photographs as members of the B Specials The police who were at the scene chatted to the B Specials as they prepared their ambush and then failed to protect the marchers many of whom ran into the river and were pelted with stones from the bank Dozens of marchers were taken to hospital The remainder continued on to Derry where they were attacked once more on their way to Craigavon Bridge before they finally reached Guildhall Square where they held a rally Rioting broke out after the rally Police drove rioters into the Bogside but did not come after them In the early hours of the following morning January members of the RUC charged into St Columb s Wells and Lecky Road in the Bogside breaking windows and beating residents In his report on the disturbances Lord Cameron remarked that for such conduct among members of a disciplined and well led force there can be no acceptable justification or excuse and added that its effect in rousing passions and inspiring hostility towards the police was regrettably great
That afternoon over Bogside residents built barricades armed themselves with steel bars wooden clubs and hurleys and told the police that they would not be allowed into the area DCAC chairman John Hume told a meeting of residents that they were to defend the area and no one was to come in Groups of men wearing armbands patrolled the streets in shifts John Caker Casey a local activist painted You are now entering Free Derry in white paint on the gable wall of a house on the corner of Lecky Road and Fahan Street That corner which was a popular venue for meetings later became known as Free Derry Corner On January the barricaded area was extended to include the Creggan another nationalist area on a hill overlooking the Bogside A clandestine radio station calling itself Radio Free Derry began broadcasting to residents playing rebel songs and encouraging resistance On a small number of occasions law breakers attempted crimes but were dealt with by the patrols Despite all this the Irish Times reported that the infrastructure of revolutionary control in the area has not been developed beyond the maintenance of patrols Following some acts of destruction and of violence late in the week members of the DCAC including Ivan Cooper addressed residents on Friday January and called on them to dismantle the barricades The barricades were taken down the following morning
Over the next three months there were violent clashes with local youths throwing stones at police Violence came to a head on Saturday April after a planned march from Burntollet Bridge to the city centre was banned A protest in the city centre led to clashes with Paisleyites unionists in sympathy with the anti civil rights stance of Ian Paisley Police attempting to drive the protesters back into the Bogside were themselves driven back to their barracks A series of pitched battles followed and barricades were built often under the supervision of Bernadette Devlin newly elected MP for Mid Ulster Police pursuing rioters broke into a house in William Street and severely beat the occupant Samuel Devenny his family and two friends Devenny was brought to hospital bleeding profusely from a number of head wounds At midnight four hundred RUC men in full riot gear and carrying riot shields occupied the Bogside Convoys of police vehicles drove through the area with headlights blazing
The following day several thousand residents led by the DCAC withdrew to the Creggan and issued an ultimatum to the RUC withdraw within two hours or be driven out With fifteen minutes of the two hours remaining the police marched out through the Butcher s Gate even as the residents were entering from the far side The barricades were not maintained on this occasion and routine patrols were not prevented
Samuel Devenny suffered a heart attack four days after his beating On July he suffered a further heart attack and died Thousands attended his funeral and the mood was sufficiently angry that it was clear the annual Apprentice Boys parade scheduled for August could not take place without causing serious disturbance
The Apprentice Boys parade is an annual celebration by unionists of the relief of the Siege of Derry in which began when thirteen young apprentice boys shut the city s gates against the army of King James At that time the parade was held on August each year Participants from across Northern Ireland and Britain marched along the city walls above the Bogside and were often openly hostile to the residents On July the Derry Citizens Defence Association DCDA was formed to try to preserve peace during the period of the parade and to defend the Bogside and Creggan in the event of an attack The chairman was Sen Keenan an Irish Republican Army IRA veteran the vice chairman was Paddy Doherty a popular local man sometimes known as Paddy Bogside and the secretary was Johnnie White another leading republican and leader of the James Connolly Republican Club Street committees were formed under the overall command of the DCDA and barricades were built on the night of August The parade took place as planned on August As it passed through Waterloo Place on the edge of the Bogside hostilities began between supporters and opponents of the parade Fighting between the two groups continued for two hours then the police joined in They charged up William Street against the Bogsiders followed by the Paisleyites They were met with a hail of stones and petrol bombs The ensuing battle became known as the Battle of the Bogside Late in the evening having been driven back repeatedly the police fired canisters of CS gas into the crowd Youths on the roof of a high rise block of flats on Rossville Street threw petrol bombs down on the police Walkie talkies were used to maintain contact between different areas of fighting and DCDA headquarters in Paddy Doherty s house in Westland Street and first aid stations were operating staffed by doctors nurses and volunteers Women and girls made milk bottle crates of petrol bombs for supply to the youths in the front line and Radio Free Derry broadcast to the fighters and their families On the third day of fighting August the Northern Ireland Government mobilised the Ulster Special Constabulary B Specials a force greatly feared by nationalists in Derry and elsewhere Before they engaged however British troops were deployed at the scene carrying automatic rifles and sub machine guns The RUC and B Specials withdrew and the troops took up positions outside the barricaded area
A deputation that included Eamonn McCann met senior army officers and told them that the army would not be allowed in until certain demands were met including the disarming of the RUC the disbandment of the B Specials and the abolition of Stormont the Parliament and Government of Northern Ireland The officers agreed that neither troops nor police would enter the Bogside and Creggan districts A peace corps was formed to maintain law and order When the British Home Secretary Jim Callaghan visited Northern Ireland and announced his intention to visit the Bogside on August he was told that he would not be allowed to bring either police or soldiers with him Callaghan agreed Accompanied by members of the Defence Committee he was swept along by a surging crowd of thousands up Rossvile Street and into Lecky Road where he took refuge in a local house and later addressed crowds from an upstairs window In preparation for Callaghan s visit the Free Derry wall was painted white and the You are now entering Free Derry sign was professionally re painted in black lettering
Following Callaghan s visit some barricades were breached but the majority remained while the people awaited concrete evidence of reform Still the army made no move to enter the area Law and order was maintained by a peace corps volunteers organised by the DCDA to patrol the streets and man the barricades There was very little crime Punishment in the words of Eamonn McCann as often as not consisted of a stern lecture from Sen Keenan on the need for solidarity within the area In September the barricades were replaced with a white line painted on the road
The Hunt Report on the future of policing in Northern Ireland was presented to the Stormont cabinet in early October Jim Callaghan held talks with the cabinet in Belfast on October following which the report s recommendations were accepted and made public They included the recommendation that the RUC should be ordinarily unarmed and that the B Specials should be phased out and replaced by a new force The new RUC Chief Constable Arthur Young an Englishman was announced and travelled to Belfast with Callaghan The same day Sen Keenan announced that the DCDA was to be dissolved On October Callaghan and Young visited Free Derry and on October the first military police entered the Bogside on foot and unarmed
The Irish Republican Army IRA had been inactive militarily since the end of the Border Campaign in It was low in both personnel and equipment Chief of Staff Cathal Goulding told Sen Keenan and Paddy Doherty in August that he couldn t defend the Bogside I haven t the men nor the guns to do it During the s the leadership of the republican movement had moved to the left Its focus was on class struggle and its aim was to unite the Irish nationalist and unionist working classes in order to overthrow capitalism both British and Irish Republican Clubs were formed in Northern Ireland where Sinn Fin was proscribed These clubs were involved in the formation of NICRA in In Derry the James Connolly Republican Club worked closely with Labour Party radicals with whom they set up the Derry Housing Action Committee and Derry Unemployed Action Committee The Derry Citizens Defence Association was formed initially by republicans who then invited other nationalists to join Although there were tensions between the younger leaders like Johnnie White and the older traditional republicans such as Sen Keenan both sides saw the unrest of as a chance to advance republican aims and the two shared the platform at the Easter Rising commemoration in April
The events of August in Derry and more particularly in Belfast where the IRA was unable to prevent loss of life or protect families burned out of their homes brought to a head the divisions that had already appeared within the movement between the radicals and the traditionalists and led to a split in December into the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA Initially both armies organised for defensive purposes only although the Provisionals were planning towards an offensive campaign In Derry there was far less hostility between the two organisations than elsewhere and householders commonly paid subscriptions to both When rioters were arrested after the Official s Easter parade in March Officials and Provisionals picketed their trial together At the start the Officials attracted most of the younger members Martin McGuinness who in August had helped defend the barricades initially joined the Officials but a few months later left to join the Provisionals
Relations between the British Army and the residents had steadily decayed since the first appearance of troops in August In September after clashes between nationalist and unionist crowds that led to the death of a Protestant man William King the British Army erected a peace ring to enclose the nationalist population in the area they had previously controlled Roads into the city centre were closed at night and people were prevented from walking on certain streets Although some moderate nationalists accepted this as necessary there was anger among young people Clashes between youths and troops became more frequent The riot following the Officials Easter parade in March marked the first time that the army used snatch squads who rushed into the Bogside wielding batons to make arrests The snatch squads soon became a common feature of army arrest operations There was also a belief that they were arresting people at random sometimes days after the alleged offence and based on the identification of people that they had seen from a considerable distance The rioters were condemned as hooligans by moderates who saw the riots as hampering attempts to resolve the situation The Labour radicals and Official republicans still working together tried to turn the youth away from rioting and create socialist organizations one such organization was named the Young Hooligans Association but to no avail The Provisionals while disapproving of riots viewed them as the inevitable consequence of British occupation This philosophy was more attractive to rioters and some of them joined the Provisional IRA The deaths of two leading Provisionals in a premature explosion in June resulted in young militants becoming more prominent in the organization Nevertheless up to July the Provisional IRA remained numerically small
Two men Samas Cusack and Desmond Beattie were shot dead in separate incidents in the early morning and afternoon of July They were the first people to be killed by the British Army in Derry In both cases the British Army claimed that the men were attacking them with guns or bombs while eyewitnesses insisted that both were unarmed The Social Democratic and Labour Party SDLP the newly formed party of which John Hume and Ivan Cooper were leading members withdrew from Stormont in protest but among residents there was a perception that moderate policies had failed The result was a surge of support for the IRA The Provisionals held a meeting the following Sunday at which they called on people to join the IRA Following the meeting people queued up to join and there was large scale rioting The British Army post at Bligh s Lane came under sustained attack and troops there and around the city came under fire from the IRA
The increasing violence in Derry and elsewhere led to increasing speculation that internment without trial would be introduced in Northern Ireland and on August hundreds of republicans and nationalists were arrested in dawn raids In Derry residents came out onto the streets to resist the arrests and fewer people were taken there than elsewhere nevertheless leading figures including Sen Keenan and Johnnie White were interned In response barricades were erected once again and the third Free Derry came into existence Unlike its predecessors this Free Derry was marked by a strong IRA presence both Official and Provisional It was defended by armed paramilitaries a no go area one in which British security forces were unable to operate
Gun attacks on the British Army increased Six soldiers were wounded in the first day after internment and shortly afterwards a soldier was killed the first to be killed by either IRA in Derry The army moved in in force on August to dismantle the barricades A gun battle ensued in which a young Provisional IRA officer Eamonn Lafferty was killed A crowd staging a sit down protest was hosed down and the protesters including John Hume and Ivan Cooper arrested With barricades re appearing as quickly as they were removed the army eventually abandoned their attempt
The Derry Provisionals had little contact with the IRA elsewhere They had few weapons about twenty which they used mainly for sniping At the same time they launched their bombing campaign in Derry Unlike in Belfast they were careful to avoid killing or injuring innocent people Eamonn McCann wrote that the Derry Provos under Martin McGuinness had managed to bomb the city centre until it looked as if it had been hit from the air without causing any civilian casualties
Although both IRAs operated openly neither was in control of Free Derry The barricades were manned by unarmed auxiliaries Crime was dealt with by a volunteer force called the Free Derry Police which was headed by Tony O Doherty a Derry footballer and Northern Ireland International
An anti internment protest organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association NICRA at Magilligan Camp in January was met with violence from the st Battalion The Parachute Regiment Para NICRA had organised a march from the Creggan to Derry city centre in defiance of a ban on the following Sunday January Both IRAs were asked and agreed to suspend operations on that day to ensure the march passed off peacefully The British Army erected barricades around the Free Derry area to prevent marchers from reaching the city centre On the day march organisers turned the march away from the barriers and up to Free Derry Corner but some youths proceeded to the barrier at William Street and stoned soldiers Troops from Para then moved into Free Derry and opened fire killing thirteen people all of whom were subsequently found to be unarmed A fourteenth shooting victim died four months later in June Like the killing of Cusack and Beattie the previous year Bloody Sunday had the effect of hugely increasing recruitment to the IRA even among people who previously would have been moderates
Both the Provisional and Official IRA stepped up attacks after Bloody Sunday with the tacit support of the residents Local feelings changed however with the killing of Ranger William Best by the Official IRA Best was a year old local man who was home on leave from the British Army at his parents house in the Creggan He was abducted interrogated and shot The following day women marched to the Republican Club offices in protest Nine days later on May the Official IRA declared a ceasefire The Provisional IRA initially stated that they would not follow suit but after informal approaches to the British Government they announced a ceasefire from June Martin McGuinness was the Derry representative in a party of senior Provisionals who travelled to London for talks with William Whitelaw the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The talks were not resumed after the ending of the truce following a violent confrontation in Belfast when troops prevented Catholic families from taking over houses in the Lenadoon estate
Political pressure for the action against the no go areas increased after the events of Bloody Friday in Belfast A British Army attack was considered inevitable and the IRA took the decision not to resist it On July Operation Motorman was launched when thousands of British troops equipped with armoured cars and armoured bulldozers AVREs dismantled the barricades and occupied the area
After Operation Motorman the British Army controlled the Bogside and Creggan by stationing large numbers of troops within the area by conducting large scale search operations that were in fact undertaken for purposes of intelligence gathering and by setting up over a dozen covert observation posts Over the following years IRA violence in the city was contained to the point where it was possible to believe the war was over in the area although there were still frequent street riots Nationalists even those who did not support the IRA remained bitterly opposed to the army and to the state
Many of the residents original grievances were addressed with the passing of the Local Government Northern Ireland Act which redrew the electoral boundaries and introduced universal adult suffrage based on the single transferable vote Elections were held in May Nationalists gained a majority on the council for the first time since Since then the area has been extensively redeveloped with modern housing replacing the old houses and flats The Free Derry era is commemorated by the Free Derry wall the murals of the Bogside Artists and the Museum of Free Derry
Come What ever May is the second studio album by American alternative metal band Stone Sour It was recorded and produced by the band and Nick Raskulinecz at Studio in Los Angeles California and was released on August through Roadrunner Records Writing for the album began as early as when vocalist Corey Taylor and guitarist James Root were writing material for their other band Slipknot In January Stone Sour began recording the follow up to their debut album Stone Sour during which time drummer Joel Ekman left the band due to family constraints He was eventually replaced by ex Soulfly drummer Roy Mayorga who played on all but two tracks on the album
Following the release of the album Stone Sour went on to promote it for over a year releasing five singles and touring in several regions including the United States Canada Japan and several countries in Europe The album received generally positive reviews It was praised for showing a progression in the band s song writing ability and musical style It was also certified Gold in the United States and Canada and the single was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the th Grammy Awards On June Stone Sour released a special edition version of the album it included six previously unreleased tracks and a bonus DVD which featured three music videos and a complete live performance of the band in Moscow It remains their best selling album to date mostly due to the success of the single Through Glass
In September lead singer Corey Taylor announced that Stone Sour would return with a second album He said that they had written over songs some during the writing process of Vol The Subliminal Verses the third album by vocalist Taylor and guitarist James Root s other band Slipknot and that they were working on demoing the tracks before entering the studio Dave Fortman was originally slated to produce the album however on January Stone Sour began working on the album with producer Nick Raskulinecz at Dave Grohl s personal studio Studio in Los Angeles Time in the studio began with a week of pre production during which guitarist Josh Rand says producer Raskulinecz pushed the band to the brink and back to help fine tune the songs they had previously written Though Rand and Taylor wrote most of the music and lyrics for the first album respectively writing for Come What ever May was done by all members
Following this the band set out to record tracks and work began on recording Joel Ekman s drum tracks However Ekman was forced to leave the studio after four weeks due to his young son s diagnosis of a brainstem glioma With the fate of the album in jeopardy Stone Sour recruited ex Soulfly member Roy Mayorga as a session drummer Mayorga recorded drums for all but two tracks on the album Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin performed on the track and guitarist Root performed drums on the bonus track The Day I Let Go In an interview with Revolver during the recording process vocalist Taylor talked about the differences between this album and their previous album Stone Sour He said that pressures from fans and the record label were much larger also noting that he thrives on the pressure because it gets him going While promising that the album s gonna be miles above the first one Taylor explained that it is more melodic and darker In late March drummer Joel Ekman officially left Stone Sour and the band was talking with a few drummers who could replace him On April the recording sessions for Come What ever May concluded A month later session drummer Roy Mayorga joined Stone Sour on a full time basis
It was announced in March that Stone Sour s second album which was tentatively titled Come What May would be released on July However the release date for the album was pushed back until August Due to the delay Stone Sour released a music video for the track Reborn which featured footage of the band working on the album in the studio The cover artwork from the album was released online on May Shortly after it was confirmed by a representative from the band s record label Roadrunner that the release date had been brought forward and the official release date would be August On July the day before its release the album was made available online for streaming in its entirety through AOL
On May the first single from the album was made available online as a free MP download A music video for the single was shot with director PR Brown in Los Angeles the video received a premier on MTV s Headbangers Ball on June Prior to the release of the second single from the album Through Glass radio stations throughout the US showed high support for the song A music video for the single was shot with director Tony Petrossian and was released on June online through Yahoo The third single from the album Sillyworld began receiving radio airplay in November A music video for the single was shot in January and was released online on March The fourth single from the album Made of Scars featured a music video which was recorded live on April and was posted online on June The fifth and final single from the album Zzyzx Rd started receiving radio airplay in Fall and no music video was made for the single
The band began touring in support of the album prior to its release initiating touring with several free shows in the US Followed by multiple appearances at festivals in Europe They then joined Korn for their edition of Family Values Tour across the US which featured dates across months On August Stone Sour made a special guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to promote and perform their second single Through Glass They also performed at the Japanese festival Summer Sonic midway through the Family Values Tour Then through November and December Stone Sour joined Disturbed for their Music as a Weapon Tour In January Stone Sour joined Evanescence for a Canadian tour followed by a headlining tour of Europe They then headlined the Spring Jgermeister Music Tour across the US followed by headlining tours in Australia and Japan They then started a tour in Europe playing festivals and select headline shows They wrapped up touring in support of the album with a headlining tour in the US through August and September in
On June Stone Sour released a special edition version of the album with six previously unreleased tracks and a bonus DVD The DVD featured a full concert performance by the band from October in Moscow and the music videos for Through Glass and Sillyworld When talking about the special edition vocalist Taylor said we really wanted to do something which was really cool saying that this shows the band s different musical elements and them in their live element which he says people really gravitate towards In addition to this Stone Sour released a live album of their concert in Moscow exclusively on iTunes entitled Live in Moscow
In an interview with MTV in vocalist Corey Taylor said that Come What ever May was a return to the roots of the band stating it is a lot more from the spirit of what the band started with in Noting how some songs were very atmospheric while others maintained the hard rock and the heavy stuff Jon Wiederhorn of MTV said that for every thrash riff there s a tunefully grungy passage for every flailing guitar line there s a rock radio hook When talking about the track he said parts are bludgeoning barbed and heavy while others are soaring and triumphant with the production of Raskulinecz helping balance the album s heaviness with its radio accessibility Come What ever May s lyrics include themes of pain pleasure happiness and grief The diversity in subjects is evident throughout the album songs including Come What ever May were politically influenced while the track Socio is about social anxiety attacks that vocalist Taylor suffered Zzyzx Rd is a love song written to Taylor s wife for helping him in his struggles against alcoholism and contemplation of suicide I ve never written anything like that before but it was very important for me to tell the world not only how much she saved me but how much she means to me said Taylor Taylor said there is a common thread with the lyrics throughout the album saying that they are about never forgetting where you came from who you are and why you do this
Come What ever May was met with generally positive critical reviews Several reviewers noted on how it helped to further establish Stone Sour Chad Bower of Aboutcom stated that the band had progressed a lot since their debut noting that the album was very diverse and allows the band to show many different sides of their musical personality Megan Frye of Allmusic opens her review of the album by distinguishing what sets Stone Sour apart musically stating it s their ability to create smooth radio friendly alternative metal songs while simultaneously not boring the people who have heard way too much from post grunge groups On a similar note Michael Melchor of mania said the band is much better at the craft of songwriting than many of their peers However in contrast reviewer William Fry of IGN criticized the album saying Stone Sour doesn t do anything inspired original or fresh here even calling the album completely misdirected and stonewalled A particular point of interest for reviewers was how Come What ever May is more melodic than their previous album Stone Sour Melchor of mania said the album is much more liberal with the balladry and acoustic sounds than its predecessor noting on the track Sillyworld he said it sounds like what Nickelback could be if Chad Kroeger could write a good melody In his review Chad Bower labeled Come What ever May as a very melodic and accessible album stating that it has a little something for everyone Similarly Megan Frye triumphed the album as an unyielding effort from a promising talent
Come What ever May sold over copies in its first week and debuted at the fourth spot on the Billboard in the United States and went on to be certified gold in the UK Canada and the United States In the single was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the th Grammy Awards
All lyrics written by Corey Taylor all music composed by Stone Sour
On the iTunes deluxe version the pop version of Zzyzx Rd replaced the original version as the th track
Chad sent a delegation of two athletes to compete at the Summer Olympics in Beijing China Moumi Sbergu who competed in the men s meters and Hinikissia Albertine Ndikert who competed in the women s meters and also bore the Chadian flag during ceremonies The appearance of this delegation marked the tenth appearance of Chad at the Summer Olympics the first been in Summer Olympics in Tokyo Japan and its seventh appearance since its Olympic hiatus between and Both Sbergu and Ndikert ranked seventh in their respective heats and did not advance past the qualification round As of the end of the London Olympics there have been no medalists from Chad
Chad is a landlocked country in Africa whose northern region lies within the eastern reaches of the Sahara Desert and whose southern region lies within the eastern portion of the Sahel It borders Libya to the south Niger to the east Sudan to the west and the Central African Republic to the north Chad was originally part of French West Africa until when it declared independence Some four years later the former French colony made its dbut at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo Japan For the next three decades Chad became embroiled in civil war and experienced invasions by Libya and upheavals by Sudanese backed rebels the civil war ended in although rebel threats had persisted between then and During Chad s greatest era of instability athletes from the country did not attend the Summer Olympics in Montral Canada or the Summer Olympics in Moscow USSR although delegations were sent to all other games between and
The largest Chadian delegation to reach the Olympics appeared in the Summer Olympics in Seoul South Korea and at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona Spain each time Chad s National Olympic Committee sent six athletes During the games the NOC sent the nation s first female Olympian Since then and up to the Beijing games at least one woman has been a part of the Chadian delegation The smallest contingency of Chadian Olympians occurred during the Summer Olympics in Athens Greece when only Kaltouma Nadjina competed on the country s behalf The delegation that arrived in Beijing consisted of two athletes one man year old Moumi Sbergu and one woman year old Hinikissia Albertine Ndikert both participants in track events Ndikert was Chad s flagbearer at the ceremonies Up to and including the Beijing games there has yet to have been a medalist from Chad
Competitors in athletics events could qualify for the next round of competition in two ways Qualifying by right was posting a high result in their own heat and qualifying by result was posting a high result in overall standings Ranks shown are thus those within each heat not in overall standings
Moumi Sbergu represented Chad at the Beijing Olympics in the men s meters dash Born in Sbergu first participated in the Olympics at age when he raced in the men s meters at the Summer Olympics in Sydney Australia placing seventh in his qualification heat and not progressing to later rounds He did not attend the Summer Olympics in Athens Greece but returned to the Olympics at Beijing at the age of During the course of the August races in his event when the qualification round took place Sbergu competed in the tenth heat against seven other athletes He finished the race in seconds placing seventh in the heat ahead of Tuvalu s Okinali Tinilau seconds and behind Gabon s Wilfried Bingangoye seconds in a heat led by the Netherlands Antilles Churandy Martina seconds and Japan s Naoki Tsukahara seconds Of the athletes who participated in the events the Chadian sprinter ranked th He did not advance to later rounds
Hinikissia Albertine Ndikert competed on Chad s behalf as the national delegation s only female athlete at the Beijing games She participated in the women s meters dash and was years old at the time of the competition Ndikert had not previously competed in any Olympic games During the qualification round of the event which took place on August Ndikert competed in the eighth heat against seven other athletes She finished the race in seconds placing seventh she defeated the Democratic Republic of the Congo s Franka Magali seconds and fell behind Papua New Guinea s Mae Koime seconds in a heat led by Nigeria s Damola Osayomi seconds and the Bahamas Debbie Ferguson McKenzie seconds Of the event s competitors Ndikert finished in th place Therefore Ndikert did not advance to round two and beyond
Note Ranks given for track events are within the athlete s heat only
Qualified for the next round
Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or in field events by position without achieving the qualifying target
Round not applicable for the event
Bye Athlete not required to compete in round
View of the World from th Avenue sometimes A Parochial New Yorker s View of the World A New Yorker s View of the World or simply View of the World is a illustration by Saul Steinberg that served as the cover of the March edition of The New Yorker The work presents the view from Manhattan of the rest of the world showing Manhattan as the center of the world
View of the World has been parodied by Ted Rall Columbia Pictures The New Yorker The Economist and Mad Magazine among others The work has been imitated and printed without authorization in a variety of ways The Columbia parody led to a ruling by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Steinberg v Columbia Pictures Industries Inc in favor of Steinberg because of copyright violations by Columbia Pictures The work is regarded as one of the greatest magazine covers of recent generations and is studied by art students around the world
Saul Steinberg created covers and internal drawings and illustrations for The New Yorker including its March cover titled View of the World from th Avenue This is regarded as his most famous work It is considered an example of unintentional fame Steinberg has noted that the type of fame that resulted from the work has diminished his significance to the man who did that poster The work is sometimes referred to as A Parochial New Yorker s View of the World or A New Yorker s View of the World because it depicts a map of the world as seen by self absorbed New Yorkers At one point The New Yorker applied for a copyright from the United States Copyright Office for the work It assigned the copyright to Steinberg and subsequently reproduced posters of the painting
The illustration is split in two parts with the bottom half of the image showing Manhattan s th Avenue th Avenue and the Hudson River appropriately labeled and the top half depicting the rest of the world It is a westward view over th Avenue The rest of the United States is the size of the three New York City blocks and is drawn as a rectangle bounded by North American neighbors Canada and Mexico with a thin brown strip along the Hudson representing Jersey the names of five cities Los Angeles Washington DC Las Vegas Kansas City and Chicago and three states Texas Utah and Nebraska scattered among a few rocks for the United States beyond New Jersey which is in bolder font than the rest of the country beyond the Hudson Washington DC is depicted as a remote location near Mexico The Pacific Ocean slightly wider than the Hudson separates the United States from three flattened land masses labeled China Japan and Russia Notably the image depicts the world with a back turned to Europe which is absent from the painting
The work is composed in ink pencil colored pencil and watercolor on paper and measures by inches cm cm When exhibiting this work along with alternate versions and sketches the University of Pennsylvania summarized the work as a bird s eye view of the city from Ninth Avenue in a straight line westward with space becoming ever more condensed They also described the work as a tongue in cheek view of the world New York interpreted the New York centric mind s view of the rest of the world as a set of outer boroughs as iconic National Post journalist Robert Fulford described the perspective as one in which the entire world is a suburb of Manhattan
View of the World has been imitated without authorization in a variety of ways The work has been imitated in postcard format by numerous municipalities states and nations Steinberg had stated that he could have retired on royalties from the many parodies made of the painting had they been paid a motivation for his eventual copyright lawsuit for the Moscow on the Hudson use Fulford writing in The National Post noted that the metaphor of the world as a suburb of Manhattan was understood and borrowed by the whole world Local artists especially poster artists presented similarly compelling depictions of their own provincial perceptions Fulford demonstrated the prominence of this work by mentioning that a high school in suburban Ottawa made imitating View of the World an assignment in its graphic arts class He also noted that the results of this assignment was a worldwide variety of global foci from which the students viewed the world
The illustration humorously depicting New Yorkers self image of their place in the world or perhaps outsiders view of New Yorkers self image inspired many similar works including the poster for the film Moscow on the Hudson that movie poster led to a lawsuit Steinberg v Columbia Pictures Industries Inc F Supp SDNY which held that Columbia Pictures violated the copyright Steinberg held on his work
On June during the first term of George W Bush s presidency Ted Rall presented A View of the World from Pennsylvania Avenue as a Parody of View of the World from th Avenue in a Universal Press Syndicate editorial cartoon He replaced the letters representing The New Yorker with The Bushie
The cover was later satirized by Barry Blitt for the cover of The New Yorker on October The cover featured Sarah Palin looking out of her window seeing only Alaska with Russia in the far background
The March The Economist included a story entitled How China sees the World that presents a parody that is also an homage to the original image but depicting the viewpoint from Beijing s Chang an Avenue instead of Manhattan A caption above the illustration reads Illustration by Jon Berkeley with apologies to steinberg and The New Yorker It accompanied an article that discussed the burgeoning Chinese economy at the time of the contemporary financial crisis
The October cover of Mad Magazine satirized the problems with the September release of Apple Inc s iOS mobile operating system which included Apple Maps a replacement for Google Maps The work presents what View of the World might look like if one had relied upon the September version of Apple Maps to locate various landmarks
On October American Society of Magazine Editors unveiled its list of the top magazine covers of the prior years and ranked View of the World from th Avenue in fourth place The listing stated that the work has come to represent Manhattan s telescoped perception of the country beyond the Hudson River The cartoon showed the supposed limited mental geography of Manhattanites
Bintulu bintulu Chinese pinyin Mndl Pe h e j Bn to l is a coastal town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak Malaysia Bintulu is located kilometres mi northeast of Kuching kilometres mi northeast of Sibu and kilometres mi southwest of Miri With a population of as of Bintulu is the capital of the Bintulu District of the Bintulu Division of Sarawak Malaysia
The name of Bintulu was derived from the local native language Mentu Ulau picking heads Bintulu was a small fishing village when Rajah James Brooke acquired it in Brooke later built a fort there in In the first General Council meeting now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly was convened in Bintulu It is the earliest state legislature system in Malaysia The construction of the earliest airstrip in Bintulu began in but was halted in due to financial difficulties During World War II the airstrip was heavily bombed by Allied forces The British later rebuilt the airstrip and it became fully operational in The old airport was replaced by a new airport in Bintulu remained a fishing village until when oil and gas reserves were discovered off the coast Since then Bintulu has become the centre of energy intensive industries such as a Malaysia LNG plant a Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis plant and a Bintulu combined cycle power plant The economy has also expanded into oil palm and forest plantations palm oil processing wood waste processing and cement manufacturing The port of Bintulu is the busiest in Sarawak The town is also a gateway to Samalajau Industrial Park
Among the tourist attractions in Bintulu are Similajau National Park Tumbina Park Tanjung Batu beach Jepak village Kuan Yin Tong temple Assyakirin mosque Council Negri monument Tamu Bintulu and Pasar Utama markets The Borneo International Kite Festival is held annually in the town
During the th century Bintulu was named River de Burulu by Portuguese cartographers There are several legends surrounding the name Bintulu During the Brooke dynasty the indigenous Iban people practised headhunting to maintain their social status in the community They threw the heads into the Kemena River after which the heads had to be collected from the river The practice of collecting the heads was known as Mentu Ulau picking heads in the local native language Another story relates that two Iban warriors named Bernik and Jelab built houses along the river They and their followers frequently carried out preservation of severed heads near a small river stream branching off from Sebezaw River because the river bank was flat and wide Therefore the small river stream was named Mentu Ulau river Outsiders who came to Bintulu subsequently pronounced the name as Mentulau and later the name evolved into Bentulu and finally Bintulu
James Brooke was appointed the White Rajah of Sarawak now known as Kuching by the Bruneian Empire in In the Sultanate of Brunei ceded the Bintulu region to Brooke Bintulu was a small settlement at that time A wooden fort named Fort Keppel was built in the village named after Sir Henry Keppel who was a close friend of the Rajah James and Charles Brooke Sir Henry Keppel was responsible for crushing the Dayak piracy in the Saribas between and Meanwhile Charles Brooke was a nephew of James Brooke and would later become the latter s successor as the second Rajah of Sarawak Odoardo Beccari an Italian botanist visited Bintulu in On August he started his journey on a gunboat named Heartsease which was to send to Brunei for concessions being made to James Brooke in the Mukah and Bintulu regions He went to Labuan before coming back to Bintulu He dropped off at Kemena River on August His observations of the village were recorded as follows
The fort of Bintulu which was built entirely of wood was in somewhat ruinous condition It stood nearly on the sea shore and just behind it at a distance of few paces the primeval forests commenced Some chinamen had settled at the vicinity of the fort and had built a small bazaar but the village is chiefly formed by the houses of the Melanau beyond the Chinese kampong village These Melanaus used to live further up the river but since the construction of the fort and the installation of an officer of the Rajah near the mouth of the river they came to settle near the sea a thing they would never have dared to do in former days for fear of the attacks of the Lanun pirates and Dayak pirates
The houses of the Melanau people were built in rows on both sides of the Kemena River mostly furnished by Nipah and Sago palms Each house had its own shed projection into the entrance of the river which was used for the processing of Sago palms On September the first Sarawak General Council meeting now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly took place here It was made up of elected local community members five British officers and Malay and Melanau local chiefs The Council was formed by Raja Muda Charles Brooke under orders from Rajah James Brooke The Council is the oldest state legislative assembly in Malaysia
During World War II Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke ordered the construction of airstrips in Kuching Oya Mukah Bintulu and Miri Construction of the Bintulu airstrip was started in under the direction of C W Bailey a Works and Building Inspector for the British Royal Air Force RAF All the airstrips were completed except for the Bintulu airstrip where construction was discontinued in October due to financial reasons Japanese forces landed in Miri on December Sarawak fell into Japanese hands when they conquered Kuching on December When the Japanese invaded Sarawak Charles Vyner Brooke already left for Sydney Australia before the attack while his officers were captured by the Japanese and interned at the Batu Lintang camp During the Japanese occupation the Japanese used the airstrip for military purposes However the airstrip was heavily bombed by Allied forces The British began reconstruction of the airstrip after the war during the project many unexploded bombs were unearthed
On September Japanese Field Marshal Prince Maida boarded a plane from Kuching to Labuan to officiate an airport that bears his name However he never arrived One month later the plane was found to have crashed off the coast of Tanjung Datu Bintulu The cause of the plane crash was not known The Japanese later set up a wooden pole memorial made up of Belian wood in Bintulu The wooden pole was later taken back to Japan by the family of Prince Maida
Chinese sawmill owners at Sibu and Bintulu were instructed by the Japanese to produce timber for repairs at oil fields and ship building During the Japanese occupation sawmills at Bintulu produced a total of tons of sawn timber
In the s major economic activities in Bintulu were the timber extraction industry fishing and Sago processing In the s Bintulu was still a small fishing village with a population of No roads were constructed in Bintulu until when the first untarred road was built to connect Bintulu to Miri The first bus that serviced the Miri Bintulu route was owned by Majlis Amanah Rakyat MARA The MARA bus line was an initiative by the Malaysian federal government to provide public transportation for the people The Iban villagers paid the bus driver with vegetables chickens bamboo shoots and other items Before Bintulu was connected to Kuching by sea through a ship named Swee Joo After the ship Chin Chin was added to the route It took around to hours to reach Bintulu from Kuching depending on the sea conditions Due to lack of food supplies from Kuching the villagers had to make do with limited food and several villagers resorted to hunting in the jungles to supplement the food supply
In there were only three primary schools in Bintulu These schools provided classes until Primary level There were no secondary schools Villagers could pursue their secondary school studies at either Miri or Kuching by using small boats as there were no roads connecting Bintulu to either Miri or Kuching Bintulu Government Secondary School was opened in In Bintulu celebrated the first years of the Council Negri meeting Sarawak State Legislative Assembly A stone monument was built in front of a government rice storeroom to commemorate the event Bintulu was a sub district of Miri Division in the s The sub district was upgraded into a district in
Large reserves of natural gas were discovered off the coast of Bintulu in Following this a feasibility study was done in and Tanjung Kidurong was found to be a suitable site for a deep water port On June Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd MLNG Satu was established by Petronas a Malaysian national oil and gas company for Liquefied Natural Gas LNG processing at Bintulu On July the Bintulu Development Authority BDA was established by the Sarawak state government for infrastructure development and to promote industrial investment in the area On August the Bintulu Port Authority was established at Tanjung Kidurong starting operation on January Since the establishment of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy SCORE in Bintulu become the gateway to Samalajau Industrial Park which is located kilometres mi away from Bintulu The industrial park is a centre of heavy energy intensive industry Among the companies that started their operations in the industrial park are Tokuyama Malaysia Sdn Bhd Press Metal Bintulu Sdn Bhd and OM Materials Sdn Bhd
Rural urban migration is significant in Bintulu because of greater job availability in the town Since new residents have started several squatter areas in Bintulu due to inability to find affordable housing around Kidurong Industrial estate and Sungai Sebatang To address the issue several low cost housing projects were initiated by BDA and Sarawak state government to relocate the squatters The state government planned to achieve zero squatters status by the year Bintulu also saw the rise in the number of residential and commercial properties such as double storeyed terraced houses terraced shopoffices Kidurong Commercial Centre and Time Square Shopping Mall Residential properties has shown a price increase from to
Bintulu is represented by Bintulu parliamentary seat P in the Parliament of Malaysia The town is also represented by three state assembly seats Jepak Kidurong later was split by two state assembly namely Tanjung Batu and Samalaju and Kemena in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly
Since the town of Bintulu has been administered by the Bintulu Development Authority BDA with offices located along Jalan Tanjung Kidurong The town is located within the boundary of Bintulu District with a population of and a total area of square kilometres sq mi Bintulu Division was formerly a Bintulu District under the jurisdiction of Miri Division The former Bintulu District was upgraded to Bintulu Division on January At the same time Bintulu sub district was upgraded to the present day Bintulu District Both the Bintulu Resident and District offices are located inside Wisma Residen Pisang Keling Street Bintulu
Bintulu is located kilometres mi northeast of Kuching kilometres mi northeast of Sibu and kilometres mi southwest of Miri Bintulu is located near the mouth of the Kemena River in the coastal region of central Sarawak Geology of the coastal area was formed during the Pleistocene period silt clay and gravel can be found here Geological formation from the Oligocene period is found in the inland area which contains limestone siltstone and sandstone The soil is generally soft
There are two monsoon seasons in the Bintulu the northeast moonsoon November to March and the southwest moonsoon May to September The calm period between these two moonsoons is known as the transitional period In the coastal region maximum rainfall occurs in the month of January while minimal rainfall occurs from the period June to August Rainfall is more evenly distributed in the inland areas The annual rainfall of the Bintulu region is about mm in annually The mean daily hours of sunshine at Bintulu is about to hours Bintulu receives on average to mJ m of radiation throughout the year Bintulu s relative humidity is
The growth of Bintulu s population is shown below
The issue of gangsters in Bintulu was first raised in by the member of parliament MP for Bintulu The gangsters may have run businesses related to illegal logging controlling the prices of diesel eggs fertiliser and gas cylinders Bintulu police have been cracking down on gangster activities in the town Unscrupulous businessmen who seek cheap labour have caused a rise in the number of illegal immigrants in Bintulu The number may have reached in Bintulu immigration department has performed several operations to deport illegal immigrants back to their home country
As of the Malaysian census the population of the town of Bintulu is Indigenous people accounted for the largest proportion of the town population followed by Chinese Non Malaysians and Indians Among the indigenous groups there are Iban Malay Melanau Bidayuh and other indigenous tribes According to government sources there are Iban longhouses in the Bintulu District The Ibans moved into Kemena and Tatau basins in the mid th and early th century with permission of the Brooke government Other indigenous tribes that form the minority are Kayan Kenyah and Punan The Chinese in Bintulu are mainly composed of dialect groups such as Hakka Fuzhou and Teochews The Chinese have been living in the town of Tatau since the era of Bruneian Empire Later Fuzhou Chinese from Sibu moved in dominating the timber and plantation businesses in Bintulu There is also a large number of foreigners working there Most of them come from Britain Australia the Netherlands Germany South Africa New Zealand Japan China the United States and Indonesia
While Malay is the official language of Sarawak English is widely spoken there Local ethnic languages and Chinese dialects are spoken by the respective ethnic groups Standard Chinese is also spoken by ethnic Chinese in Bintulu Bintulu is spoken by communities living along the Kemena River with native speakers These speakers are now recognised as part of the Melanau ethnic group where their main language is Malay Bintulu is classified as one of the endangered languages in Sarawak because of the isolated usage of the language in a small community
The majority of the Bintulu population are adherents of Christian denominations due to Christian missionaries operating during the Brooke dynasty followed by Islam Buddhism and Hinduism Among the notable places of worship in Bintulu are the Bintulu Mosque Masjid Assyakirin Masjid Jepak Tua Pek Kong Temple Eng Kwang Methodist Church and St Thomas Church The respective religious groups are free to hold processions in the town
There are five industrial estates in Bintulu They are Kemena Industrial Estate for wood based industries Jepak Industries Estate wood based industries Kidurong Industrial Area for medium and light industries Kidurong Light Industrial Estate medium and light industries and Bintulu Light Industrial Estate light industry
Malaysia LNG is a Liquefied Natural Gas LNG manufacturing complex located in Bintulu that currently contains eight LNG trains with a ninth one currently under construction The complex was built by the Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas The manufacturing complex has a production capacity of million tonnes per annum Petronas is also planning to open Floating LNG FLNG offshore Bintulu which is used specifically to harvest natural gas from small and isolated gas fields Transportation of natural gas from the neighouring state of Kimanis Sabah to the LNG complex at Bintulu is facilitated by a kilometre mi pipeline known as the Sabah Sarawak Gas Pipeline Currently of Malaysian natural gas is found at Central Luconia off the coast of Bintulu The largest importers of Malaysia LNG productions are Japan Korea Taiwan and China
The Sarawak Shell Bintulu Plant SSBP formerly known as Bintulu Crude Oil Terminal BCOT was established in It consists of three crude oil storage tanks each with a capacity of barrels It has three major areas of operation Crude Oil Operations Condensate Stabilisation and Gas Sales Facilities Royal Dutch Shell started to establish the world s first Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis plant Shell MDS in It is also known as Bintulu Gas To Liquid plant Bintulu GTL The plant has a production capacity of barrels per day with a total investment of over US billion as of the year The plant is staffed with people of whom are Malaysians with of the staff coming from Sarawak
Since the opening up of the Bintulu Miri road in the s large scale plantations of oil palm and cocoa has been developed in rural areas of Bintulu Division Currently there are hectares km sq mi of oil palm hectares km sq mi of Rattan and hectares km sq mi of pepper plantations
The first Bintulu palm oil refinery Bintulu Edible Oil Sdn Bhd was established in June Bintulu currently has four palm oil refineries Bintulu Edible Oils Sdn Bhd operated under PGEO Group a subsidiary of Wilmar International Sime Darby Austral Edible Oil Sdn Bhd Kirana Palm Oil Refinery Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Oil Palm Bhd However as of Wilmar no longer buys raw palm oil produced from cleared forests and peat swamps in Sarawak because of environmental concerns
The Bintulu Division has been designated as a Planted Forests Zone PFZ by the Sarawak state government since As of June a total of hectares km sq mi has been planted with acacia trees Other trees that are planned for plantations are kelampayan engkabang durian batai eucalyptus and rubber trees Sarawak Planted Forest Sdn Bhd a company wholly owned by the Sarawak state government has been granted a license to replant forests for years However the company has been suffering financial losses from to
There are three mills in Bintulu that process wood waste products Two are Medium density fibreboard MDF plants and the third is a charcoal briquette plant with a total installed capacity of cubic metres cu ft per year MDF plants utilise wood waste purchased from sawmills and plywood mills in the Bintulu area and occasionally from the Tanjung Manis timber processing zone located at the mouth of the Rajang River Synthetic resins which are required to hold wood dust together constituted of the total production cost of the wood panel products MDF plants in Bintulu are operated by Daiken Sarawak Sdn Bhd which was founded on February The briquette plant is operated by Cipta Briquette Sdn Bhd A glue adhesive factory in Bintulu is owned by Bintulu Adhesive Chemicals Sdn Bhd It produces urea formaldehyde resin and phenol formaldehyde resin for plywood and chipboard manufacturing at Kemena Industrial Estate Urea precondensate is also produced to supply ASEAN Bintulu Fertiliser ABF plant
The Bintulu Port Authority was established in It started port operation in at Tanjung Kidurong Following a privatisation exercise Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd BPSB was founded on December and commenced operation on January BPA is currently responsible for regulatory exercises and security of the port Meanwhile BPSB is responsible for cargo handling at the Bintulu International Container Terminal BICT The port also provides Vessel traffic service to shipping vessels The annual total cargo throughput is million tonnes consisting of LNG and non LNG products As of December it generated a total revenue of RM million per year Bintulu Port is the busiest port in Sarawak
The ASEAN Bintulu Fertiliser plant is the anhydrous ammonia and granular plant operated by ASEAN Bintulu Fertiliser Sdn Bhd ABF which is partly owned by Petronas The company was formed on December The plant started operation on October It is also one of the largest granular urea plants in Asia It is a joint venture by five ASEAN countries Malaysia shares Thailand Indonesia the Philippines and Singapore
Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad CMSB one of the largest publicly traded companies in Sarawak set up a cement plant in Bintulu at Kidurong Industrial Estate The plant manned by people produces ordinary Portland cement and Portland blast furnace cement It currently has a combined production capacity of million MT million tonnes
The Bintulu combined cycle power plant was started in early with a capacity of megawatts The power plant is registered under the United Nations Clean Development Management CDM scheme as of September The plant is built to ensure efficient use of energy and reduce green house gas emissions It is the first CDM power plant in Malaysia currently operated by Sarawak Power Generation Sdn Bhd SPG a wholly owned subsidiary of Sarawak Energy
All roads in Bintulu are maintained by the Bintulu Development Authority BDA Bintulu is connected to Miri and Sibu by the Pan Borneo Highway Bintulu is also connected to Mukah and Samalaju Industrial Park Kemena Bridge crosses the Kemena River It is the second bridge in Malaysia built using the incremental launch method Keppel Road in Bintulu is named after a friend of James Brooke Sir Henry Keppel
Bintulu has a long distance bus station located at Medan Jaya km mi northeast of the town centre Among the areas served by the bus station are Miri Sibu Kuching Mukah Sarikei Oya Dalat Balingian and Pontianak Indonesia The bus companies that serve the station are the Syarikat Baram Sdn Bhd MTC Biaramas and Suria bus lines There are also buses that serve the town area Taxi service is also available
The old Bintulu airport was built in in the town centre It once held the Guinness World Record of nearest airport to town On December the airport was replaced by a new airport which is located km mi away from the town centre The surroundings of the old airport were developed into commercial and residential projects while the runaway is reserved for Bintulu International Kite Festival The new airport has a runway measuring m ft capable of handling planes as large as the Airbus A The airport currently serves three major airlines Malaysia Airlines MAS Air Asia and MASwings connecting to domestic destinations such as Sibu Miri Kuching Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu
There is a wharf terminal at Bintulu that serves the rural areas of Bintulu Division Among the destinations that can be reached by express boat from Bintulu are Sebauh Pandan Labang Tubau and Binyo
The current court complex is located at Pisang Emas Road It comprises the High Court the Sessions Court and the Magistrate Court Bintulu also has Syariah Subordinate Court located at Tanjung Kidurong whose area of jurisdiction covers Bintulu District and Tatau districts The Bintulu central police station is located at Tun Hussein Onn Road with other police stations located at Tanjung Kidurong Tubau and Sebauh There is also a central prison in Bintulu which doubles as a correctional centre
Bintulu Hospital started operation in It is located at Nyabau Road km mi from the town centre Following renovations completed on May the hospital is now equipped with beds As of the hospital provides speciality services in seven medical disciplines Bintulu also has one polyclinic Polyclinic Bintulu There are two private hospitals in Bintulu Columbia Asia Hospital and Bintulu Medical Centre
There are about primary and eight secondary schools in Bintulu All the schools under the National Education System are managed by the Bintulu District Education Office The oldest primary schools in Miri are St Anthony s Primary School Roman Catholic Mission School Chung Hua Primary School and the Orang Kaya Mohammad Primary School which were established in the early s The Bintulu Government Secondary School was built in It is now known as SMK Bintulu the oldest secondary school in the town Bintulu also has one Chinese independent school Kai Dee Middle School The Shell Oil Company established the Kidurong International School in to meet the primary education needs of Shell employees children The school provides English National Curriculum ENC for literacy and numeracy and International Primary Curriculum IPC for other subjects
UPM Bintulu Sarawak Campus was started as the National Resource Training Centre Kuching in The oldest campus in Sarawak it was relocated to Bintulu in as a branch campus of the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia UPM The campus was closed down in before reopening in as Universiti Putra Malaysia UPM During this period of closure the campus was used as the site for Maktab Perguruan Sains Bintulu Bintulu Science Teachers Training College from to July when it was moved to Kota Samarahan as Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Tun Abdul Razak Tun Abdul Razak Teachers Training Institute Campus The UPM campus is currently located km mi away from the town centre occupying ha acres which can accommodate up to students This branch campus currently has only one faculty the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences consisting of five academic departments In UPM was ranked st in the UI Greenmetric World University rankings SEDAMAI College established in November offers courses in business information technology language and engineering
There is also a technical school located km mi away from the town near Tanjung Kidurong occupying ha acres of land The school was built in with a maximum capacity of students Among the courses offered are automotive mechanical and civil engineering commerce and fashion Gulf Golden International Flying Academy GGIFA the first and only flying academy in Sarawak was closed in due to financial difficulties
The first public library in Bintulu was built in by Bintulu District Council BDC In the library was demolished to make way for car parks Books from the library were moved into the former BDC building On May the Bintulu Development Authority BDA public library was built near the Bintulu Civic Centre which is km mi from the town The public library has three branches at Kidurong Tatau and Sebauh
Kampung Jepak Jepak village is a Melanau fishing village in Bintulu located near Kemena River Among the daily activities in this village are Sago processing fish drying and the manufacturing of Belacan Cencaluk salted shrimp Terendak Melanau headgear and Tutop a type of food cover Kuan Yin Tong temple is located at KM Jalan Sultan Iskandar It has a structural design with a rock garden courtyard man made waterfall and dragon fencing Assyakirin mosque meaning Gratefulness to God has a man made waterfall a fountain and a landscape planted with flowers The Borneo International Kite Festival has been held yearly since at the old Bintulu airport runway It usually lasts for four to five days in September
In a clock tower and a fountain were erected at Council Negri Monument A centenary stone that was erected in to commemorate the event is kept under the clock tower The Bintulu Tua Pek Kong temple near Tamu Bintulu is believed to have been built in the s to purge the town from evil spirits The temple survived World War II and was rebuilt after the discovery of oil and gas reserves offshore
Similajau National Park is located km mi northeast of the town The park was gazetted in covering an area of ha acres km sq mi with sandy beaches rocky headlands jungle streams and forests Other national parks that can be accessed along the Miri Bintulu road are the Lambir Hills National Park and Niah National Park
Tanjung Batu beach Temasya beach is located km mi from the town centre Meanwhile Taman Tumbina Tumbina Park is located km mi from the town centre The park has a hornbill aviary a butterfly garden and a mini zoo
Kidurong Tower is an observation tower located at Tanjung Kidurong It offers a view of the Bintulu oil and gas facilities shortly after nightfall Bintulu Promenade is a kilometre mi walkway along the Bintulu coastline with the Kemena River mouth as its focal point It has the observation points offering sunset views There is also an hole golf course at Bintulu
There are several shopping malls in Bintulu ParkCity Mall City Point Ngiu Kee Departmental Stores Farley shopping complex Sing Kwong Supermarkets and MDS Mart Time Square Mall is currently under development in Bintulu with Everrise as the anchor tenant
Tamu Bintulu and Pasar Utama are the two main markets in the town Both places have a unique cone shaped roof that symbolises the traditional Melanau headgear named Terendak Tamu Bintulu offers items ranging from jungle produce to native home made specialties such as Belacan Meanwhile Pasar Utama houses both wet market and dry market under one roof providing fresh vegetables fruits fish and dairy products The first floor of Pasar Utama offers a variety of fast food such as Laksa Kolok Mee Jawa Mee Pulut Panggang ais batu campur cendol and teh tarik The Bintulu night market is located on Kampung Dagang road There are over stalls selling a variety of items such as garments electric goods vegetables fruits food and drinks
The Zrinski Battalion Croatian Bojna Zrinski was a special forces unit of the Croatian National Guard Zbor narodne garde ZNG and later of the Croatian Army Hrvatska vojska HV established in Kumrovec on May during the Croatian War of Independence The unit drew personnel from the special police forces and a former French Foreign Legion troops serving as its core The battalion was set up and initially commanded by Ante Roso while Major Miljenko Filipovi took over as the commanding officer in August
The Zrinski Battalion trained volunteer troops in Vukovar in June before it saw action in Hrvatska Kostajnica the Battle of Gospi and near Slano in By the end of the unit s personnel were tasked with setting up an additional special forces unit of the HV The next year its elements took part in the Battle of Kupres and Operation Tiger aimed at lifting the Siege of Dubrovnik It also and helped develop and train the Croatian Defence Council Hrvatsko vijee obrane HVO setting up a training camp in Tomislavgrad In the battalion took part in Operation Maslenica In February the Zrinski Battalion was amalgamated with several other HV special forces units into the st Croatian Guards Brigade hrvatski gardijski zdrug a component of the st Croatian Guards Corps hrvatski gardijski zbor
In following the electoral defeat of the government of the Socialist Republic of Croatia ethnic tensions between Croats and Croatian Serbs worsened The Yugoslav People s Army Jugoslavenska narodna armija JNA believed Croatia would use the Croatian Territorial Defence Force s Teritorijalna obrana TO equipment to build its own army and confront the JNA itself In order to minimize the expected resistance the JNA confiscated the TO weapons On August the tensions escalated into an open revolt of the Croatian Serbs
In the beginning of Croatia had no regular army In an effort to bolster its defence Croatia doubled the size of its police force to about The most effective part of the force was the strong special police that were deployed in battalions adopting military organisation In addition there were regionally organised reserve police The reserve police were set up in battalions and companies but they lacked weapons needed to arm many of the troops
Preparations to set up the Croatian National Guard Zbor narodne garde ZNG began on April Establishment of the ZNG as a police force with military capabilities was thought necessary by the Croatian authorities following armed clashes in Pakrac and at Plitvice Lakes in March and due to the possibility of further confrontation with the JNA The ZNG formally established on April was tasked with protection of the constitutional order maintenance of public order anti terrorist operations protection of Croatia s borders territory coast and territorial waters as well as the protection of high value structures and high profile persons
On May the Zrinski Battalion was established as a special forces unit of the ZNG The core of the unit consisted of volunteers drawn from the Kumrovec Special Police Unit SPU Initially it relied on former French Foreign Legion troops The most senior among the former legionnaires was Ante Roso previously a Sous Officier non commissioned officer NCO in the th Foreign Regiment In consequence Roso was tasked with setting up the unit as its initial commander Major Miljenko Filipovi likewise a former French Foreign Legion member was assigned the battalions deputy commander The unit was based in the village of Kumrovec in the region of Hrvatsko Zagorje on the grounds of the former Josip Broz Tito political school The site adjacent to the border of Slovenia was selected to be inaccessible to Yugoslav Air Force raids without violation of Slovene or possibly Austrian airspace In June the Kumrovec SPU was transferred to Sljeme Peak north of Zagreb leaving Kumrovec base to the Zrinski Battalion as well as the second special forces unit the Frankopan Battalion
The Zrinski Battalion was deployed for the first time on June It was stationed in Vukovar tasked with preparation of city defences and organisation of volunteer troops In August Filipovi took over command of the battalion from Roso The same month the Zrinski Battalion was deployed to the Banovina where it pushed the Croatian Serb forces out of the town of Hrvatska Kostajnica In September the battalion was deployed to Gospi where it took part in battle to control Gospi against the JNA Troops assigned to the battalion captured Kania barracks in Gospi During combat in Gospi troops of the Zrinski Battalion assisted by Luko SPU captured JNA Major General Traje Krstevski along with three armoured personnel carriers APCs and soldiers The unit was deployed to Metkovi on October tasked with recapturing Slano from the JNA After the deployment to Gospi a part of the unit personnel left to Bosnia and Herzegovina anticipating further conflict there while the remainder of the unit returned to Kumrovec The ZNG was renamed the Croatian Army Hrvatska vojska HV on November In late personnel of the Zrinski Battalion set up another special forces unit of the HV the Matija Vlai Battalion based in Opatija
In elements of the Zrinski Battalion took part in the Battle of Kupres before setting up a training camp in the town of Tomislavgrad There the battalion personnel assisted in setting up and trained the Croatian Defence Council Hrvatsko vijee obrane HVO Later that year elements of the battalion took part in Operation Tiger aimed at lifting of the Siege of Dubrovnik In elements of the Zrinski Battalion took part in Operation Maslenica fighting in the area of kabrnja The Central Intelligence Agency assessed the Zrinski Battalion as one of the best units of the HV
On February the Zrinski Battalion was amalgamated with parts of other special forces units of the HV Frankopan Battalion Ban Jelai Battalion Matija Vlai Battalion Ferdo Sui Battalion and part of th Light Assault Brigade forming the st Croatian Guards Brigade hrvatski gardijski zdrug a component of the st Croatian Guards Corps hrvatski gardijski zbor directly subordinated to the Ministry of Defence rather than the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia
Weevils Wobble But They Don t Go Down is the nineteenth and penultimate episode of the third season of the American mystery television series Veronica Mars and the rd episode overall Written by Phil Klemmer and directed by Jason Bloom the episode premiered on The CW on May The series depicts the adventures of Veronica Mars Kristen Bell as she deals with life as a college student while moonlighting as a private detective
In this episode Weevil Francis Capra enlists Veronica s help in proving his innocence when he is implicated in creating fake student IDs Meanwhile Veronica and Piz Chris Lowell come to terms with Veronica s FBI internship and a sex tape of this couple is released on the internet Logan Jason Dohring beats up Piz thinking that he posted it In addition Keith Enrico Colantoni and Vinnie Ken Marino debate on Piz s radio show about the upcoming Sheriff s election in which they are running against each other
Weevils Wobble But They Don t Go Down features the reappearance of Weevil after an absence of five episodes during filming of the third season Capra was undergoing medical treatment Series creator Rob Thomas pointed out Logan and Piz s fight scene as one of the highlights of the episode and the season In its original broadcast the episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics with many praising the case of the week
In a checkout line Veronica and Mac Tina Majorino discuss her relationship with Piz and what her FBI internship will mean for them They then see someone getting arrested by the campus police for a fake debit card Weevil injures himself but finds himself unable to receive adequate benefits Veronica gets Piz to accept her leaving for the internship At the Sheriff s station Weevil is called out by several students as being the one who gave them the fake cards Weevil is put in the jail cell but he tells Veronica that he think they targeted him after he was showcased in the criminology class She investigates several of the owners of the student IDs who do seem genuine in accusing Weevil Weevil gets bail but Keith informs him that a student ID printing machine was found in the locker next to Weevil s Veronica and Wallace speak to a mechanical engineering professor who says that it would be impossible for Weevil to be the culprit Piz invites Keith to appear on his show in an election special before Keith informs Veronica that Weevil s fingerprints were found all over the investigation
Keith and Vinnie debate on Piz s radio show and Vinnie gathers some support about his lax underage drinking policy Wallace notices someone following him and the student wants to recruit him for a secret society Vinnie insults Keith s handling of his home life and Veronica hits him on the head lightly She helps Weevil retrace his steps and notices one of her criminology classmates Jenny Dianna Agron involved with one of Weevil s clients Veronica deduces that Jenny and her circle of friends are responsible for creating the fake student IDs disseminating them and implicating Weevil Logan and Dick Ryan Hansen go surfing and they run into Veronica Piz and Mac helping Wallace Percy Daggs III with his final project for a class Veronica learns that one of Jenny s group lives in the same town in Georgia where the student ID machines are made
Veronica is called into a room in the library by Jenny s group who try to bribe her into not turning them in to the Hearst police However she denies and records their conversation as further proof They are hiding a third ID machine and Veronica tells Weevil to go and find it Dick shows Logan a sex tape of Piz and Veronica that has been circulating in an email Because Logan thinks Piz posted the tape he attacks Piz and hits him incessantly Weevil does have a student ID machine and Logan walks into Mars Investigations with Piz s blood on him
Weevils Wobble But They Don t Go Down was written by Phil Klemmer and directed by Jason Bloom marking Klemmer s fifteenth and final writing credit and Bloom s fourth and final directing credit for Veronica Mars after Green Eyed Monster Nevermind the Buttocks and Charlie Don t Surf The episode features the final appearance of Dianna Agron famous for her role as Quinn Fabray on Glee as Jenny Budosh Veronica s classmate Agron had previously appeared in the episode President Evil The episode prominently features Weevil Francis Capra who appears after a five episode hiatus During the third season Capra was struggling with a medical condition and the medication he took for this illness caused his face and neck to swell and break out with acne
Series creator Rob Thomas included the scene in which Logan attacks Piz on his list of highlights from the third season When Thomas first viewed the scene with his wife she emitted an audible groan when she saw Logan walking through the cafeteria towards Piz anticipating the fight that was about to come Thomas thought that most fight scenes on the show were not well done as they are filmed quickly and without a second unit However he was pleased with the final cut stating that there was only one punch that he thought looked fake
In its original broadcast Weevils Wobble But They Don t Go Down received million viewers ranking th of in the weekly rankings This was a decrease from the previous episode I Know What You ll Do Next Summer which garnered million watchers
Eric Goldman writing for IGN graded the episode a out of indicating that it was amazing His very positive review focused on the ambiguous nature of the main plot and the subplots of Dick and Logan He praised the presence of the majority of the main cast members also stating that Dick s reaction to dealing with his brother was realistic for him and in character The reviewer called the conclusion to the case of the week a fun and satisfying one that highlighted the moral ambiguity of main characters something that the show had been lacking for a while He highlighted this ambiguity in both Weevil in Logan elaborating that Logan attacking Piz showed an interesting side to his personality that had not been present all season The reviewer also lauded the cliffhanger ending stating it was a reminder of how exciting and intense this show can be at its best Television Without Pity did not grant the episode a rating but lauded the characterization of Weevil stating This is the most consistently written character on the show bar none
Kelly West of Cinema Blend focused primarily on the series finale in her review but referred to this episode as containing a solid case of the week Overall it was a good mystery of the week but seeing as it was the second to last episode the only thing I cared about was that we finally got more Weevil Rowan Kaiser of The AV Club gave the episode a mixed review stating that the case of the week was an oversimplification of the overall themes of Veronica Mars The reviewer enjoyed the potential for Logan and Dick s character development although he felt that it was blunted by the knowledge that the series was about to end As fun as this episode is the lack of the fourth season stops me from fully enjoying it But the knowledge that this might be the last time we see them puts a damper on things Still better to go out with good episodes than bad
Temple Beth Israel Hebrew is a Reconstructionist synagogue located at East th Avenue in Eugene Oregon Founded in the early s as a Conservative congregation Beth Israel was for many decades the only synagogue in Eugene
The congregation initially worshipped in a converted house on West Eighth Street It constructed its first building on Portland Street in and occupied its current LEED compliant facilities in
In the early s conflict between feminist and traditional members led to the latter leaving Beth Israel and forming the Orthodox Congregation Ahavas Torah Beth Israel came under attack from neo Nazi members of the Volksfront twice in and again in In both cases the perpetrators were caught and convicted
Services were lay led for decades Marcus Simmons was hired as the congregation s first rabbi in but left in After a gap of two years Louis Neimand became rabbi in and served until his death in He was followed by Myron Kinberg who served from to and Kinberg in turn was succeeded by Yitzhak Husbands Hankin Maurice Harris joined Husbands Hankin as associate rabbi in and served until when he was succeeded by Boris Dolin As of led by Husbands Hankin and Dolin Beth Israel had approximately member households and was the largest synagogue in Eugene
Small numbers of German Jews began settling in Eugene in the late th century but most moved on In the early th century the first Eastern European Jews settled there and by the s Eugene s Jewish community began gathering prayer quorums for holding Friday night and Jewish holiday services in individuals homes Historian Steven Lowenstein writes that a fter Hymen Rubenstein s death in his home at West Eighth Street was remodeled and named Temple Beth Israel It was a traditional Conservative synagogue and from that time until the s it was the only synagogue in Eugene
In the congregation constructed a one story synagogue building on an almost acre ha property at Portland Street Designed by architect and Holocaust survivor Heinrich Hormuth HH Waechter the building featured an interior courtyard that provided natural lighting and a network of ceiling beams painted with symbols and shapes by Waechter
Temple Beth Israel s services and religious functions were lay led for decades Its first rabbi was Marcus Simmons Originally from England he was a graduate of University of London and Oxford University and was ordained at the Hebrew Theological Seminary He emigrated to the United States in and joined Beth Israel in The members were not however agreed that a full time rabbi was required and in he accepted a rabbinical position in Downey California
Following a hiatus of two years Louis Neimand was hired as rabbi in Born in New York City in to immigrant parents he was a graduate of City University of New York and was ordained at the Jewish Institute of New York He had previously worked for the United Jewish Appeal and from to was the first Hillel rabbi at Syracuse University There was some concern about Neimand s hiring as he had a police record as a result of his involvement in freedom marches in the African American Civil Rights Movement He served until his death in
Myron Kinberg was hired as rabbi in Ordained in Reform Judaism he had previously served as a rabbi in Topeka Kansas for two years then lived in Israel for two years before coming to Eugene Kinberg was known for his support for minority rights and gay rights anti nuclear and anti war activism support of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians and outreach to non observant members of Eugene s Jewish community
Kinberg attempted to revive the Biblical concept of the ger toshav in his approach to intermarriage He was willing to officiate at an intermarriage if the non Jewish partner after discussions with the rabbi agreed of his or her own free will to fulfill a set of commitments including a commitment to a Jewish home life participation in Jewish life and tradition and raising future children as Jews The non Jewish partner making this commitment became a ger toshav or non Jewish member of the Jewish people
Kinberg s wife Alice was a strong feminist and during the s he and his wife supported a number of changes to the liturgy and ritual These included allowing women to read from the Torah and lead the prayers and changing prayers to be more gender inclusive for example using gender neutral terms and pronouns for God and adding references to the Biblical matriarchs in prayers like the Amidah which traditionally only mentioned the Biblical patriarchs While most congregation members approved of these changes a minority resisted them
By the early s serious divisions developed among the members of the congregation over a number of issues including personal antagonisms the rabbi s activism and advocacy of ultra liberal causes political differences over the Israeli Palestinian conflict and
a myriad of additional Jewish cultural religious issues such as the acceptance of intermarried couples adherence to kosher dietary laws the use of modern language and music during worship services rewriting of certain prayers such as the Aleynu to make them less ethnocentric and so on
However the biggest source of division which underlay all others was the roles and rights of men and women in the synagogue
In the early s a group of newly observant members began holding more traditional services in a back room of the synagogue complete with a mechitza a partition separating men and women The more feminist minded members strongly objected to having a mechitza anywhere in the Temple Beth Israel building even if it were not in the services they attended The latter group eventually circulated a petition which stated that either the mechitza would have to be taken down or those members who wanted it would have to leave Kinberg also signed the petition Faced with this opposition in the Orthodox members left renting new premises and hiring their own rabbi creating Eugene s second synagogue originally called The Halachic Minyan and in renamed Congregation Ahavas Torah
Kinberg held himself responsible and the schism led to his reassessment of the needs of Temple Beth Israel and his role as a rabbi As a result he left Beth Israel in to lead a synagogue on Long Island During his tenure at Beth Israel membership rose from to families Kinberg died two years later at age
Yitzhak Husbands Hankin succeeded Kinberg in Husbands Hankin began his involvement at Temple Beth Israel first as a congregant then as cantor and then as an assistant rabbi He was active in forming the Jewish Renewal movement and was ordained by its leader Zalman Schachter Shalomi
The congregation decided to leave the Conservative movement in and for a year had no affiliation In late after considering both Reform and Reconstructionist as alternatives the congregation affiliated with the Reconstructionist movement By membership had grown to around families
Husbands Hankin was instrumental in developing the concept of Ethical Kashrut the idea that one should only purchase goods that are produced in an ethical way His essay Ethical Kashrut was selected for publication in Arthur Kurzweil s Best Jewish Writing A singer cello and guitar player he composes and performs Jewish music
Husbands Hankin has had four assistant or associate rabbis working with him Shoshana Spergel joined Temple Beth Israel in as interim rabbi when Husbands Hankins went on a sabbatical Jonathan Seidel was assistant rabbi from to Maurice Harris a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College joined as assistant rabbi in He is one of the signators of The Open Letter Concerning Religion and Science From American Rabbis part of the Clergy Letter Project which encourages and embraces the teaching of evolution in schools In Boris Dolin joined the congregation as its newest associate rabbi
On March Chris Lord an individual associated with the Volksfront and American Front fired ten rounds with an assault rifle into the temple damaging the interior The attacks were prompted by a newspaper article about several members of Eugene s Jewish community including a lesbian Community organizations including a local gay rights group responded by standing vigil outside the synagogue during Passover services Lord and an associate were caught and convicted and Lord was sentenced to four and a half years in prison
On October Jacob Laskey his brother Gabriel Laskey Gerald Poundstone Jesse Baker and one other man all members of the Volksfront drove to Beth Israel with the intent of intimidating the congregants While a service with members attending was taking place the men threw rocks etched with Nazi swastikas through the synagogue s stained glass windows then sped off The men were caught pleaded guilty and were convicted They served sentences ranging from a month work release term and five years probation to eleven years and three months in federal prison for the ringleader Jacob Laskey
Originally sized for families Temple Beth Israel s Portland Street building had been renovated and enlarged over the years to square feet m to accommodate families and students Despite these additions and the loss of members to Congregation Ahavas Torah the synagogue was not large enough particularly during the High Holidays when extra space had to be rented In the congregation purchased the property of the University Street Christian Church for today and began planning for a new facility The members considered renovating the existing building on the property but felt a new building would better suit their requirements and razed the church
In the congregation got a permit to begin construction of a new facility on the now vacant acre ha plot of land at the northwest corner of East th Avenue and University Street An initial capital campaign raised more than million which fully paid for the land and by August an additional million had been raised towards anticipated overall project costs of million
The environmentally sensitive building was designed by Mel Solomon and Associates of Kansas City and local company TBG Architects Planners and built by McKenzie Commercial Construction of Eugene The building used energy efficient heating ventilation and lighting specific design issues with the building s energy efficiency included the fact that the largest room in the building the sanctuary was also the least used and in accord with Jewish tradition had to face east towards Jerusalem
On June the congregation dedicated its new building at East th Avenue At approximately square feet m the facility included a sanctuary commercial kitchen banquet facilities and classrooms and housed the synagogue the Lane County Jewish Federation and the local Jewish Family Service The project ended up costing million of which million had been raised
Made of concrete steel and wood the building achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design compliance through the integration of stormwater management strategies high efficiency irrigation the use of recycled and or recyclable materials and drought tolerant plantings Completely recyclable materials used in the structure included carpeting and wood beams
In Temple Beth Israel participated in Banners Across America an interfaith witness against torture coordinated by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture as part of the Jewish Campaign Against Torture Organized by Rabbis for Human Rights North America in honor of Torture Awareness Month the Jewish campaign included over synagogues which hung banners protesting the use of abusive interrogation techniques by the American military and intelligence community That year congregational membership reached almost families and the Talmud Torah and pre school had about and students respectively
The congregation sold the old synagogue building on Portland Street to Security First Portland Street Child Development Center for in carrying the Center s financing The building was converted for use as an educational center while retaining some of the original architectural elements Difficult economic conditions forced the Child Development Center to give up the building in and Eugene s Network Charter School planned to move into it in autumn
Harris announced he would be stepping down as rabbi in and the synagogue hired Boris Dolin as his successor Born and raised in Oregon Dolin had worked at Temple Beth Israel as a teacher and youth group adviser from to A graduate of the University of Oregon with a master s degree in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary he was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
As of Temple Beth Israel was the largest synagogue in Eugene It was a member of the Community of Welcoming Congregations an Oregon and SW Washington interfaith ministry and advocacy organization working toward full inclusion and equality for transgender lesbian bisexual gay and questioning persons The rabbis were Yitzhak Husbands Hankin and Boris Dolin
New York State Route NY is a mile km state highway in western New York in the United States The route begins at an intersection with NY F in the village of Youngstown and runs in a general northwest southeast direction across Niagara and Erie counties to its east end at an intersection with NY in the town of Newstead just south of the village of Akron NY serves as a connector between several major arterials including NY in Cambria NY just west of the city of Lockport and NY south of the city
The route was assigned as part of the renumbering of state highways in New York Although it began in Youngstown and ended in Newstead as it does today the initial routing of NY deviated from the modern path in the vicinity of the city of Lockport From Cambria to Lockport s eastern suburbs the highway originally used NY Lower Mountain Road Akron Road and a series of streets in Lockport NY was moved onto NY and Junction Road in Cambria in the s and altered to bypass Lockport to the south on a new highway and Robinson and Dysinger roads in In NY was realigned west of Lockport to continue south on Junction Road to NY The change removed NY from Upper Mountain Road a county owned highway that had been part of the route since the s
NY begins at an intersection with NY F Main Street co designated but not signed as County Route or CR in the center of the village of Youngstown The route proceeds eastward through the village as a two lane road named Lockport Street serving two blocks of commercial areas before bending to the northeast and passing into the residential eastern portion of Youngstown At the eastern village limits NY briefly widens to four lanes as it enters a partial cloverleaf interchange with the Niagara Scenic Parkway Past the junction the highway reverts to a two lane road and changes names to Youngstown Lockport Road as it runs across the town of Porter The residential surroundings continue to the hamlet of Towers Corners where NY connects to NY Creek Road
After NY NY curves to the southeast serving another residential stretch ahead of a junction with Youngstown Wilson Road CR on the eastern edge of Towers Corners After this intersection the homes give way to farms as the road heads into rural areas of the town The route continues on a southeast track through Porter passing a mixture of rural and residential areas on its way into the hamlet of Porter Center where NY enters an intersection with Porter Center Road CR Another southeastward stretch brings the route across Twelvemile Creek and into the hamlet of Ransomville where NY becomes the community s main street Through Ransomville NY retains the Youngstown Lockport Road name intersecting with Ransomville Road CR in the hamlet s business district
Just outside Ransomville NY leaves the town of Porter for the town of Wilson It continues generally southeastward across mostly open terrain meeting Randall Road CR and Church Street CR on its way to the town of Cambria NY becomes North Ridge Road at the town line and it soon enters the hamlet of North Ridge a community built up around the route s intersection with NY Cambria Wilson Road The hamlet s residential surroundings continue to the adjacent community of Molyneaux Corners where NY becomes concurrent with NY Ridge Road NY and NY proceed northeast across lightly populated areas for miles km to the hamlet of Warren Corners at which point NY splits from NY and heads southward along Town Line Road It immediately intersects with Stone Road CR before leaving the hamlet
Outside of Warren Corners the route heads across rural areas along the Cambria Lockport town line It soon enters the small hamlet of Hickory Corners where the road passes under Lower Mountain Road CR Access to the highway is made by way of Town Line Road Spur CR a connector leading to Lower Mountain Road NY continues southward along the town line changing names to Junction Road at an intersection with Upper Mountain Road CR west of the city of Lockport From here the route crosses over CSX Transportation s Lockport Subdivision rail line at the hamlet of Lockport Junction before intersecting with NY Saunders Settlement Road and NY Campbell Boulevard just south of the community NY begins straight ahead to the south while NY turns northeast onto Saunders Settlement Road beginning a concurrency with NY
Now fully in the town of Lockport NY and NY proceed northeast through an open area of the town as a four lane divided highway The two routes continue to the western edge of the city of Lockport where they intersect with Upper Mountain Road and the Lockport Bypass The overlap ends here as NY turns southeastward onto the two lane bypass Along the bypass NY briefly enters the city limits as it runs past several industrial facilities and intersects with Hinman Road CR just ahead of a bridge over the Erie Canal Past the waterway the bypass takes a more southerly course through an undeveloped part of the town of Lockport to a junction with Robinson Road CR on the Lockport Pendleton town line The Lockport Bypass ends here leaving NY to turn eastward onto Robinson Road
The route initially serves a line of homes as it heads along Robinson Road however it soon enters a commercial district surrounding the road s intersection with NY Transit Road At this point the Lockport Pendleton town line turns south to follow NY leaving NY fully within the town of Lockport as it runs eastward past another stretch of homes Not far from NY NY changes names to Dysinger Road at an intersection with Beattie Avenue CR and Raymond Road CR The junction also marks a shift in the road s surroundings as the homes give way to open rolling terrain NY continues eastward for several miles to the town of Royalton where it meets Riddle Road CR and Akron Road CR at adjacent intersections just east of the town line
NY takes over Akron Road s name and right of way continuing eastward past a line of scattered homes to reach the sparsely developed hamlet of Dysinger Here the route turns southward at a junction with Bunker Hill Road CR Outside of Dysinger NY heads southeastward across undeveloped areas of Royalton connecting to Block Church Road CR as it approaches Tonawanda Creek and the Niagara Erie county line The road runs along the northern edge of the creek for about miles km prior to curving southward at an intersection with Wolcottsville Road CR The turn brings NY across Tonawanda Creek and into the Erie County town of Newstead where it becomes known as Maple Road and immediately intersects with CR Koepsel Road
Continuing southward NY runs across open rolling terrain meeting CR Tonawanda Creek Road on its way to the hamlet of Swifts Mills Here the rural surroundings briefly give way to residential areas as NY intersects with CR Swift Mills Road in the center of the community South of Swifts Mills the road serves only intermittent stretches of homes for miles km including a cluster of residences around its closely spaced intersections with CR Carney Road and CR Rapids Road It continues on a southward track past the eastern terminus of CR Hunts Corner Akron Road to the outskirts of the village of Akron where the highway turns east onto Lewis Road and soon enters the village limits NY runs past a line of homes before intersecting Cedar Street a road maintained by Erie County as CR north of the village
The route turns south at Cedar Street following the residential street into downtown Akron Here NY intersects with CR John Street at a junction that was once the western terminus of NY At this intersection NY heads west on John Street for one block before continuing south on Buffalo Street for another block to Main Street NY turns westward again following Main Street through the westernmost part of Akron s central business district prior to curving southwestward at a junction with Mechanic Street The highway takes on the Mechanic Street name as it crosses over Murder Creek and leaves downtown Akron Just south of the creek NY changes names to Buell Street at an intersection with Jackson Street
As the route continues southward through the southern part of Akron it serves mostly residential areas save for an industrial complex at NY s intersection with CR Clarence Center Road and CR Parkview Drive NY exits Akron a short distance south of the junction at which point the route heads into another area of open fields while retaining the Buell Street name It continues on a southward track for about mile km to a commercialized intersection with NY Main Road where Buell Street and NY both come to an end
NY was established as part of the renumbering of state highways in New York connecting the cities and villages of Youngstown Lockport and Akron While the termini of NY have remained the same to this day several portions of the route have been realigned since that time When NY was first assigned it turned south at the hamlet of North Ridge and overlapped with NY along Cambria Wilson Road to Lower Mountain Road then part of NY NY went west from this junction while NY headed eastward following NY along Lower Mountain Gothic Hill Upper Mountain and Saunders Settlement roads to the city of Lockport At Locust Street NY left NY and exited the city along Locust High and Akron streets and Akron Road It met its current alignment southeast of the city in Royalton
NY was realigned c to follow Saunders Settlement Road between Shawnee Road NY and Upper Mountain Road The former routing of NY along Shawnee Lower Mountain Gothic Hill and Upper Mountain roads was redesignated as NY A even though all of NY s former routing was already part of either NY or NY The NY A designation was eliminated c when NY was truncated eastward to a new western terminus in central New York In the early s NY was altered to follow North Ridge Road US Route now NY and Junction Road between North Ridge and Lower Mountain Road
Around the same time that NY was rerouted NY was also extended northward along Junction Road from NY to US As a result NY overlapped NY between Lower Mountain Road and US The overlap with NY remained in place until c when NY was truncated southward to the intersection of Lower Mountain and Junction roads NY was realigned in the late s to bypass Lower Mountain and Gothic Hill Roads on Junction and Upper Mountain roads replacing NY along Junction Road The Lower Mountain Road portion of NY s former routing is now maintained by Niagara County as County Route CR
The Lockport Bypass a highway bypassing downtown Lockport to the southwest was opened to traffic on July The highway cost million equivalent to million in to construct and extended from the junction of NY and NY west of the city to Robinson Road south of downtown NY was realigned to follow the new bypass south to Robinson Road where it turned east and followed Robinson Road CR and Dysinger Road CR to Akron Road in Royalton The portion of Akron Road NY s former routing east of the Lockport city limits became NY M an unsigned reference route
Ownership and maintenance of Robinson Road from the bypass to NY was transferred from Niagara County to the state of New York on September as part of a highway maintenance swap between the two levels of government The portion of NY between NY and Akron Road became state maintained on October as part of another swap that also transferred ownership and maintenance of Akron Road to Niagara County Akron Road is now CR
On November the Niagara County Legislature voted on a measure to allow the county to ask the New York State Department of Transportation NYSDOT to remove the NY designation from Upper Mountain Road a county maintained highway and reassign it to Junction Road NY and Saunders Settlement Road NY The impetus for the change came from a resident of Upper Mountain Road who demanded that trucks should be removed from the roadway This part of the agenda was passed NYSDOT obliged to the request in rerouting NY as proposed and truncating NY southward to NY
Operation USA OpUSA Operation California or OpCal is a non profit humanitarian organization dedicated to helping communities alleviate the effects of disaster disease and endemic poverty throughout the world by providing privately funded relief reconstruction humanitarian aid and development aid It is exclusively privately funded receiving no assistance from the United States Federal Government OPUSA had a revenue of over million in fiscal year and has shipped over million worth of high priority medical nutritional and shelter supplies since its inception including shipments to Haiti Japan Chile Kenya and Pakistan in and
Operation USA was part of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in when it won the Nobel Peace Prize Operation California was also the winner of the President s Volunteer Action Award Operation USA has been named one of America s Best Charities by Worth Magazine and in October was named the top rated exclusively privately funded charity in the US by Charity Navigator Operation USA collaborated with NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the US National Laboratories at Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos to develop new approaches to land mine detection is a member of InterAction and is an AlertNet news partner In Operation USA s CEO Richard M Walden received the Honeywell Hometown Hero Award from the Honeywell Corp
Operation California began in as a relief organization created to provide aid to Vietnamese Boat People and Cambodian refugees founded by Richard Walden still active as President CEO and Llewellyn Werner who left in early The organization flew the first international relief airlift to Cambodia since delivering medicine to Phnom Penh Operation California had airlifted more than million worth of aid by October
Since then Operation USA has become a highly acclaimed aid organization that is involved in helping people in different ways around the world In Operation California sent the first private airlift from the US to Poland delivering lbs of medical supplies and medicine that year Operation California also airlifted medical supplies to Lebanon In Operation California delivered aid to the children of Vietnam and Cambodia Operation California provided aid to the earthquake victims in Mexico City in as well as working in cooperation with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and Oxfam America to deliver worth of medical aid to Nicaragua In Operation California in conjunction with Medical Aid to El Salvador sent t wo cargo planes carrying worth of relief supplies to earthquake stricken El Salvador
In Operation California began using the name Operation USA because it better described the effort and intent of the organization to represent the entire American people In Operation USA facilitated operations on children in Vietnam who had cleft palates by a Los Angeles based plastic surgeon Dr Stanley Frileck Medical aid effort was delivered to Mexico in by OPUSA in conjunction with USSR relief workers In OPUSA delivered aid to Bangladesh OpUSA delivered aid to war torn Somali s in In OpUSA provided earthquake relief In the organization provided aid to Hurricane Mitch survivors in Honduras and Nicaragua In OpUSA supplied aid to storm victims in Mexico In OpUSA delivered aid to Iraq War victims in the Persian Gulf The tsunami victims in Sri Lanka and Indonesia were aided by OpUSA in as well as the Mexico City Flood victims
In OpUSA has delivered aid to Myanmar cyclone victims as well as Chinese earthquake victims and flood victims in the Midwest USA
In OpUsa partners with UniversalGiving to raise fund for its project which is to deliver recovery aid to Nepal Earthquake victims
Operation USA since the early s has relied on fundraising efforts featuring singers and celebrities These include concerts dinners and other events These promotions have featured
The Buena Vista Social Club
Rosario Dawson travelled with Operation USA to Nicaragua in George Hamilton assisted with relief to The Philippines Typhoon Haiyan in as did Barbra Streisand Rosario Dawson Jackson Browne Bill Maher and Judd Apatow
Operation USA also relies on film and theater promotions to generate funds that pay for aid including
Because We Care CBS Television Special
Buena Vista Social Club film Hollywood Havana
Fidel film Hollywood for Showtime
Mary Poppins musical London stage
The Killing Fields film Hollywood Cambodia
Eloise at The Plaza Disney TV
Typhoon Krosa known in the Philippines as Typhoon Vinta was a typhoon that made landfall in the northern Philippines in late October Forming on October near Guam the storm slowly intensified while moving westward Krosa developed an eye and became a typhoon before striking Luzon on October The storm weakened over land but re intensified over the South China Sea reaching peak winds of km h mph on November off the southeast coast of China Typhoon Krosa stalled and encountered unfavorable conditions resulting in quick weakening By November it had weakened to tropical storm status and was no longer being warned on by the next day In northern Luzon Krosa damaged houses including that were destroyed and caused four fatalities High winds and rainfall left P million PHP million USD in damage
On October an area of convection with a broad circulation persisted southeast of Guam and slowly consolidated due to moderate wind shear and westerly outflow That day the Japan Meteorological Agency JMA classified the system as a tropical depression about km mi to the southeast of Hagta Guam At UTC on October the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration PAGASA began issuing advisories on the depression giving it the local name Vinta The next day the JMA upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Krosa and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center JTWC also classified it as Tropical Depression W By that time the storm was moving steadily westward due to the subtropical ridge to the north With the warm waters of the Philippine Sea lessening wind shear and improving outflow Krosa gradually strengthened and the JTWC also upgraded Krosa to tropical storm status on October after an eye feature developed
While approaching northern Luzon on October Krosa quickly intensified as the initial eye feature organized into a well defined eye Late on October the JTWC upgraded Krosa to typhoon status and the next day both PAGASA and JMA followed suit On October Krosa made landfall in northeastern Luzon near Cagayan and developed a symmetric eyewall while initially moving over land Land interaction weakened the eye by the time Krosa emerged into the South China Sea late on October The next day PAGASA discontinued advisories after the typhoon exited the region Convection rebuilt around the center with continued favorable conditions allowing for restrengthening
Late on November a large eye redeveloped and the JTWC estimated Krosa attained peak minute sustained winds of km h mph Early the next day the JMA also estimated the typhoon reached peak minute winds of km h mph Later increasing wind shear caused the eye to deteriorate and Krosa began slowing about km mi east southeast of Hong Kong after reaching the western edge of the subtropical ridge After remaining nearly stationary Krosa began moving steadily to the west southwest due to a new ridge The convection continued to weaken due to continued shear and cooler waters from upwelling and Krosa deteriorated to tropical storm status on November The next day the JTWC issued its final advisory after the circulation became exposed from the convection Also on November the JMA downgraded Krosa to tropical depression status off the northeast Vietnam coast The system dissipated at UTC on November
Before Krosa struck the Philippines PAGASA issued a number warning signal for portions of northern Luzon where winds were expected to reach over km h mph The agency noted for the potential for flooding and landslides High winds knocked down trees across Luzon and left about of Cagayan province without power as well as some areas without internet or cellphone service Portions of the Pan Philippine Highway were blocked and in Lal Lo Cagayan a car crashed into a gasoline truck due to power outages Agriculture damage was estimated at P million PHP million USD occurring just before the start of the harvest Across the island the typhoon damaged houses including that were destroyed forcing people to evacuate to storm shelters Overall Krosa killed four people in the Philippines and left P million PHP million USD in damage After the storm workers quickly restored power lines while the government provided monetary assistance to storm ravaged families after Cagayan was declared a state of calamity Members of the Philippine military and Department of Public Works and Highways worked to clean up following the storm
The China National Meteorological Centre issued a yellow alert the second lowest of the four level warning system for Hainan due to the threat of the storm The agency recommended boats to return to port Agencies in Vietnam also warned for the potential of heavy rainfall due to the dissipating Tropical Depression Krosa and released water from three dams to prevent overflow
Kirby s Block Ball is a action video game a spin off from the Kirby series for the Game Boy portable console It is a Breakout clone the player controls paddles along the screen s edge to knock a bouncing ball Kirby into destructible bricks The game s levels include power ups bonus rounds and minigames Kirby s Block Ball was developed by HAL Laboratory and Nintendo R D The team spent half a year revising the gameplay to match Kirby s signature characteristics Kirby s Block Ball was published by Nintendo first in Japan in later in Europe and last in North America in
Reviewers considered the game an improvement on the Breakout formula and praised its gameplay craftsmanship and incorporation of the Kirby series It was included in multiple top Game Boy game lists and was later emulated on the Nintendo DS Virtual Console
The player controls paddles along the screen s edges to knock a bouncing ball Kirby into destructible bricks The player loses a life if Kirby hits the edge of the screen Each of the game s eleven stages include five rounds of increasingly complex block patterns for Kirby to clear The ten different block types vary in durability and points value A well timed hit of the paddle gives Kirby a powerful bounce to break through harder blocks Another block type turns the remaining blocks into a bonus round that rewards the player for clearing the screen in the least amount of time The player can find warp stars that lead to minigames such as air hockey where the player can earn extra lives The rounds also include enemies to attack and avoid Some enemies contain bonus items Each stage ends in a boss fight
With stone needle flame and spark power ups Kirby can transform to interact with blocks differently For instance the spark power up lets Kirby break through otherwise indestructible blocks and the needle lets Kirby hit spikes once without losing a life The game has a themed frame and uses a wide palette of colors in game when played with the Super Game Boy
The game was developed by HAL Laboratory with Gunpei Yokoi s Nintendo R D and published by Nintendo At one point in development HAL decided that the game did not feel like a Kirby game The team spent six months completely revising the game under explicit instructions on how Kirby should move Kirby games contain elements of unrestricted creative movement as a general theme Kirby s Block Ball was released for the Game Boy first in Japan in and later in Europe and North America May It was later emulated on the Nintendo DS Virtual Console and released first in Japan October and later in Europe February and North America May
On release the four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly applauded Kirby s Block Ball for modifying the Breakout formula to create a new and enjoyable game They especially praised the unique power ups though Crispin Boyer and Sushi X also felt the game was too short and easy Nintendo Power said they enjoyed Block Ball and its number of stages but wondered how its eight megabits of memory were being used The magazine found the parts where Kirby eats the unbreakable blocks to be innovative All six of the magazine s reviewers recommended the game
IGN wrote that the game was primarily remembered as an Arkanoid or Breakout clone skinned with the Kirby franchise IGN calculated an average reviewer score of The Kirby series became known for its number of non platformer spin offs of which Block Ball was one like Kirby s Pinball Land and Kirby s Dream Course Kirby s spherical shape lent itself towards ball like roles IGN wrote that Block Ball was the first truly out there Kirby spin off but that the game was too short
Planet Game Boy called it one of the original Game Boy s ten all time classics and GamesRadar placed it among the top Game Boy games released They considered Kirby s Block Ball an improvement upon Alleyway a Game Boy launch title and Breakout clone IGN recommended the game upon its DS rerelease both in general and for Breakout fans Nintendo World Report recommended the game to players who like score attack games and called it the best version of Breakout released Retrospective reviewers found the game enjoyable and praised the craft behind the gameplay and Kirby themes Alternatively Kirby s Block Ball received the lowest rating on Tim Rogers s Yamanote Scoring System for Portable Games a metric by which he played a game while counting stops on the circular Yamanote train line until he lost interest with a score of one stop He called it too damned bland
In a retrospective review Jeuxvideocom had high praise for the level design graphics and animations They also found the music excellent in comparison to the annoying and repetitive soundtrack of most Breakout clones The magazine also liked how the game fit the Kirby universe apart from its increased difficulty Jeuxvideocom occasionally had trouble hitting the slow paced ball with precision
Hannah Dodd born April is an Australian Grade IV equestrian and point wheelchair basketball player who represented Australia in equestrian at the Summer Paralympics in London coming th and th in her events Switching to wheelchair basketball she made her debut with the national team at the Osaka Cup in February
In Dodd was the Australian national Grade IV para equestrian champion She was runner up in and won the Australian national championships again in along with the Oceania Championships and the National Titles team events By she was the top ranked Australian competitor in her event and class
After the London Paralympics Dodd took up wheelchair basketball She started playing for the Sydney University Flames in the Women s National Wheelchair Basketball League in made her debut with the national team at the Osaka Friendship Games in Osaka in February winning bronze and was part of the Under team at the Women s U Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Beijing in July winning silver
Hannah Dodd was born on April and is from Arcadia New South Wales She has sacral agenesis and spina bifida with upper limb dystonia and is missing four vertebrae in her back When she was about a year old her kidneys started failing Her entire renal system needed to be reconstructed She has two older brothers She can walk with the aide of a caliper and also uses a wheelchair As of she is a horse riding teacher and student at the University of Western Sydney where she is majoring in sports and exercise science
Dodd is a Grade IV equestrian competitor coached by Peter Turner Due to her sacral agenesis when she rides her horse she dislocates several bones every time but as a result of anti doping rules she has had to find alternative ways of coping with pain associated with riding
Dodd has been around horses since she was four months old and was able to ride on her own by the time she was two years old before she learned to walk The sport gave her a degree of independence She started competing in and first represented Australia in winning her first test in England that yearIn she became the youngest ever winner of the Australian national championships She finished first at the March inter schools cup at the St Ives Showground and second at the Australian national championships but her horse Lucifer s Dream was injured in In and she searched for another horse to assist her in getting through Paralympic qualification She won the Australian national championships again in along with the Oceania Championships and the National Titles team events By she was the top ranked Australian competitor in her event and class
Dodd was selected to represent Australia at the Summer Paralympics in London in equestrian events with her horse Waikiwi These Games were her first and she was the youngest Australian equestrian competitor A fund raiser was organised by Arcadia New South Wales residents While her own costs and the cost of her horse were covered by Australian Paralympic Committee and Equestrian Australia funds were required for her coach She was placed th in the Individual Championship Test Grade IV and th in the Individual Freestyle Test Grade IV and Team Test Grade IV
After the London Paralympics Dodd took up wheelchair basketball She started for the Sydney University Flames in the Women s National Wheelchair Basketball League in She has to strap her fingers and wrists and usually dislocates a shoulder during a game I ve had a few bangs and scrapes and been tipped out of my chair a few times she concedes but it s really fun The fast pace really gives you an adrenalin kick and the girls I play with are awesome If I have chose between my two sports for Rio she said I will go with basketball She made her debut with the national team known as the Gliders at the Osaka Cup in Osaka in February The Gliders won bronze In June Dodd was selected as part of the under team known as the Devils for the Women s U Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Beijing in July The Devils won silver By this time her health had deteriorated She had to use a wheelchair much of the time and her classification had dropped to a point player In she was reclassified a
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission CWGC is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars The Commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during World War II The Commission was founded by Fabian Ware and constituted through Royal Charter in named the Imperial War Graves Commission The change to the present name took place in
The Commission as part of its mandate is responsible for commemorating all Commonwealth war dead individually and equally To this end the war dead are commemorated by name on a headstone at an identified site of a burial or on a memorial War dead are commemorated uniformly and equally irrespective of military or civil rank race or creed
The Commission is currently responsible for the continued commemoration of million deceased Commonwealth military service members in countries Since its inception the Commission has constructed approximately war cemeteries and numerous memorials The Commission is currently responsible for the care of war dead at over separate burial sites and the maintenance of more than memorials worldwide In addition to commemorating Commonwealth military service members the Commission maintains under arrangement with applicable governments over non Commonwealth war graves and over non war military and civilian graves The Commission operates through the continued financial support of the member states United Kingdom Canada Australia New Zealand India and South Africa The current President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is Prince Edward Duke of Kent
On the outbreak of World War I in Fabian Ware a director of the Rio Tinto Company found that at years old he was too old to join the British Army He used the influence of Rio Tinto chairman Viscount Milner to become the commander of a mobile unit of the British Red Cross He arrived in France in September and whilst there was struck by the lack of any official mechanism for documenting or marking the location of graves of those who had been killed and felt compelled to create an organisation within the Red Cross for this purpose In March with the support of Nevil Macready Adjutant General of the British Expeditionary Force Ware s work was given official recognition and support by the Imperial War Office and the unit was transferred to the British Army as the Graves Registration Commission The new Graves Registration Commission had over graves of British and Imperial soldiers registered by October and registered by May
When municipal graveyards began to overfill Ware began negotiations with various local authorities to acquire land for further cemeteries Ware began with an agreement with France to build joint British and French cemeteries under the understanding that these would be maintained by the French government Ware eventually concluded that it was not prudent to leave the maintenance responsibilities solely to the French government and subsequently arranged for France to purchase the land grant it in perpetuity and leave the management and maintenance responsibilities to the British The French government agreed under the condition that cemeteries respected certain dimensions were accessible by public road were in the vicinity of medical aid stations and were not too close to towns or villages Similar negotiations were started with the Belgian government
As reports of the grave registration work became public the Commission began to receive letters of enquiry and requests for photographs of graves from relatives of deceased soldiers By photographs had been dispatched to relatives In March the Commission with the support of the Red Cross began to dispatch photographic prints and cemetery location information in answer to the requests The Graves Registration Commission became the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries in the spring of in recognition of the fact that the scope of work began to extend beyond simple grave registration and began to include responding to enquiries from relatives of those killed The directorate s work was also extended beyond the Western Front and into other theatres of war with units deployed in Greece Egypt and Mesopotamia
As the war continued Ware and others became concerned about the fate of the graves in the post war period Following a suggestion by the British Army the National Committee for the Care of Soldiers Graves was appointed by the British government in January with Edward Prince of Wales agreeing to serve as president The National Committee for the Care of Soldiers Graves was created with the intention of taking over the work of the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries after the war The government felt that it was more appropriate to entrust the work to a specially appointed body rather than to any existing government department By early a number of members of the committee believed a formal imperial organisation would be needed to care for the graves With the help of Edward Prince of Wales Ware submitted a memorandum to the Imperial War Conference in suggesting that an imperial organisation be constituted The suggestion was accepted and on May the Imperial War Graves Commission was established by Royal Charter with the Prince of Wales serving as president Secretary of State for War Lord Derby as chairman and Ware as vice chairman The Commission s undertakings began in earnest at the end of the First World War Once land for cemeteries and memorials had been guaranteed the enormous task of recording the details of the dead could begin By some graves had been identified and a further casualties were registered as having no known grave
The scale and associated high number of casualties of the war produced an entirely new attitude towards the commemoration of war dead Previous to World War I individual commemoration of war dead was often on an ad hoc basis and was almost exclusively limited to commissioned officers However the war required mobilisation of a significant percentage of the population either as volunteers or through conscription An expectation had consequently arisen that individual soldiers would expect to be commemorated even if they were low ranking members of the military A committee under Frederic Kenyon Director of the British Museum presented a report to the Commission in November detailing how it envisioned the development of the cemeteries Two key elements of this report were that bodies should not be repatriated and that uniform memorials should be used to avoid class distinctions Beyond the logistical nightmare of returning home so many corpses it was felt that repatriation would conflict with the feeling of brotherhood that had developed between serving ranks
An article in The Times on February by Rudyard Kipling carried the Commission s proposal to a wider audience and described what the graves would look like The article entitled War Graves Work of Imperial Commission Mr Kipling s Survey was quickly republished as an illustrated booklet Graves of the Fallen The illustrated booklet was intended to soften the impact of Kenyon s report as it included illustrations of cemeteries with mature trees and shrubs contrasting the bleak landscapes depicted in published battlefield photos There was an immediate public outcry following the publication of the reports particularly with regards to the decision to not repatriate the bodies of the dead The reports generated considerable discussion in the press which ultimately led to a heated debate in Parliament on May Sir James Remnant started the debate followed by speeches by William Burdett Coutts in favour of the Commission s principles and Robert Cecil speaking for those desiring repatriation and opposing uniformity of grave markers Winston Churchill closed the debate and asked that the issue not proceed to a vote Remnant withdrew his motion allowing the Commission to carry out its work assured of support for its principles
Three of the most eminent architects of their day Sir Herbert Baker Sir Reginald Blomfield and Sir Edwin Lutyens were commissioned to design the cemeteries and memorials Rudyard Kipling was appointed literary advisor for the language used for memorial inscriptions
In the Commission built three experimental cemeteries at Le Treport Forceville and Louvencourt following the principles outlined in the Kenyon report Of these the Forceville Communal Cemetery and Extension was agreed to be the most successful Having consulted with garden designer Gertrude Jekyll the architects created a walled cemetery with uniform headstones in a garden setting augmented by Blomfield s Cross of Sacrifice and Lutyens Stone of Remembrance After some adjustments Forceville became the template for the Commission s building programme Adjustments were required because all three experimental cemeteries went over budget To ensure future cemeteries remained within their budget the Commission decided to not build shelters in cemeteries that contained less than graves to not place a Stone of Remembrance in any cemetery with less than graves and to limit the height of cemetery walls to metre ft
At the end of the Commission had spent and this figure rose to in as construction of cemeteries and memorials increased By the Commission had established cemeteries which were ready for headstone erections and burials Between and the Commission was shipping headstones a week to France In many cases small cemeteries were closed and the graves concentrated in larger ones By when the majority of construction had been completed over cemeteries had been built with headstones a thousand Crosses of Sacrifice and Stones of Remembrance
The Commission had also been mandated to individually commemorate each soldier who had no known grave which amounted to in France and Belgium alone The Commission initially decided to build monuments on which to commemorate the missing each memorial being located at the site of an important battle along the Western Front After resistance from the French committee responsible for the approvals of memorials on French territory the Commission revised their plan and reduced the number of memorials and in some cases built memorials to the missing in existing cemeteries rather than as separate structures
Reginald Blomfield s Menin Gate was the first memorial to the missing located in Europe to be completed and was unveiled on July The Menin Gate Menenpoort was found to have insufficient space to contain all the names as originally planned and names of the missing were instead inscribed on Herbert Baker s Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing Other memorials followed the Helles Memorial in Gallipoli designed by John James Burnet the Thiepval Memorial on the Somme and the Arras Memorial designed by Edwin Lutyens and the Basra Memorial in Iraq designed by Edward Prioleau Warren The Dominions and India also erected memorials on which they commemorated their missing the Neuve Chapelle Memorial for the forces of India the Vimy Memorial by Canada the Villers Bretonneux Memorial by Australia the Delville Wood Memorial by South Africa and the Beaumont Hamel Memorial by Newfoundland The programme of commemorating the dead of the Great War was considered essentially complete with the inauguration of the Thiepval Memorial in though the Vimy Memorial would not be finished until the Villers Bretonneux Memorial until and stonemasons were still conducting work on the Menin Gate when Germany invaded Belgium in
The only memorial created by the Commission that was not in the form of a monument or cemetery was the Opththalmic Institute at Giza Egypt complete with library and bacteriology and pathology departments as its memorial to men of the Egyptian Labour Corps and Camel Transport Corps Its erection was agreed with local political pressure
From the start of the Second World War in the Commission organised grave registration units and planning ahead based on the experience gained from the First World War earmarked land for use as cemeteries When the war began turning in favour of the Allies the Commission was able to begin restoring its First World War cemeteries and memorials It also began the task of commemorating the Commonwealth casualties from the Second World War In the Commission completed Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery the first of new cemeteries and new memorials Eventually over new headstones were erected Many were made from Hopton Wood stone The wider scale of World War II coupled with manpower shortages and unrest in some countries meant that the construction and restoration programmes took much longer Following the war the Commission implemented a five year horticultural renovation programme The horticultural neglect was largely addressed by but there were necessary structural repairs to be made These together with the backlog of maintenance tasks from before the war took a further years to complete and the programme was not completed until the s
With the increased number of civilian casualties compared with the World War I Winston Churchill agreed to Ware s proposal that the Commission also maintain a record of Commonwealth civilian war deaths A supplemental chapter was added to the Imperial War Graves Commission s charter on February empowering the organisation to collect and record the names of civilians who died from enemy action during the Second World War which resulted in the creation of the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour The roll eventually contained the names of nearly civilians The Commission and the Dean of Westminster reached an agreement that the roll would eventually be placed in Westminster Abbey but not until the roll was complete and hostilities had ended The Commission handed over the first six volumes to the Dean of Westminster on February the final volume was added to the showcase in
Following World War II the Commission recognised that the word Imperial within its name was no longer appropriate In the spirit of strengthening national and regional feelings the organisation s name was changed to Commonwealth War Graves Commission in
More recent conflicts have sometimes made it impossible for the Commission to care for cemeteries in a given region or resulted in the destruction of sites altogether Zehrensdorf Indian Cemetery in Germany was unkempt after the end of World War II and until the German reunification because it was located in an area occupied by Russian forces and was not entirely rebuilt until The Six Day War and War of Attrition resulted in the destruction of Port Tewfik Memorial and Aden Memorial and the death of a Commission gardener at Suez War Memorial Cemetery During the Lebanese Civil War two cemeteries in Beirut were destroyed and had to be rebuilt The maintenance of war graves and memorials in Iraq has remained difficult since Iran Iraq War in the s with regular maintenance being impractical since after the Gulf War
The Commission has and continues to also provide support for war graves outside its traditional mandate In the British Ministry of Defence requested the Commission s assistance to design and construct cemeteries in the Falkland Islands for those killed during the Falklands War Although these cemeteries are not Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries the Commission manages the administrative responsibilities of these cemeteries Since the Commission has carried out similar management duties on behalf of the British Ministry of Defence for cemeteries and graves of British and Imperial soldiers who died during the Second Boer War In Veterans Affairs Canada employed the Commission to develop an approach to locate grave markers for which the Canadian Minister of Veterans Affairs has responsibility As of the Commission conducts a twelve year cyclical inspection programme of Canadian veterans markers installed at the expense of the Government of Canada
In an exploratory excavation discovered mass graves on the edge of Pheasant Wood outside of Fromelles Two hundred and fifty British and Australian bodies were excavated from five mass graves which were interred in the newly constructed Fromelles Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery This was the first new Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in more than years the last such cemeteries having been built after the Second World War
The Commission is currently responsible for the continued commemoration of million deceased Commonwealth military service members in countries and approximately civilians who died as a result of enemy action during World War II Commonwealth military service members are commemorated by name on either a headstone at an identified site of a burial or on a memorial As a result the Commission is currently responsible for the care of war dead at over separate burial sites and maintenance of more than memorials worldwide The vast majority of burial sites are pre existing communal or municipal cemeteries and parish churchyards located in the United Kingdom however the Commission has itself constructed approximately war cemeteries worldwide The Commission has also constructed or commissioned memorials to commemorate the dead who have no known grave the largest of these is the Thiepval Memorial
The Commission only commemorates those who have died during the designated war years while in Commonwealth military service or of causes attributable to service The applicable periods of consideration are August to August for the First World War and September to December for the Second World War The end date for the First World War period is the official end of the war while for the Second World War the Commission selected a date approximately the same period after VE Day as the official end of the First World War was after the Armistice
Civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War are commemorated differently from those that died as a result of military service They are commemorated by name through the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour located in St George s Chapel in Westminster Abbey In addition to its mandated duties the Commission maintains under arrangement with applicable governments over non Commonwealth war graves and over non war military and civilian graves
As well as the main Principal Architects for France and Belgium Baker Blomfield and Lutyens there were Principal Architects appointed for other regions as well Sir Robert Lorimer was Principal Architect for Italy Macedonia and Egypt while Sir John James Burnet was Principal Architect for Palestine and Gallipoli assisted by Thomas Smith Tait The Principal Architect for Mesopotamia was Edward Prioleau Warren
As well as these senior architects there was a team of Assistant Architects who were actually responsible for many of the cemetery and memorial designs These architects were younger and many of them had served in the war The Assistant Architects were George Esselmont Gordon Leith Wilfred Clement von Berg Charles Henry Holden who in became a Principal Architect William Harrison Cowlishaw William Bryce Binnie George Hartley Goldsmith Frank Higginson Arthur James Scott Hutton Noel Ackroyd Rew and John Reginald Truelove Other architects that worked for the Commission or won competitions for the Commission memorials included George Salway Nicol Harold Chalton Bradshaw Verner Owen Rees Gordon H Holt and Henry Philip Cart de Lafontaine
In January Edward Maufe was appointed Principal Architect for the UK Maufe worked extensively for the Commission for years until becoming Chief Architect and also succeeding Kenyon as Artistic Advisor Together with Maufe the other Principal Architects appointed during and after the Second World War were Hubert Worthington Louis de Soissons Philip Hepworth and Colin St Clair Oakes
Leading sculptors that worked on the memorials and cemeteries after the First World War included Eric Henri Kennington Charles Thomas Wheeler Gilbert Ledward and Charles Sargeant Jagger Other sculptors both in the inter war period and after the Second World War included William Reid Dick Ernest Gillick Basil Gotto Alfred Turner Laurence A Turner Walter Gilbert Henry Poole Vernon Hill Robert Anning Bell Ferdinand Victor Blundstone Joseph Armitage and Gilbert Bayes
Structural design has always played an important part in the Commission s cemeteries Apart from a few exceptions due to local geological conditions the cemeteries follow the same design and uniform aesthetic all over the world This makes the cemeteries easily recognisable and distinguishes them from war graves administered by other groups or countries
A typical cemetery is surrounded by a low wall or hedge and with a wrought iron gate entrance For cemeteries in France and Belgium a land tablet near the entrance or along a wall identifies the cemetery grounds as having been provided by the French or Belgian governments All but the smallest cemeteries contain a register with an inventory of the burials a plan of the plots and rows and a basic history of the cemetery The register is located within a metal cupboard that is marked with a cross located in either the wall near the cemetery entrance or in a shelter within the cemetery More recently in larger sites a stainless steel notice gives details of the respective military campaign The headstones within the cemetery are of a uniform size and design and mark plots of equal size
The cemetery grounds are except in drier climates grass covered with a floral border around the headstones There is also an absence of any paving between the headstone rows which is intended to make the cemetery feel like a traditional walled garden where visitors could experience a sense of peace However Carter and Jackson argue that the uniform aesthetics are designed to evoke a positive experience which deliberately masks and sanitises the nature of the war deaths
Typically cemeteries of more than graves contain a Cross of Sacrifice designed by architect Reginald Blomfield This cross was designed to imitate medieval crosses found in churchyards in England with proportions more commonly seen in the Celtic cross The cross is normally a freestanding four point limestone Latin cross mounted on an octagonal base and ranging in height from to feet A bronze longsword blade down is embedded on the face of the cross This cross represents the faith of the majority of the dead and the sword represents the military character of the cemetery intended to link British soldiers and the Christian concept of self sacrifice
Cemeteries with more than burials typically have a Stone of Remembrance designed by Edwin Lutyens with the inscription Their Name Liveth for Evermore The concept of the Stone of Remembrance stone was developed by Rudyard Kipling to commemorate those of all faiths and none respectively In contrast to the Cross of Sacrifice the design for the stone deliberately avoided shapes associated with particular religions The geometry of the structure was based on studies of the Parthenon Each stone is metres ft long and metres ft high The shape of the stone has been compared both to that of a sarcophagus and an altar The feature was designed using the principle of entasis The subtle curves in the design if extended would form a sphere feet inches m in diameter
Every grave is marked with a headstone Each headstone contains the national emblem or regimental badge rank name unit date of death and age of each casualty inscribed above an appropriate religious symbol and a more personal dedication chosen by relatives The headstones use a standard upper case lettering designed by MacDonald Gill Individual graves are arranged where possible in straight rows and marked by uniform headstones the vast majority of which are made of Portland stone The original headstone dimensions were centimetres in tall cm in wide and cm in thick
Most headstones are inscribed with a cross except for those deceased known to be atheist or non Christian In the case of burials of Victoria Cross or George Cross recipients the regimental badge is supplemented by the Victoria Cross or George Cross emblem Sometimes a soldier employed a pseudonym because they were too young to serve or were sought by law enforcement in such cases their primary name is shown along with the notation served as Many headstones are for unidentified casualties they consequently bear only what could be discovered from the body The epitaph developed by Rudyard Kipling that appears on the graves of unidentified soldiers for which no details are known is A Soldier of the Great War known unto God Some headstones bear the text believed to be buried in this cemetery when they are believed to be buried in the cemetery but the exact location of the grave is not known In some cases soldiers were buried in collective graves and distinguishing one body from another was not possible and thus one headstone covers more than one grave The headstone does not denote any specific details of the death except for its date and even then only if it is known and are deliberately ambiguous about the cause of death
Due to local conditions it was sometimes necessary for the Commission to deviate from its standard design In places prone to extreme weather or earthquakes such as Thailand and Turkey stone faced pedestal markers are used instead of the normal headstones These measures are intended to prevent masonry being damaged during earthquakes or sinking into sodden ground In Italy headstones were carved from Chiampo Perla limestone because it was in more plentiful supply In Struma Military Cemetery in Greece to avoid risk of earthquake damage small headstones are laid flat on the ground The smaller size of the markers mean that they often lack unit insignia
Commission cemeteries are distinctive in treating floriculture as an integral part of the cemetery design Originally the horticultural concept was to create an environment where visitors could experience a sense of peace in a setting in contrast to traditionally bleak graveyards Recommendations given by Arthur William Hill the Assistant Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew enabled the Commission to develop cemetery layouts and architectural structures that took into account the placement of suitable plant life Combining structural and horticultural elements was not unfamiliar to the Commission s architects Sir Edwin Lutyens furthered his long standing working relationship with horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll whose devotion to traditional cottage garden plants and roses greatly influenced the appearance of the cemeteries Where possible indigenous plants were utilised to enhance sentimental associations with the gardens of home
Variety in texture height and timing of floral display were equally important horticultural considerations The beds around each headstone are planted with a mixture of floribunda roses and herbaceous perennials Low growing plants are chosen for areas immediately in front of headstones ensuring that inscriptions are not obscured and preventing soil from splashing back during rain In cemeteries where there are pedestal grave markers dwarf varieties of plants are used instead
The absence of any form of paving between the headstone rows contributes to the simplicity of the cemetery designs Lawn paths add to the garden ambiance and are irrigated during the dry season in countries where there is insufficient rain Where irrigation is inappropriate or impractical dry landscaping is an ecological alternative favoured by the Commission s horticulturists as is the case in Iraq Drier areas require a different approach not only for lawns but also to plants and styles of planting Similarly there are separate horticultural considerations in tropical climates When many cemeteries are concentrated within a limited area like along the Western Front or Gallipoli peninsula mobile teams of gardeners operate from a local base Elsewhere larger cemeteries have their own dedicated staff while small cemeteries are usually tended by a single gardener working part time
The affairs of the CWGC are overseen by a Board of Commissioners The president of the board is Prince Edward Duke of Kent the chairman is United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon and the vice chairman Vice Admiral Tim Laurence The members are the High Commissioner for New Zealand to the United Kingdom Lockwood Smith the High Commissioners of Australia to the United Kingdom Alexander Downer the Acting High Commissioner of the Republic of South Africa to the United Kingdom Obed Mlaba the High Commissioner for India to the United Kingdom Ranjan Mathai the High Commissioner for Canada to the United Kingdom Gordon Campbell Hew Strachan Keith Simpson Kevan Jones Edward Chaplin Robert Fox Ros Kelly and Lieutenant General Bill Rollo Victoria Wallace is the Director General of the CWGC and serves as secretary The board also has an Honorary Artistic Adviser Peter Inskip
The CWGC is headquartered in Maidenhead England Offices or agencies that are each responsible for a specific geographical area manage the worldwide affairs of the organisation They are
France Area is headed by a director and is responsible for France including the island of Corsica Monaco and Switzerland
Northern Europe Area headed by a director and responsible for Austria Belgium Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Germany Hungary Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland and Sweden
United Kingdom Area headed by a director and responsible for Channel Islands Faroe Islands Iceland Ireland Isle of Man and the United Kingdom
Mediterranean Area headed by a director and responsible for Albania Algeria Azerbaijan Azores Bahrain Canary Islands Croatia Cyprus Egypt Gibraltar Greece Israel and Palestine Italy Jordan Lebanon Libya Macedonia Madeira Malta Mauritania Morocco Oman Portugal San Marino Saudi Arabia Serbia Spain Syria Tunisia Turkey United Arab Emirates and Yemen
Canadian Agency is headed by a secretary general and responsible for Canada the entire Americas including the Caribbean
Australia managed by the Office of Australian War Graves in the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs on behalf of the CWGC is responsible for Australia Norfolk Island Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
New Zealand managed by the New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage on behalf of the CWGC is responsible for New Zealand New Caledonia Samoa Society Islands Tonga and Vanuatu
South Africa Agency is headed by a secretary and is responsible for Republic of South Africa Namibia Saint Helena and Ascension Island
Africa Asia and Pacific Area is headed by a director and is responsible for areas not covered by any of the other bodies
The CWGC s work is funded predominantly by grants from the governments of the six member states In the fiscal year these grants amounted to million of the organisation s million of income This equates to an approximate cost of C per commemorated war dead The contribution from each country is proportionate to the number of graves the CWGC maintains on behalf of that country The percentage of total annual contributions for which each country is responsible is United Kingdom Canada Australia New Zealand South Africa and India
A project is underway to photograph the graves of and memorials to all service personnel from to the present day and make the images available to the public The work is being carried out by The War Graves Photographic Project in conjunction with the CWGC As of August the project has recorded million photographs for posterity
Immediately following the First World War the British Army remained responsible for the exhumation of remains The Western Front was divided into sectors and combed for bodies by man exhumation units Between the Armistice and September the exhumation units reburied bodies After no further widespread search for bodies was undertaken and in February responsibility of the cemeteries was transferred to the Commission Despite the rigorous searches bodies continued to be discovered in numbers In the three years following the conclusion of the general search bodies were discovered In the mid s to bodies were being discovered weekly
The discovery of remains of First and Second World War casualties remains a common occurrence with approximately bodies discovered annually For example in eight bodies of Canadian soldiers from the th Battalion Winnipeg Grenadiers CEF were discovered in a backyard in Hallu France In April the remains of four British soldiers discovered by a French farmer clearing land with metal detector in were re interred at HAC Cemetery near Arras France In March the remains of Commonwealth and German soldiers were discovered in Vendin le Vieil France with the Commonwealth soldiers being subsequently reburied at Loos British Cemetery
When the remains of a Commonwealth soldier from the First or Second World War is discovered the Commission is notified and a Commission burial officer tries to collect any associated artifacts that may help in identify the remains The details are then registered and archived at the Commission s headquarters the collection of evidence can include artifacts with the remains anthropological data and DNA The archival records of the commission are open to the public to permit individuals to conduct their own research Investigation of archival records by members of the public periodically result in the identification of previously buried casualties In December it was discovered that Second Lieutenant Philip Frederick Cormack who was previously commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial had in fact been buried in a French military cemetery in Machelen East Flanders in Belgium Sergeant Leonard Maidment was identified in after a visitor to Marfaux British Cemetery discovered a headstone of an unknown sergeant with the Hampshire Regiment killed on July and was subsequently able to show that only one sergeant from that regiment had been killed in France on that date
Cemeteries including those of war dead are targets for vandalism The gravestones cemeteries and buildings of the Commission are no exception The Commission believes that graffiti and damage to stonework are usually the pursuits partaken by young people noting the number of incidents increases when schoolchildren are on school holidays Determined thieves will also steal the bronze swords off the Cross of Sacrifice which are now replaced with identical ones made in fibreglass
The vandalism of Commission cemeteries has also been connected to the participation of Commonwealth countries in contemporary conflicts In the s in The Troubles Commission cemeteries in Ireland experienced vandalism Vandals defaced the central memorial of the taples Military Cemetery in northern France with anti British and anti American graffiti on March immediately after the beginning of the Iraq War On May thirty three headstones were demolished in the Gaza cemetery which contains graves allegedly in retaliation for the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal On February during the Libyan Civil War an Islamist militia damaged over headstones in the Benghazi war cemetery as well as the central memorial
Tatwine or Tatwin Tatuini or Tadwinus c was the tenth Archbishop of Canterbury from to Prior to becoming archbishop he was a monk and abbot of a Benedictine monastery Besides his ecclesiastical career Tatwine was a writer and riddles he composed survive Another work he composed was on the grammar of the Latin language which was aimed at advanced students of that language He was subsequently considered a saint
Tatwine was a Mercian by birth His epigraph at Canterbury stated that when he died he was in old age so perhaps he was born around He became a monk at the monastery at Breedon on the Hill in the present day County of Leicestershire and then abbot of that house Through the influence of King thelbald he was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury in and was consecrated on June He was one of a number of Mercians who were appointed to Canterbury during the s and s Apart from his consecration of the Bishops of Lindsey and Selsey in Tatwine s period as archbishop appears to have been uneventful He died in office on July Later considered a saint his feast day is July
Bede s commentary on Tatwine calls him a vir religione et Prudentia insignis sacris quoque literis nobiliter instructus a man notable for his prudence devotion and learning These qualities were displayed in the two surviving manuscripts of his riddles and four of his Ars Tatuini The Ars is one of only two surviving th century Latin grammars from England and was based on the works of Priscian and Consentius The riddles deal with such diverse topics as philosophy and charity the five senses and the alphabet and a book and a pen The riddles are formed in acrostics The grammar is a reworking of Donatus s Ars Minor with the addition of information drawn from other grammarians It was not designed for a newcomer to the Latin language but is designed for more advanced students It covers the eight parts of speech through illustrations drawn from classical scholars although not directly but through other grammatical works There are also some examples drawn from the Psalms The work was completed before he became archbishop and was used not only in England but also on the continent A recent edition of his works is Tatuini Opera omnia published in with some translations into English and German from the original Latin
The Type UB I was a class of small coastal submarines U boats built in Germany at the beginning of the First World War boats were constructed most of which went into service with the German Imperial Navy Boats of this design were also operated by the Austro Hungarian Navy Kaiserliche und Knigliche Kriegsmarine or KuK Kriegsmarine and the Bulgarian Navy The group is sometimes known as the UB class after SM UB the class leader In the Austro Hungarian Navy it was called the U class
Built to meet the need for small maneuverable submarines able to operate in the narrow shallow seas off Flanders the vessels were intended to be quickly constructed then shipped by rail and assembled at their port of operation The design effort began in mid August and by mid October the first boats were ordered from two German shipyards The German Imperial Navy subsequently ordered an additional pair of boats to replace two sold to Austria Hungary who ordered a further three boats in April A total of UB Is were built Construction of the first boats for Germany began in early November all were completed by October Several of the first boats underwent trials in German home waters but the rest were assembled and tested at either Antwerp or Pola The German boats operated primarily in the Flanders Baltic and Constantinople Flotillas The boats were about metres ft long and displaced tonnes long tons when surfaced and tonnes long tons while submerged All had two bow torpedo tubes and two torpedoes and were equipped with a deck mounted machine gun
In four of the surviving German boats were converted into coastal minelayers Of the seventeen boats in German service two were sold to Austria Hungary one was sold to Bulgaria and nine were lost during the war One of the five Austro Hungarian boats was sunk and another mined and not repaired The five surviving German boats the four surviving Austro Hungarian boats and the Bulgarian boat were all turned over to the Allies after the end of the war and were broken up
In the earliest stages of the First World War the German Army s rapid advance along the North Sea coast found the German Imperial Navy without submarines suitable to operate in the narrow and shallow seas off Flanders By August two weeks after the German invasion of Belgium the planning of a series of small coastal submarines had already begun
The German Imperial Navy stipulated that the submarines must be transportable by rail which imposed a maximum diameter of metres ft in The rushed planning effort which had been assigned the name Project resulted in the Type UB I design created specifically for operation from Flanders The boats were to be about metres ft long and to displace about tonnes long tons with two bow torpedo tubes
Boats of the Type UB I design were built by two manufacturers Germaniawerft of Kiel and AG Weser of Bremen which led to some variations in boats from the two shipyards The eight Germaniawerft built boats were slightly longer at metres ft in length overall while the twelve Weser built boats came in centimetres in shorter than their counterparts All were metres ft in abeam and had a draft of metres ft in The boats all displaced tonnes long tons while surfaced but differed slightly in displacement submerged The slightly longer Germaniawerft boats displaced tonnes long tons while submerged as they weighed tonne long tons more than the Weser boats
The drivetrain of the boats consisted of a single propeller shaft driven by a Daimler Germaniawerft or Krting Weser diesel engine on the surface or a Siemens Schuckert electric motor for underwater travel The Weser boats were capable of nearly knots km h mph on the surface and a little more than knots km h mph submerged The Germaniawerft boats were about knot km h mph slower than their Bremen made counterparts The boats were equipped with two centimetre in bow torpedo tubes and carried two torpedoes They were also armed with a single millimetre in machine gun affixed to the deck
The German Imperial Navy ordered its first fifteen Type UB I boats on October Eight boats numbered UB to UB were ordered from Germaniawerft of Kiel and seven boats numbered UB to U from AG Weser of Bremen After two of the class UB and UB were sold in February to ally Austria Hungary becoming U and U in the Austro Hungarian Navy the German Imperial Navy ordered UB and UB from Weser A further three for Austria Hungary U U and U had been ordered from Weser by April bringing the total number constructed to
UB and UB were laid down on November at the Germaniawerft yard at Kiel UB was launched on January just working days later UB s launch followed on February Among the Weser boats UB was laid down first on November and launched on February a week ahead of UB These first three boats launched underwent trials in home waters but most of the other members of the class were shipped via rail and underwent trials at their assembly point
The process of shipping the submarines by rail involved breaking the submarines down into what was essentially a knock down kit Each boat was broken into approximately fifteen pieces and loaded on to eight railway flatcars Type UB I boats destined for service with the Flanders Flotilla made a five day journey to Antwerp for the two to three week assembly process After assembly at Antwerp the boats were towed by barge to Bruges for trials Boats selected for service in the Mediterranean were sent to the Austro Hungarian port of Pola for assembly The total time from departure of the railcars from the shipyard to operational readiness for the boats was about six weeks
By July all seventeen of the German Imperial Navy Type UB Is had been completed
During their trials the Type UB Is were found to be too small and too slow and had a reputation for being underpowered one commander compared his Type UB I to a sewing machine According to authors R H Gibson and Maurice Prendergast in their book The German Submarine War the UBs did not have enough power to chase down steamers while surfaced and lacked the endurance to spend any extended amount of time underwater exhausting their batteries after little over an hour s running In service use revealed another problem with a single propeller shaft engine combination if either component failed the U boat was almost totally disabled
Another reported problem with the Type UB Is was the tendency to break trim after the firing of torpedoes The boats were equipped with compensating tanks designed to flood and offset the loss of the C torpedo s pound kg weight but this system did not always function properly as a result when firing from periscope depth the boat could broach after firing or if too much weight was taken on plunge to the depths When UB torpedoed and sank Italian submarine Medusa in June the tank failed to properly compensate forcing the entire crew to run to the stern to offset the trim imbalance
Despite the problems the tin tadpoles as the Germans referred to them were in active service from March through the end of the war with half of the boats lost during the war Boats of the class served in three navies the German Imperial Navy the Austro Hungarian Navy and the Bulgarian Navy In German service they served primarily in the Flanders Flotilla the Baltic Flotilla and the Constantinople Flotilla
The first Type UB I to enter service was UB which formed the nucleus of the Flanders Flotilla on March By the end of April five more Type UB I boats had become operational UB was eventually joined in the Flanders Flotilla by UB UB UB UB UB UB UB and UB of these only UB made the journey to Flanders by sea rather than rail
UB departed on the first patrol from Flanders on April and was responsible for sinking the first ship sent down by the flotilla The Type UB I boats of the Flanders Flotilla originally patrolled the area between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands but began patrolling the English Channel after UB pioneered a route past British antisubmarine nets and mines in the Straits of Dover in late June
Over the Type UB Is first year of service UB and UB were both lost and UB and UB were transferred to the Baltic Flotilla In March UB ran aground in Dutch waters and was interned for the rest of the war along with her crew The four remaining Type UB Is in Flanders UB UB UB UB were all converted to minelayers by having their torpedo tubes removed and replaced with chutes to carry up to eight mines All but UB were lost in UB in poor repair and out of service was scuttled in October when the Germans evacuated from Flanders
UB was initially assigned to the Baltic Flotilla and was joined by UB and UB in early All three became training boats at Kiel in joining UB in that duty Little information is available about the Type UB I boats operating in the Baltic
Four of the German Imperial Navy boats UB UB UB and UB were selected for service with the Constantinople Flotilla All were sent to Pola for assembly and trials there as part of the Pola Flotilla before sailing on to join the Constantinople Flotilla UB disappeared en route to Constantinople in May but the other three arrived there by mid June
The three Type UB I boats of the Constantinople Flotilla seem to have patrolled primarily in the Black Sea UB was transferred to the Bulgarian Navy in May and UB disappeared in the Black Sea in October leaving UB as the sole remaining German Type UB I in the flotilla she was surrendered at Sevastopol in November to French armies stationed there during the Russian Civil War
UB and the still incomplete UB were sold to the Austria Hungary in February both were dismantled and shipped to Pola in May After one cruise under the German flag each boat was commissioned into the Austro Hungarian Navy The pair renamed U and U respectively were joined by U U and U in October Known as the U or the Okarina English Ocarina class as a part of the Austro Hungarian Navy the five boats operated primarily in the Adriatic in patrols off Italy and Albania U ex UB hit a mine in July and was beached but had not been repaired by the end of the war U was sunk after she torpedoed an Italian destroyer in October and the remaining three and the unrepaired U were ceded to Italy at the end of the war
After UB was transferred to the Bulgarian Navy in May she was renamed Podvodnik No in Cyrillic oo No She was Bulgaria s first submarine and was engaged primarily in coastal defense duties off Bulgaria s main Black Sea port of Varna Podvodnik No survived the war and was ceded to France after the Treaty of Neuilly sur Seine
Type UB I submarines were built for the German Imperial Navy and three for the Austro Hungarian Navy Two of the German submarines UB and UB were sold to Austria Hungary and commissioned into the Austro Hungarian Navy as U and U respectively Those two and a further three built by AG Weser comprised the virtually identical U class for the Austro Hungarian Navy Another of the German submarines UB was sold to Bulgaria in May becoming Podvodnik No
SM UB became the Austro Hungarian U July
SM UB became the Bulgarian Podvodnik No May
SM UB became the Austro Hungarian U June
In the Austro Hungarian Navy the Type UB I boats were known as the U class which consisted of two former German Type UB I boats and three built specifically for Austria Hungary
SM U the former German UB
SM U the former German UB
In addition four of the German Type UB Is assigned to the Pola Flotilla based at the Austro Hungarian Navy s main naval base at Pola were assigned Austro Hungarian designations
These four boats remained under commission in the German Imperial Navy retained German crews and commanders and received orders from the German flotilla commander at Pola
Germany and Bulgaria negotiated the purchase of two UB I boats for the Bulgarian Navy UB and UB in Two crews of Bulgarian sailors were sent to Kiel for training Before the purchase could be completed UB was sunk leaving only one boat for Bulgaria On May UB was officially transferred to Bulgaria for the remainder of the war
Podvodnik No the former German UB
The military history of Gibraltar during World War II exemplifies Gibraltar s position as a British fortress since the early th century and as a vital factor in British military strategy both as a foothold on the continent of Europe and as a bastion of British sea power During World War II Gibraltar served a vital role in both the Atlantic Theatre and the Mediterranean Theatre controlling virtually all naval traffic into and out of the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean
In addition to its commanding position Gibraltar provided a strongly defended harbour from which ships could operate in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Force H under the command of Vice Admiral James Somerville was based in Gibraltar and had the task of maintaining naval superiority and providing a strong escort for convoys to and from the besieged island of Malta During the course of the war Gibraltar came under aerial bombardment from Vichy French aircraft and from aircraft of the Italian Royal Air Force Regia Aeronautica based on Sardinia Additionally the fortress was the focus of underwater attacks by the Italian Royal Navy Regia Marina commando frogman unit Decima Flottiglia MAS and their human torpedoes This Italian unit was based on the interned Italian ship SS Olterra in the nearby Spanish harbour of Algeciras A number of attacks were also carried out by Spanish and Gibraltarian agents acting on behalf of the German Abwehr
Inside the Rock of Gibraltar itself miles of tunnels were excavated from the limestone Masses of rock were blasted out to build an underground city In huge man made caverns barracks offices and a fully equipped hospital were constructed complete with an operating theatre and X ray equipment
Operation Torch the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November was coordinated from the Rock General Dwight D Eisenhower who was given command of the operation set up his headquarters in Gibraltar during the planning phases of the operation Following the successful completion of the North African campaign and the surrender of Italy in Gibraltar s role shifted from a forward operating base to a rear area supply position The harbour continued to operate dry docks and supply depots for the convoy routes through the Mediterranean until V E Day in
World War II dramatically changed the lives of Gibraltarians The decision to enforce mass evacuation in order to increase the strength of the Rock with more military and naval personnel meant that most Gibraltarians some for up to ten years had nowhere to call home Only those civilians with essential jobs were allowed to stay but it gave the entire community a sense of being British by sharing in the war effort
In early June about evacuees were shipped to Casablanca in French Morocco However following the capitulation of the French to the German armies later in June the new Pro German French Vichy Government found the presence of Gibraltarian evacuees in Casablanca an embarrassment and sought opportunities for their removal The opportunity soon arose when British cargo vessels arrived under Commodore Crichton repatriating French servicemen who had been rescued from Dunkirk Once their own rescued servicemen had disembarked the ships were interned until they agreed to take away all the evacuees Although Crichton was unable to obtain permission to clean and restock his ships and contrary to British Admiralty orders which forbade the taking on of evacuees when he saw the mass of civilians pouring through the dockyards he opened up his gangways for boarding Just beforehand the British fleet had destroyed a number of French warships at Mers el Kebir in order to prevent them ending up in German hands The attack during which French sailors died led to high tensions which were evident when families were forced at bayonet point by French troops to board taking only what they could carry leaving many possessions behind However when they arrived at Gibraltar the Governor would not allow them to land fearing that once the evacuees were back on the Rock it would be virtually impossible to evacuate them a second time Crowds gathered in John Mackintosh Square in the centre of Gibraltar as the news broke speeches were made and two City Councillors accompanied by the Acting President of the Exchange and Commercial Library went to see the Governor Sir Clive Liddell to ask that the evacuees be allowed to land After receiving instructions from London a landing was allowed as long as the evacuees returned when other ships arrived to take them away from the Rock and by July the re evacuation back to Gibraltar had been completed
British conservative politician Oliver Stanley agreed to accept the evacuees in the United Kingdom but he argued with Gibraltar over the number of people involved The Governor he declared had given the number of evacuees first as then as and finally as He asked for the situation to be clarified stressing the shortage of accommodation in Britain and insisting that only could be accepted of whom were to be sent to the Portuguese Atlantic island of Madeira The situation replied General Liddell on July is that this is a fortress liable to heavy and immediate attack and there should be no civilians here whereas there are The was the number sent to Morocco and more would have been sent had the situation there not altered In London the evacuees were placed in the hands of the Ministry of Health and many were housed in Kensington area Concern for them in Gibraltar mounted as the air raids against London intensified coupled with the arrival of harrowing letters describing the circumstances in which the evacuees were living
In September rumours were already circulating among the evacuees and in Gibraltar that the possibility of re evacuating the Gibraltarians once more was being mooted this time the destination being Jamaica in the West Indies After much contention it was decided to send a party directly from Gibraltar to the island and evacuees left for Jamaica direct on October with more following later on However petitions followed and the demands were met partly for strategic reasons and the lack of available shipping The situation at the end of therefore was that approximately evacuees were in Jamaica and a lesser number in Madeira with the bulk of around housed in the London area
Construction of a solid surface runway began in late and in it was proposed to extend the existing runway to a length of yards m The land reclamation commenced towards the end of along with the construction of an RAF camp at the North Front now RAF Gibraltar The RAF dispatched their next squadron to Gibraltar at this time and it was in September that war with Germany was declared and the strong possibility of German submarines concentrating in the Strait of Gibraltar and using Spanish port facilities loomed large in Admiralty thinking So at UTC on the September No Squadron RAF was ordered to Gibraltar loaded to the gunwales with equipment
On September No Coastal Group was formed as a subordinate formation to HQ RAF Mediterranean in control of No Sqn The Group s function was the control of Royal Air Force units operating from Gibraltar In late the Group was transferred to Coastal Command Later a combined HQ was formed which commenced operations in early
On July after the attack on the French Fleet at Mers el Kbir by the British the Vichy government authorized a bombing raid of Gibraltar as a response Little damage was reported to have been done
On Tuesday September the Italian Stefani news agency reported As a reprisal for the bombardment of Dakar yesterday morning one hundred and twenty French aircraft based in Morocco attacked Gibraltar On the same day the United Press Agency reported The French government has issued an official denial of reports according to which French aircraft were said to have attacked Gibraltar Up until now no reprisals have been undertaken But the United Press report ended on an ominous note with French reprisals are imminent
Again on the same day the Vichy French government issued orders for the naval base and city of Gibraltar to be bombarded As a result six bomber squadrons of the Vichy French Air Force Arme de l Air de Vichy and four squadrons of the Vichy French Navy Marine nationale de Vichy were employed in the operation The bombers flew from bases in Oran Tafaroui in Algeria Meknes Mediouna and Port Lyautey in Morocco The French action was approved by both the German Armistice Commission and the Italian Armistice Commission
No British aircraft were encountered and much damage was done in the area south of the fortress The South Mole and a large ship in the harbour were heavily damaged In the northern part of Gibraltar fires broke out
On September the French returned with a larger force of eighty three bombers to cause additional damage to the naval base and harbour installations Again aircraft of the British Royal Air Force made no appearance However the French crews did report encountering heavy anti aircraft fire One LeO bomber was lost and other aircraft were lightly damaged during the two days of bombing attacks The British armed trawler HMT Stella Sirius was sunk by bombs
The air attack on September was the last by Vichy forces on Gibraltar
The Rock came through the war relatively unscathed but given its strategic importance Germany made plans to capture Gibraltar Codenamed Felix the plan which was signed by Adolf Hitler himself was formulated at the highest level of command With or without permission Germany would take entry through Spain and attack Gibraltar driving the British out of the Western Mediterranean The Strait would be effectively closed to the Allies once Gibraltar was in German hands forcing Asia bound Allied shipping to steam all the way around Africa rather than to proceed to the east via the shorter route through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal The Rock was to be heavily dive bombed by planes leaving France but landing afterward at Spanish air bases To deny a possible Spanish capture of the base the German planners decided that the final attack to seize Gibraltar was to be made by German troops alone
Diplomatic failure at the highest levels of government prevented the operation from occurring at the beginning of which had been drawn up in detail by the Wehrmacht in the summer and autumn of
General Ludwig Kbler s XLIX Corps would conduct the actual attack on the Rock The assault forces would comprise the Infantry Regiment Grodeutschland the th Regiment of the st Mountain Division medium and heavy artillery battalions three observation battalions three engineer battalions two smoke battalions a detachment of Brandenburgers and up to miniature remote controlled demolition vehicles Goliaths packed with high explosives
As part of a combined force operation the German Air Force Luftwaffe would contribute Ju As Stukas Messerschmitts three light AA battalions and three heavy AA battalions Nazi Germany s Kriegsmarine would cooperate by using U boats to interfere with British naval movement and emplacing coastal batteries to further discourage the Royal Navy
On March with Operation Barbarossa looming Felix was amended to Operation Felix Heinrich whereby German troops would be withdrawn from the USSR to capture Gibraltar As a result of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco s intransigence the operation was postponed modified and ultimately abandoned
From Sardinia Italian Piaggio P bombers attacked Gibraltar several times mainly in The last raids on Gibraltar were done during the Allied landing in Algeria when those bombers hit successfully even the Oran port
The only unit of the Regia Aeronautica Royal Air Force ever to fly the Piaggio P was the th Long Range Bombardment Squadron This unit was formed in May around the first machines that came off the assembly lines The training of the crews lasted far longer than anticipated and only in June the th became operational The most spectacular raids with the P bombers were flown in October when several night attacks against Gibraltar were undertaken from Sardinia
After the armistice of Cassibile September the German allied Italian Social Republic launched at least two raids on Gibraltar one on the night of June with ten SMbis aircraft and another on June with nine aircraft Both sorties were undertaken by the Gruppo Aerosiluranti Buscaglia Faggioni
Known as the Floating Trojan Horse of Gibraltar Decima Flottiglia MAS an Italian commando frogman unit created during the Fascist government engaged in numerous attacks against the harbour at Gibraltar
Gibraltar was a very tempting target for the Italians who saw it as a refuge for British warships and allied merchant shipping The Italian frogmen originally used a Spanish villa Villa Carmela located two miles km from Gibraltar owned by an Italian officer who had married a Spanish woman named Conchita Ramognino Their base was shifted later to the Italian tanker SS Olterra interned in Algeciras
Lesser known than the Italian actions were the sabotage operations and limpet mine attacks carried out by Spanish and Gibraltarian agents recruited in the Campo de Gibraltar by the Germans The Abwehr contacted a Spanish staff officer from Campo de Gibraltar Lieutenant Colonel Eleuterio Snchez Rubio a Spanish officer member of the Falange and coordinator of the intelligence operations in the Campo to establish a network of saboteurs with access to Gibraltar Snchez Rubio designated Emilio Plazas Tejera also a member of Falange as operations chief of the organisation Most of the recruits for the sabotage operations were Spaniards from the Campo A combination of financial reward ideological commitment and some threats and intimidation were used to gather a significant number of agents According to the British intelligence there were at least Spaniards and Gibraltarians involved in the espionage and sabotage operations against Gibraltar
Sabotage operations were ordered from Berlin in the late autumn of but actual work did not start until early The first operations were unsuccessful A first attempt to smuggle a bomb into Gibraltar was aborted as the timing device was faulty In February there was a large explosion in the North Tunnel and in April a bomb blew up near the airfield In June however the British intelligence foiled a new attempt by a German agent to attach a mine alongside an Allied cargo ship Another attempt failed when Plazas placed a bomb inside an ammunition store but was not able to bring the explosive It was not until that the operations begun to succeed In January two Spanish agents manage to destroy two aircraft at the North Front landing strip
Financed trained and equipped by the Germans the saboteurs sank the armed trawler HMT Erin and destroyed the auxiliary minesweeper HMT Honju which resulted in the deaths of six British seamen on January Plazas was assisted by the Spanish naval commander of Puente Mayorga Manuel Romero Hume who allowed him to beach a rowboat there The British intelligence was able however to counteract the sabotage operations In March a Gibraltarian Jos Key one of the most prominent agents working for the Germans responsible for the collection of information on military movements for the Abwehr was arrested and executed in Wandsworth Prison in late By September Plazas whose activities were closely monitored by the British at that time resigned and left Carlos Calvo his second in command in charge of the operations In late the German headquarters in Berlin ordered the sabotage operations being expanded In early the arrival of an experienced head of Abwehr operations in Spain improved the outreach of the operations
In March an ammunition dump was blown up by Calvo s agents The British growing suspicious of some of the saboteurs banned them from entering Gibraltar This forced the Abwehr to ask Calvo for new personnel A Spaniard working on the Rock Jos Martn Muoz was responsible for the explosion and fire at a large fuel tank at Coaling Island on June this mission however would be the first and the last for Muoz because he was cornered and arrested by British authorities in August when he tried to smuggle a bomb into a weapons magazine inside Ragged Staff Cave After being sentenced to death he was hanged on January in Gibraltar by British executioner Albert Pierrepoint A member of an unrelated Abwehr sabotage network Luis Lpez Cordn Cuenca also arrested in was executed by Pierrepoint on the same day Calvo himself was put under arrest by the Spanish police and neutralized He would be a free man again in December when he rejoined the Abwehr in Madrid under direct orders of Wolfgang Blaum aka Baumann head of the sabotage section in Spain After a Falangist attempt against the life of pro allied General Jos Enrique Varela perpetrated by Snchez Rubio network s agent Juan Jos Domnguez and a meeting between Anthony Eden and the Spanish ambassador at London Jacobo Fitz James Stuart Abwehr activities around Gibraltar came to an end
Operation Tracer was a top secret British stay behind spying mission that was only to be implemented if Gibraltar was captured by the Axis Powers Six men were to be sealed in a cave and left with only enough supplies for a year The volunteers two doctors three signalmen and their leader would run an observation post with one inch mm by inch mm slit looking over the harbour and a concealed outdoor terrace over the Mediterranean The team would then wire back all shipping movements to the British Admiralty
They were told there would be no way out and anyone who died within the chamber would have to be embalmed and cemented into the brick floor Only if Germany was defeated within their first year would they be released
As the threat of invasion was clearly felt in late an idea for a series of secret observation posts first in Gibraltar and later in other places like Malta and Aden was put together under Operation Tracer
Work in Gibraltar began immediately under Commander Geoffrey Birley and his chief engineer Colonel Fordham The site chosen at Lord Airey s Battery on the southern tip of the Rock already had an existing tunnelling scheme for a shelter Extensive trials of the equipment began in January under the eye of MI radio expert Colonel Richard Gambier Parry Much thought was also given to the type of men needed for such a strange and demanding task A member of Scott s ill fated expedition to the Antarctic George Murray Levick was called up as Surgeon Commander to advise on survival techniques There were practical matters such as diet exercise sanitation and clothing to consider as well as vital psychology of the personnel The full team was in place by the end of summer and their cavern fully equipped and ready for occupation A comprehensive manual was prepared on all aspects of the operation and it was considered that similar secret lookout posts should be prepared throughout the world in the event of future wars However Operation Tracer was never needed as Adolf Hitler turned his attention away from Gibraltar and towards the Eastern Front
The operation had been clouded in mystery until the discovery of papers at the Public Record Office in Kew UK Previously in the s details of the story were told to a journalist by his intelligence service contacts and he wrote these up as Operation Monkey yet facts were very sparse
In Stay Behind Cave as it was nicknamed was discovered in Gibraltar by the Gibraltar Caving Group but no account was ever obtained from anyone associated with the mission The discovery came about when the group encountered a strong gust of wind in a tunnel Further searching led them to break through a wall into chambers which had never been used and had remained sealed for over years
In November Jim Crone and Sergeant Major Pete Jackson senior tunnel guide with the Royal Gibraltar Regiment met possibly the only member of Operation Tracer still alive when they travelled to meet Dr W A Bruce Cooper at his home in England Cooper at the time provided an opportunity to shed light on the operation with his direct involvement in the mission as a Surgeon Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve RNVR He recalled stories about his colleagues his training and his feelings about the task
The Mediterranean U boat Campaign lasted approximately from September to May The Kriegsmarine tried to isolate Gibraltar Malta and Suez and disrupt Britain s trade routes More than sixty U boats were sent to interdict Allied shipping in the Mediterranean Sea Many of these U boats were themselves attacked negotiating the Strait of Gibraltar controlled by Britain Nine U boats were sunk while attempting passage and ten more were damaged
Plans for the Allied counter offensive after the attack on Pearl Harbor were ongoing by mid An invasion of Europe in would be unworkable but the allies could attack the soft underbelly of Europe through the Mediterranean as Prime Minister Winston Churchill put it Devised by President Franklin Roosevelt and Churchill and code named Operation Torch the plan was to occupy French North Africa Morocco Algeria and Tunisia From these French colonies attacks could be launched that would drive Italy out of the war
In July Lieutenant General Dwight D Eisenhower was appointed Allied Commander in Chief of Operation Torch Churchill placed Gibraltar under the command of General Eisenhower as the temporary headquarters for this the first large scale Anglo American operation of the war He arrived in Gibraltar on November to take over not just command of Operation Torch itself but also military command of Gibraltar
General Eisenhower stayed at The Convent the official Governor s residence but his operational headquarters were in a small chamber in a tunnel in the heart of the Rock In his memoirs General Eisenhower wrote
The subterranean passages under the Rock provided the sole available office space and in them was located the signal equipment by which we expected to keep in touch with the commanders of the three assault forces The eternal darkness of the tunnels was here and there partially pierced by feeble electric bulbs Damp cold air in block long passages was heavy with stagnation and did not noticeably respond to the clattering efforts of electric fans Through the arched ceilings came a constant drip drip drip of surface water that faithfully but drearily ticked off the seconds of the interminable almost unendurable wait which always occurs between completion of a military plan and the moment action begins
One hundred thousand soldiers on the high seas in a multitude of transports converged on Gibraltar More than aircraft of all types were crammed into the dispersal areas around the Gibraltar runway Fighters had been shipped in crates and assembled on the airfield Every available area of storage was taken up with ammunition fuel and other essential supplies American pilots were housed in the RAF messes at North Front
On November aircraft from Gibraltar landed on captured North African airfields
From their headquarters in Gibraltar General Eisenhower and Admiral Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham directed Operation Torch the first major combined combat operation during World War II involving American and British forces
Given that Gibraltar was a small town with only a few defences protecting it the solution was to build a massive series of tunnels and chambers inside the natural protection of the Rock of Gibraltar This town inside the Rock contained its own power station water supply and hospital Some soldiers posted here would not see the light of day for months on end Two Canadian engineer companies the only soldiers with diamond tipped drills and British engineer companies added some miles km of such tunnels a feat thought impossible at the time That was enough to hold all troops on the rock Today the rock has more underground tunnels than roads
On July a Liberator bomber from RAF Transport Command took off from Gibraltar for England On board was General Wadysaw Sikorski Prime Minister of Poland s London based government in exile and Commander in Chief of its armed forces returning from visiting Polish troops in the Middle East
The aircraft climbed normally from the runway levelled off to gather speed but then suddenly lost height and crashed into the harbour The year old general died along with others The sole survivor was the Czech born pilot Eduard Prchal who was rescued by an RAF launch The bodies of five passengers and crew including Sikorski s daughter were never found
The coffins of General Sikorski and his Chief of Staff General Kilimecki were draped in the Polish National Flag and lay in state in the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned After a Requiem Mass the bodies were carried in procession to the HM Dockyard with full Military Honours to be shipped to London in anticipation that General Sikorski s remains would one day be returned to a liberated Poland The route to the dockyard was lined by British troops and the coffins carried and escorted by Polish Servicemen
In a British Court of Inquiry investigated the crash of Sikorski s Liberator II AL but was unable to determine the probable cause finding only that it was an accident and the aircraft became uncontrollable for reasons which cannot be established A popular theory was insufficient technical maintenance leading to jamming aircraft controls Despite this finding the political context of the event coupled with a variety of curious circumstances immediately gave rise to speculation that Sikorski s death had been no accident and may in fact have been the direct result of a Soviet British or even Polish conspiracy
The surrender of Italy in September lifted any possible objections to the return of the evacuees to the Rock As a result a Resettlement Board was established in November and at a meeting of the Board on February repatriation priorities were finally agreed On April the first group of repatriates arrived on the Rock directly from the United Kingdom and on May the first repatriation party left Madeira and by the end of only non priority evacuees remained on the island
In London home comers were making claims on the evacuees wartime accommodation and Gibraltarians were re evacuated to Scotland and to camps in Northern Ireland Although the Governor Lt General Sir Noel Mason MacFarlane fought valiantly on behalf of the evacuees and did not accept the lack of accommodation as a sufficient reason for the delays As late as there were still in Northern Irish camps The last of the evacuees did not see the Rock again until
Military history of the British Commonwealth in the Second World War
Nerva Latin Marcus Cocceius Nerva Caesar Augustus November AD January AD was Roman Emperor from to Nerva became Emperor at the age of sixty five after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the rulers of the Flavian dynasty Under Nero he was a member of the imperial entourage and played a vital part in exposing the Pisonian conspiracy of Later as a loyalist to the Flavians he attained consulships in and during the reigns of Vespasian and Domitian respectively
On September Domitian was assassinated in a palace conspiracy involving members of the Praetorian Guard and several of his freedmen On the same day Nerva was declared emperor by the Roman Senate This was the first time the Senate elected a Roman Emperor As the new ruler of the Roman Empire he vowed to restore liberties which had been curtailed during the autocratic government of Domitian
Nerva s brief reign was marred by financial difficulties and his inability to assert his authority over the Roman army A revolt by the Praetorian Guard in October essentially forced him to adopt an heir After some deliberation Nerva adopted Trajan a young and popular general as his successor After barely fifteen months in office Nerva died of natural causes on January Upon his death he was succeeded and deified by Trajan
Although much of his life remains obscure Nerva was considered a wise and moderate emperor by ancient historians Nerva s greatest success was his ability to ensure a peaceful transition of power after his death thus founding the Nerva Antonine dynasty
Marcus Cocceius Nerva was born in the village of Narni kilometers north of Rome to the family of Marcus Cocceius Nerva Suffect Consul in and Sergia Plautilla Ancient sources report the date as either or He had at least one attested sister named Cocceia who married Lucius Salvius Titianus Otho the brother of the future Emperor Otho
Like Vespasian the founder of the Flavian dynasty Nerva was a member of the Italian nobility rather than one of the elite of Rome Nevertheless the Cocceii were among the most esteemed and prominent political families of the late Republic and early Empire attaining consulships in each successive generation The direct ancestors of Nerva on his father s side all named Marcus Cocceius Nerva were associated with imperial circles since the time of Emperor Augustus BC AD
His great grandfather was Consul in BC in replacement and abdicated and Governor of Asia in the same year His grandfather became Consul Suffect in July of either or and was known as a personal friend of Emperor Tiberius AD accompanying the emperor during his voluntary seclusion on Capri from onwards dying in Nerva s father finally attained the consulship in under emperor Caligula The Cocceii were connected with the Julio Claudian dynasty through the marriage of Sergia Plautilla s brother Octavius Laenas and Rubellia Bassa the great granddaughter of Tiberius
Not much of Nerva s early life or career is recorded but it appears he did not pursue the usual administrative or military career He was praetor elect in the year and like his ancestors moved in imperial circles as a skilled diplomat and strategist As an advisor to Emperor Nero he successfully helped detect and expose the Pisonian conspiracy of Exactly what his contribution to the investigation was is not known but his services must have been considerable since they earned him rewards equal to those of Nero s guard prefect Tigellinus He received triumphal honors which was usually reserved for military victories and the right to have his statues placed throughout the palace
According to the contemporary poet Martial Nero also held Nerva s literary abilities in high esteem hailing him as the Tibullus of our time Another prominent member of Nero s entourage was Vespasian an old and respected general who had celebrated military triumphs during the s It appears Vespasian befriended Nerva during his time as an imperial advisor and may have asked him to watch over Vespasian s youngest son Domitian when Vespasian departed for the Jewish war in
The suicide of Nero on June brought the Julio Claudian dynasty to an end leading to the chaotic Year of the Four Emperors which saw the successive rise and fall of the emperors Galba Otho and Vitellius until the accession of Vespasian on December Virtually nothing is known of Nerva s whereabouts during but despite the fact that Otho was his brother in law he appears to have been one of the earliest and strongest supporters of the Flavians
For services unknown he was rewarded with a consulship early in Vespasian s reign in This was a remarkable honour not only because he held this office early under the new regime but also because it was an ordinary consulship instead of a less prestigious suffect consulship making him one of the few non Flavians to be honoured in this way under Vespasian After Nerva again disappears from historical record presumably continuing his career as an inconspicuous advisor under Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian
He re emerges during the revolt of Saturninus in On January the governor of Germania Superior Lucius Antonius Saturninus and his two legions at Mainz Legio XIV Gemina and Legio XXI Rapax revolted against the Roman Empire with the aid of a tribe of the Chatti The governor of Germania Inferior Lappius Maximus moved to the region at once assisted by the procurator of Rhaetia Titus Flavius Norbanus Within twenty four days the rebellion was crushed and its leaders at Mainz savagely punished The mutinous legions were sent to the front of Illyricum while those who had assisted in their defeat were duly rewarded
Domitian opened the year following the revolt by sharing the consulship with Nerva Again the honour suggested Nerva had played a part in uncovering the conspiracy perhaps in a fashion similar to what he did during the Pisonian conspiracy under Nero Alternatively Domitian may have selected Nerva as his colleague to emphasise the stability and status quo of the regime The revolt had been suppressed and the Empire could return to order
On September Domitian was assassinated in a palace conspiracy organised by court officials The Fasti Ostienses the Ostian Calendar records that the same day the Senate proclaimed Marcus Cocceius Nerva emperor Despite his political experience this was a remarkable choice Nerva was old and childless and had spent much of his career out of the public light prompting both ancient and modern authors to speculate on his involvement in Domitian s assassination
According to Cassius Dio the conspirators approached Nerva as a potential successor prior to the assassination which indicates that he was at least aware of the plot Suetonius by contrast does not mention Nerva but he may have omitted his role out of tactfulness Considering the works of Suetonius were published under Nerva s direct descendants Trajan and Hadrian it would have been less than sensitive of him to suggest the dynasty owed its accession to murder On the other hand Nerva lacked widespread support in the Empire and as a known Flavian loyalist his track record would not have recommended him to the conspirators The precise facts have been obscured by history but modern historians believe Nerva was proclaimed Emperor solely on the initiative of the Senate within hours after the news of the assassination broke
Although he appeared to be an unlikely candidate on account of his age and weak health Nerva was considered a safe choice precisely because he was old and childless Furthermore he had close connections with the Flavian dynasty and commanded the respect of a substantial part of the Senate Nerva had seen the anarchy which had resulted from the death of Nero he knew that to hesitate even for a few hours could lead to violent civil conflict Rather than decline the invitation and risk revolts he accepted The decision may have been hasty so as to avoid civil war but neither the Senate nor Nerva appears to have been involved in the conspiracy against Domitian
Following the accession of Nerva as emperor the Senate passed damnatio memoriae on Domitian his coins and statues were melted his arches were torn down and his name was erased from all public records In many instances existing portraits of Domitian such as those found on the Cancelleria Reliefs were simply recarved to fit the likeness of Nerva This allowed quick production of new images and recycling of previous material In addition the vast palace which Domitian had erected on the Palatine Hill known as the Flavian Palace was renamed the House of the People and Nerva himself took up residence in Vespasian s former villa in the Gardens of Sallust
The change of government was welcome particularly to the senators who had been harshly persecuted during Domitian s reign As an immediate gesture of goodwill towards his supporters Nerva publicly swore that no senators would be put to death as long as he remained in office He called an end to trials based on treason released those who had been imprisoned under these charges and granted amnesty to many who had been exiled
All properties which had been confiscated by Domitian were returned to their respective families Nerva also sought to involve the Senate in his government but this was not entirely successful He continued to rely largely on friends and advisors that were known and trusted and by maintaining friendly relations with the pro Domitianic faction of the Senate he incurred hostility which may have been the cause for at least one conspiracy against his life
Having been proclaimed emperor solely on the initiative of the Senate Nerva had to introduce a number of measures to gain support among the Roman populace As was custom by this time a change of emperor was expected to bring with it a generous payment of gifts and money to the people and the army Accordingly a congiarium of denarii per head was bestowed upon the citizens while the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard received a donativum which may have amounted to as much as denarii per person This was followed by a string of economic reforms intended to alleviate the burden of taxation from the most needy Romans
To the poorest Nerva granted allotments of land worth up to million sesterces He exempted parents and their children from a inheritance tax and he made loans to Italian landowners on the condition that they pay interest of to their municipality to support the children of needy families alimentary schemes which were later expanded by Trajan Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius Furthermore numerous taxes were remitted and privileges granted to Roman provinces Namely he probably abolished the Fiscus Iudaicus the additional tax which all Jews throughout the Empire had to pay some of his coins bear the legend FISCI IUDAICI CALUMNIA SUBLATA abolition of malicious prosecution regarding the Jewish tax
Before long Nerva s expenses strained the economy of Rome and although perhaps not ruinous to the extent once suggested by Syme necessitated the formation of a special commission of economy to drastically reduce expenditures The most superfluous religious sacrifices games and horse races were abolished while new income was generated from Domitian s former possessions including the auctioning of ships estates and even furniture Large amounts of money were obtained from Domitian s silver and gold statues and Nerva forbade that similar images be made in his honor
Because he reigned only briefly Nerva s public works were few instead completing projects which had been initiated under Flavian rule This included extensive repairs to the Roman road system and the expansion of the aqueducts The latter program was headed by the former consul Sextus Julius Frontinus who helped to put an end to abuses and later published a significant work on Rome s water supply De Aquis Urbis Romae The only major landmarks constructed under Nerva were a granary known as the Horrea Nervae and a small Imperial Forum begun by Domitian which linked the Forum of Augustus to the Temple of Peace Little remains partly because the Via dei Fori Imperiali cuts across it
Despite Nerva s measures to remain popular with the Senate and the Roman people support for Domitian remained strong in the army which had called for his deification immediately after the assassination In an attempt to appease the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard Nerva had dismissed their prefect Titus Petronius Secundus one of the chief conspirators against Domitian and replaced him with a former commander Casperius Aelianus
Likewise the generous donativum bestowed upon the soldiers following his accession was expected to swiftly silence any protests against the violent regime change The Praetorians considered these measures insufficient however and demanded the execution of Domitian s assassins which Nerva refused Continued dissatisfaction with this state of affairs would ultimately lead to the gravest crisis of Nerva s reign
While the swift transfer of power following Domitian s death had prevented a civil war from erupting Nerva s position as an emperor soon proved too vulnerable and his benign nature turned into a reluctance to assert his authority Upon his accession he had ordered a halt to treason trials but at the same time allowed the prosecution of informers by the Senate to continue This measure led to chaos as everyone acted in his own interests while trying to settle scores with personal enemies leading the consul Fronto to famously remark that Domitian s tyranny was ultimately preferable to Nerva s anarchy Early in a conspiracy led by the senator Gaius Calpurnius Piso Crassus Frugi Licinianus failed but once again Nerva refused to put the conspirators to death much to the disapproval of the Senate
The situation was further aggravated by the absence of a clear successor made more pressing because of Nerva s old age and sickness He had no natural children of his own and only distant relatives who were unsuited for political office A successor would have to be chosen from among the governors or generals in the Empire and it appears that by Nerva was considering to adopt Marcus Cornelius Nigrinus Curiatius Maternus the powerful governor of Syria This was covertly opposed by those who supported the more popular military commander Marcus Ulpius Traianus commonly known as Trajan a general of the armies at the German frontier
In October these tensions came to a head when the Praetorian Guard led by Casperius Aelianus laid siege to the Imperial Palace and took Nerva hostage He was forced to submit to their demands agreeing to hand over those responsible for Domitian s death and even giving a speech thanking the rebellious Praetorians Titus Petronius Secundus and Parthenius Domitian s former chamberlain were sought out and killed Nerva was unharmed in this assault but his authority was damaged beyond repair
He realized that his position was no longer tenable without the support of an heir who had the approval of both the army and the people Shortly thereafter he announced the adoption of Trajan as his successor and with this decision all but abdicated Trajan was formally bestowed with the title of Caesar and shared the consulship with Nerva in
Contrary to the view here popularized by Cassius Dio however Nerva had in fact little choice with regard to his successor Faced with a major crisis he desperately needed the support of a man who could restore his damaged reputation The only candidate with sufficient military experience consular ancestry and connections was Trajan Likewise Edward Gibbon s assertion that Nerva hereby established a tradition of succession through adoption among the Five Good Emperors has found little support among modern historians
On January at the start of his fourth consulship Nerva suffered a stroke during a private audience Shortly thereafter he was struck by a fever and died at his villa in the Gardens of Sallust on January He was deified by the Senate and his ashes were laid to rest in the Mausoleum of Augustus
Nerva was succeeded without incident by his adopted son Trajan who was greeted by the Roman populace with much enthusiasm According to Pliny the Younger Trajan dedicated a temple in honour of Nerva yet no trace of it has ever been found nor was a commemorative series of coins for the Deified Nerva issued until ten years after his death According to Cassius Dio however the Guard prefect responsible for the mutiny against Nerva Casperius Aelianus was dismissed upon Trajan s accession
Due to the lack of written sources on this period much of Nerva s life has remained obscure The most substantial surviving account of the reign of Nerva was written by the rd century historian Cassius Dio His Roman History which spans nearly a millennium from the arrival of Aeneas in Italy until the year was composed more than one hundred years after Nerva had died Further details are added by an abridged biography from the Epitome de Caesaribus a work alleged to have been authored by the th century historian Aurelius Victor
A more comprehensive text presumed to describe the life of Nerva in closer detail is the Histories by the contemporary historian Tacitus The Histories is an account of the history of Rome covering three decades from the suicide of emperor Nero in until the death of Domitian in Unfortunately a substantial part of the work has been lost with only the first five books covering the Year of the Four Emperors remaining In the introduction to his biography of Gnaeus Julius Agricola however Tacitus speaks highly of Nerva describing his reign as the dawn of a most happy age when Nerva Caesar blended things once irreconcilable sovereignty and freedom
The surviving histories speak equally positively of Nerva s brief reign although none offer a substantial commentary on his policies Both Cassius Dio and Aurelius Victor emphasize his wisdom and moderation with Dio commending his decision to adopt Trajan as his heir These views were later popularized by the th century historian Edward Gibbon in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Gibbon considered Nerva the first of the Five Good Emperors five successive rulers under whom the Roman Empire was governed by absolute power under the guidance of wisdom and virtue from until Nevertheless even Gibbon notes that compared to his successors Nerva may have lacked the necessary qualifications for a successful reign
Modern history has expanded upon this sentiment characterizing Nerva as a well intentioned but weak and ineffectual ruler The Roman Senate enjoyed renewed liberties under his rule but Nerva s mismanagement of the state finances and lack of authority over the army ultimately brought Rome near the edge of a significant crisis The mutiny led by Casperius Aelianus was never intended as a coup but a calculated attempt to put pressure on the emperor The adoption of Trajan expanded his power base with a respected reliable general as his successor Murison concludes that Nerva s real talents were in fact ill suited to the emperorship
His place in Roman history is therefore summarized as a necessary if tumultuous stop gap before the Trajanic Antonine dynasties It is a fact of irony that even the only major public work completed during his reign the Forum of Nerva ultimately became known as the Forum Transitorium or transitional forum
Two modern statues which commemorate Nerva can be found in towns associated with him There is an equestrian statue in Gloucester England a town which was founded in his honour It is at the entrance to Southgate Street There is also a statue at his alleged birthplace Narni in Italy at Cocceio Nerva street
Nerva was played by Norman Wooland in the film Quo Vadis
He was also played by Giuliano Gemma in the film Revolt of the Praetorians
Narnia web links International links International links from Narniait web site
Wend David Nerva AD De Imperatoribus Romanis Retrieved
Pelham Henry Francis Nerva Marcus Cocceius In Chisholm Hugh Encyclopdia Britannica th ed Cambridge University Press pp
The Hustler is a American drama film directed by Robert Rossen from Walter Tevis s novel of the same name adapted for the screen by Rossen and Sidney Carroll It tells the story of small time pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson and his desire to break into the major league of professional hustling and high stakes wagering by high rollers that follows it He throws his raw talent and ambition up against the best player in the country seeking to best the legendary pool player Minnesota Fats After initially losing to Fats and getting involved with unscrupulous manager Bert Gordon Eddie returns to try again but only after paying a terrible personal price
The film was shot on location in New York City It stars Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats Piper Laurie as Sarah and George C Scott as Bert
The Hustler was a major critical and popular success gaining a reputation as a modern classic Its exploration of winning losing and character garnered a number of major awards it is also credited with helping to spark a resurgence in the popularity of pool Real life pool player Rudolf Wanderone known at the time as New York Fats and Chicago Fats claimed to be the real life inspiration for Gleason s character Minnesota Fats and adopted the name as his own
Small time pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson travels cross country with his partner Charlie to challenge the legendary player Minnesota Fats Arriving at Fats home pool hall Eddie declares he will win that night Fats arrives and he and Eddie agree to play straight pool for a game After initially falling behind Eddie surges back to being ahead and suggests raising the bet to a game Fats agrees He sends out a runner Preacher to Johnny s Bar ostensibly for whiskey but really to get professional gambler Bert Gordon to the hall Eddie gets ahead and Charlie tries to convince him to quit but Eddie insists the game will end only when Fats says it is over Fats agrees to continue after Bert labels Eddie a loser After hours and an entire bottle of bourbon Eddie is ahead over but loses it all along with all but of his original stake At their hotel later Eddie leaves half of the remaining stake with a sleeping Charlie and leaves
Eddie stashes his belongings at the local bus terminal where he meets Sarah Packard an alcoholic who is supported by her father attends college part time and walks with a limp He meets her again at a bar They go back to her place but she refuses to let him in saying he is too hungry Eddie moves into a rooming house and starts hustling for small stakes He finds Sarah again and this time she takes him in but with reservations Charlie finds Eddie at Sarah s and tries to persuade him to go back out on the road Eddie refuses and Charlie realizes he plans to challenge Fats again Eddie realizes that Charlie held out his percentage and becomes enraged believing that with that money he could have rebounded to beat Fats Eddie dismisses Charlie as a scared old man and tells him to go lie down and die by himself
At Johnny s Bar Eddie joins a poker game where Bert is playing and loses Afterward Bert tells Eddie that he has talent as a pool player but no character He figures that Eddie will need at least to challenge Fats again Bert calls him a born loser but nevertheless offers to stake him in return for of his winnings Eddie refuses
Eddie humiliates a local pool shark exposing himself as a hustler and the other players punish him by breaking his thumbs As he heals Sarah cares for him and tells him she loves him but he cannot say the words in return When Eddie is ready to play he agrees to Bert s terms deciding that a slice of something big is better than a slice of nothing
Bert Eddie and Sarah travel to the Kentucky Derby where Bert arranges a match for Eddie against a wealthy local socialite named Findley The game turns out to be carom billiards not pool When Eddie loses badly Bert refuses to keep staking him Sarah pleads with Eddie to leave with her saying that the world he is living in and its inhabitants are perverted twisted and crippled he refuses Seeing Eddie s anger Bert agrees to let the match continue at a game Eddie comes back to win He collects his share and decides to walk back to the hotel Bert arrives first and subjects Sarah to a humiliating sexual encounter After she scrawls PERVERTED TWISTED and CRIPPLED in lipstick on the bathroom mirror Eddie arrives back at the hotel to learn that she has killed herself
Eddie returns to challenge Fats again putting up his entire stake on a single game He wins game after game beating Fats so badly that Fats is forced to quit Bert demands a share of Eddie s winnings and threatens that Eddie will be injured unless he pays But Eddie says that if he is not killed he will kill Bert when he recovers invoking the memory of Sarah he shames Bert into giving up his claim Instead Bert orders Eddie never to walk into a big time pool hall again Eddie and Fats compliment each other as players and Eddie walks out
Pool champion Willie Mosconi has a cameo appearance as Willie who holds the stakes for Eddie and Fats s games Mosconi s hands also appear in many of the closeup shots
The Tevis novel had been optioned several times including by Frank Sinatra but attempts to adapt it for the screen were unsuccessful Director Rossen s daughter Carol Rossen speculates that previous adaptations focused too much on the pool aspects of the story and not enough on the human interaction Rossen who had hustled pool himself as a youth and who had made an abortive attempt to write a pool themed play called Corner Pocket optioned the book and teamed with Sidney Carroll to produce the script
According to Bobby Darin s agent Martin Baum Paul Newman s agent turned down the part of Fast Eddie Newman was originally unavailable to play Fast Eddie regardless being committed to star opposite Elizabeth Taylor in the film Two for the Seesaw Rossen offered Darin the part after seeing him on The Mike Wallace Interview When Taylor was forced to drop out of Seesaw because of shooting overruns on Cleopatra Newman was freed up to take the role which he accepted after reading just half of the script No one associated with the production officially notified Darin or his representatives that he had been replaced they found out from a member of the public at a charity horse race
Rossen filmed The Hustler over six weeks entirely in New York City Much of the action was filmed at two now defunct pool halls McGirr s and Ames Billiard Academy Other shooting locations included a townhouse on East nd Street which served as the Louisville home of Murray Hamilton s character Findley and the Manhattan Greyhound bus terminal The film crew built a dining area that was so realistic that confused passengers sat there and waited to place their orders Willie Mosconi served as technical advisor on the film and shot a number of the trick shots in place of the actors All of Gleason s shots were his own they were filmed in wide angle to emphasize having the actor and the shot in the same frames Rossen in pursuit of the style he termed neo neo realistic hired actual street thugs enrolled them in the Screen Actors Guild and used them as extras Scenes that were included in the shooting script but did not make it into the final film include a scene at Ames pool hall establishing that Eddie is on his way to town originally slated to be the first scene of the film and a longer scene of Preacher talking to Bert at Johnny s Bar which establishes Preacher is a junkie
Early shooting put more focus on the pool playing but during filming Rossen made the decision to place more emphasis on the love story between Newman and Laurie s characters Despite the change in emphasis Rossen still used the various pool games to show the strengthening of Eddie s character and the evolution of his relationship to Bert and Sarah through the positioning of the characters in the frame For example when Eddie is playing Findley Eddie is positioned below Bert in a two shot but above Findley while still below Bert in a three shot When Sarah enters the room she is below Eddie in two shot while in a three shot Eddie is still below Bert When Eddie is kneeling over Sarah s body Bert again appears above him but Eddie attacks Bert ending up on top of him Eddie finally appears above Bert in two shot when Eddie returns to beat Fats
The Hustler is fundamentally a story of what it means to be a human being couched within the context of winning and losing Describing the film Robert Rossen said My protagonist Fast Eddie wants to become a great pool player but the film is really about the obstacles he encounters in attempting to fulfill himself as a human being He attains self awareness only after a terrible personal tragedy which he has caused and then he wins his pool game Roger Ebert concurs with this assessment citing The Hustler as one of the few American movies in which the hero wins by surrendering by accepting reality instead of his dreams
The film was also somewhat autobiographical for Rossen relating to his dealings with the House Un American Activities Committee A screenwriter during the s and s he had been involved with the Communist Party in the s and refused to name names at his first HUAC appearance Ultimately he changed his mind and identified friends and colleagues as party members Similarly Felson sells his soul and betrays the one person who really knows and loves him in a Faustian pact to gain character
Film and theatre historian Ethan Mordden has identified The Hustler as one of a handful of films from the early s that re defined the relationship of films to their audiences This new relationship he writes is one of challenge rather than flattery of doubt rather than certainty No film of the s Mordden asserts took such a brutal clear look at the ego affirmation of the one on one contest at the inhumanity of the winner or the castrated vulnerability of the loser Although some have suggested the resemblance of this film to classic film noir Mordden rejects the comparison based on Rossen s ultra realistic style also noting that the film lacks noir s Treacherous Woman or its relish in discovering crime among the bourgeoisie hungry bank clerks and lusty wives Mordden does note that while Fast Eddie has a slight fifties ring the character makes a decisive break with the extraordinarily feeling tough guys of the rebel era b ut he does end up seeking out his emotions and telling Bert that he is a loser because he s dead inside
The Hustler had its world premiere in Washington DC on September Prior to the premiere Richard Burton hosted a midnight screening of the film for the casts of the season s Broadway shows which generated a great deal of positive word of mouth Initially reluctant to publicize the film th Century Fox responded by stepping up its promotional activities
The film was well received by critics although with the occasional caveat Variety praised the performances of the entire main cast but felt that the sordid aspects of the story prevented the film from achieving the goal of being pure entertainment Variety also felt the film was far too long Stanley Kauffmann writing for The New Republic concurred in part with this assessment Kauffmann strongly praised the principal cast calling Newman first rate and writing that Scott s was his most credible performance to date Laurie he writes gives her part movingly anguished touches although he also mildly criticizes her for over reliance on Method acting While he found that the script strains hard to give an air of menace and criminality to the pool hall and also declares it full of pseudo meaning Kauffmann lauds Rossen s sure economical direction especially in regard to Gleason who he says does not so much act as pose for a number of pictures which are well arranged by Rossen It is the best use of a manikin by a director since Kazan photographed Burl Ives as Big Daddy The New York Times despite finding that the film strays a bit and that the romance between Newman and Laurie s characters seems a mite far fetched nonetheless found that The Hustler speaks powerfully in a universal language that spellbinds and reveals bitter truths
The Hustler received nine Academy Award nominations The film won two for Best Art Direction Set Decoration Black and White Harry Horner and Gene Callahan and Best Cinematography Black and White Eugen Schfftan The film was also nominated for Best Picture and Newman was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role Gleason and Scott were both nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Scott refused the nomination Laurie was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role Rossen received nominations for Best Director and with Carroll for Best Writing Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
Newman was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor Gleason and Scott were each nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Scott was also nominated as Best New Star of the Year At the BAFTA Awards The Hustler tied with the Soviet film Ballad of a Soldier for Best Film from Any Source Newman won for Best Foreign Actor and Piper Laurie was nominated for Best Foreign Actress Gleason was honored as Best Supporting Actor by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and the film was named among the Board s ten best films of Rossen was named Best Director by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and Rossen and Carroll shared the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written Drama
AFI s Years Movies Nominated
AFI s Years Thrills Nominated
AFI s Years Heroes and Villains
AFI s Years Movie Quotes
Eddie you re a born loser Nominated
AFI s Years Movies th Anniversary Edition Nominated
AFI s Top Sports Film
In the decades since its release The Hustler has cemented its reputation as a classic Roger Ebert echoing earlier praise for the performances direction and cinematography and adding laurels for editor Dede Allen cites the film as one of those films where scenes have such psychic weight that they grow in our memories He further cites Fast Eddie Felson as one of only a handful of movie characters so real that the audience refers to them as touchstones TV Guide calls the film a dark stunner offering a grim world whose only bright spot is the top of the pool table yet with characters who maintain a shabby nobility and grace The four leads are again lavishly praised for their performances and the film is summed up as not to be missed
Paul Newman reprised his role as Fast Eddie Felson in the film The Color of Money for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role A number of observers and critics have suggested that this Oscar was in belated recognition for his performance in The Hustler In the Library of Congress selected The Hustler for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as culturally historically or aesthetically significant Carroll and Rossen s screenplay was selected by the Writers Guild of America in as the th best motion picture screenplay of all time In June AFI released its Ten top Ten the best ten films in ten classic American film genres after polling over people from the creative community The Hustler was acknowledged as the sixth best film in the sports genre
The Hustler is credited with sparking a resurgence in the popularity of pool in the United States which had been on the decline for decades The film also brought recognition to Willie Mosconi who despite having won multiple world championships was virtually unknown to the general public Perhaps the greatest beneficiary of the film s popularity was a real life pool hustler named Rudolf Wanderone Mosconi claimed in an interview at the time of the film s release that the character of Minnesota Fats was based on Wanderone who at the time was known as New York Fatty Wanderone immediately adopted the Minnesota Fats nickname and parlayed his association with the film into book and television deals and other ventures Author Walter Tevis denied for the rest of his life that Wanderone had played any role in the creation of the character Other players would claim with greater or lesser degrees of credibility to have served as models for Fast Eddie including Ronnie Allen Ed Taylor Ed Parker and Eddie Pelkey
Homarus gammarus known as the European lobster or common lobster is a species of clawed lobster from the eastern Atlantic Ocean Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Black Sea It is closely related to the American lobster H americanus It may grow to a length of cm in and a mass of kilograms lb and bears a conspicuous pair of claws In life the lobsters are blue only becoming lobster red on cooking Mating occurs in the summer producing eggs which are carried by the females for up to a year before hatching into planktonic larvae Homarus gammarus is a highly esteemed food and is widely caught using lobster pots mostly around the British Isles
Homarus gammarus is a large crustacean with a body length up to centimetres in and weighing up to kilograms lb although the lobsters caught in lobster pots are usually cm in long and weigh kg lb Like other crustaceans lobsters have a hard exoskeleton which they must shed in order to grow in a process called ecdysis moulting This may occur several times a year for young lobsters but decreases to once every years for larger animals
The first pair of pereiopods is armed with a large asymmetrical pair of claws The larger one is the crusher and has rounded nodules used for crushing prey the other is the cutter which has sharp inner edges and is used for holding or tearing the prey Usually the left claw is the crusher and the right is the cutter
The exoskeleton is generally blue above with spots that coalesce and yellow below The red colour associated with lobsters only appears after cooking This occurs because in life the red pigment astaxanthin is bound to a protein complex but the complex is broken up by the heat of cooking releasing the red pigment
The closest relative of H gammarus is the American lobster Homarus americanus The two species are very similar and can be crossed artificially although hybrids are unlikely to occur in the wild since their ranges do not overlap The two species can be distinguished by a number of characteristics
The rostrum of H americanus bears one or more spines on the underside which are lacking in H gammarus
The spines on the claws of H americanus are red or red tipped while those of H gammarus are white or white tipped
The underside of the claw of H americanus is orange or red while that of H gammarus is creamy white or very pale red
Female H gammarus reach sexual maturity when they have grown to a carapace length of millimetres in whereas males mature at a slightly smaller size Mating typically occurs in summer between a recently moulted female whose shell is therefore soft and a hard shelled male The female carries the eggs for up to months depending on the temperature attached to her pleopods Females carrying eggs are said to be berried and can be found throughout the year
The eggs hatch at night and the larvae swim to the water surface where they drift with the ocean currents preying on zooplankton This stage involves three moults and lasts for days After the third moult the juvenile takes on a form closer to the adult and adopts a benthic lifestyle The juveniles are rarely seen in the wild and are poorly known although they are known to be capable of digging extensive burrows It is estimated that only larva in every survives to the benthic phase When they reach a carapace length of mm in the juveniles leave their burrows and start their adult lives
Homarus gammarus is found across the north eastern Atlantic Ocean from northern Norway to the Azores and Morocco not including the Baltic Sea It is also present in most of the Mediterranean Sea only missing from the section east of Crete and along only the north west coast of the Black Sea The northernmost populations are found in the Norwegian fjords Tysfjorden and Nordfolda inside the Arctic Circle
The species can be divided into four genetically distinct populations one widespread population and three which have diverged due to small effective population sizes possibly due to adaptation to the local environment The first of these is the population of lobsters from northern Norway which have been referred to as the midnight sun lobster The populations in the Mediterranean Sea are distinct from those in the Atlantic Ocean The last distinct population is found in the Netherlands samples from the Oosterschelde were distinct from those collected in the North Sea or English Channel
Attempts have been made to introduce H gammarus to New Zealand alongside other European species such as the edible crab Cancer pagurus Between and one million lobster larvae were released from hatcheries in Dunedin but the species did not become established there
Adult H gammarus live on the continental shelf at depths of metres ft although not normally deeper than m ft They prefer hard substrates such as rocks or hard mud and live in holes or crevices emerging at night to feed
The diet of H gammarus mostly consists of other benthic invertebrates These include crabs molluscs sea urchins starfish and polychaete worms
The three clawed lobster species Homarus gammarus H americanus and Nephrops norvegicus are hosts to the three known species of the animal phylum Cycliophora the species on H gammarus has not been described
Homarus gammarus is susceptible to the disease gaffkaemia caused by the bacterium Aerococcus viridans Although it is frequently found in American lobsters the disease has only been seen in captive H gammarus where prior occupation of the tanks by H americanus could not be ruled out
Homarus gammarus is traditionally highly esteemed as a foodstuff and was mentioned in The Crabfish a seventeenth century English folk song It may fetch very high prices and may be sold fresh frozen canned or powdered Both the claws and the abdomen of H gammarus contain excellent white meat and most of the contents of the cephalothorax are edible The exceptions are the gastric mill and the sand vein gut The price of H gammarus is up to three times higher than that of H americanus and the European species is considered to have a better flavour
Lobsters are mostly fished using lobster pots although lines baited with octopus or cuttlefish sometimes succeed in tempting them out to allow them to be caught in a net or by hand In t of H gammarus were caught across Europe and North Africa of which t was caught in the British Isles including the Channel Islands The minimum landing size for H gammarus is a carapace length of mm in
Aquaculture systems for H gammarus are under development and production rates are still very low
Homarus gammarus was first given a binomial name by Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae published in That name was Cancer gammarus since Linnaeus concept of the genus Cancer at that time included all large crustaceans
H gammarus is the type species of the genus Homarus Weber as determined by Direction of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature Prior to that direction confusion arose because the species had been referred to by several different names including Astacus marinus Fabricius and Homarus vulgaris H Milne Edwards and also because Friedrich Weber s description of the genus had been overlooked until rediscovered by Mary Rathbun rendering any prior assignments of type species for Homarus H Milne Edwards invalid for Homarus Weber
The type specimen of Homarus gammarus was a lectotype selected by Lipke Holthuis in It came from N E near Marstrand Sweden kilometres or miles northwest of Gothenburg but both it and the paralectotypes have since been lost
The common name for H gammarus preferred by the Food and Agriculture Organization is European lobster but the species is also widely known as the common lobster
Air Vice Marshal Frank Headlam CB CBE July December was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force RAAF Born and educated in Tasmania he joined the RAAF as an air cadet in January He specialised in flying instruction and navigation before the outbreak of World War II In April he became commanding officer of No Squadron which operated Lockheed Hudsons The squadron was deployed to Dutch Timor in December and saw action against Japanese forces in the South West Pacific After returning to Australia in February Headlam held staff appointments and training commands finishing the war a group captain
Headlam served as Officer Commanding North Western Area in and as Director of Training from to In during the Malayan Emergency he was stationed at Singapore as commander of No Composite Wing and later RAF Tengah He twice served as acting Air Member for Personnel in and receiving appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in Promoted air vice marshal he successively held the positions of Air Officer Commanding AOC Operational Command in AOC No Group RAF from to during the Indonesia Malaysia Konfrontasi Deputy Chief of the Air Staff in and AOC Support Command in He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in Following a posting to London as Head of the Australian Joint Services Staff from to he retired from the Air Force and died in Melbourne five years later
The son of farmers Malcolm and Hilda Headlam Frank Headlam was born on July in Launceston Tasmania He was schooled at Clemes College Hobart and matriculated in Against the wishes of his parents he joined the Royal Australian Air Force RAAF as an air cadet on January He underwent flying instruction with No Flying Training School FTS at RAAF Point Cook Victoria and was commissioned as a pilot officer on January
After completing a conversion course Headlam was assigned to the Seaplane Squadron at Point Cook No larger than a flight according to the official history of the pre war RAAF Seaplane Squadron was part of No FTS and operated Supermarine Southampton flying boats and de Havilland Gipsy Moth floatplanes among other types During this posting Headlam was promoted to flying officer on July and wrote a paper on national defence in which he suggested that with strong air forces naval forces including submarines and fixed defences Australia may be made practically invulnerable According to Air Force historian Alan Stephens this paper in effect defined the anti lodgment concept which has been a persistent feature of RAAF strategic thinking
Headlam completed a flying instructors course in July and joined the staff of No FTS He was promoted to flight lieutenant on March Commencing in July he was one of six students to take part in the RAAF s first Long Specialist Navigation Course run by Flight Lieutenants Bill Garing and Alister Murdoch at Point Cook The course involved several epic training flights that attracted considerable media attention including a twelve day kilometre mi round Australia trip by three Avro Ansons one of which was piloted by Headlam in November The following month Headlam led the three Ansons on a six day journey back and forth over Central Australia He subsequently passed the navigation course with a special distinction On January he was posted to RAAF Station Laverton Victoria as a flight commander He served initially with No Squadron before transferring to No Squadron on August Both units operated Ansons
Following the outbreak of World War II No Squadron was engaged in convoy escort and maritime reconnaissance duties off south eastern Australia Headlam continued to serve with the squadron as a flight commander until January when he was assigned to Headquarters Laverton as the station navigation officer On March he was posted to the staff of RAAF Headquarters Melbourne He was promoted to squadron leader on June Two weeks later he married Katherine Bridge at St Paul s Anglican Church in Frankston the couple would have a son and a daughter
Headlam was given command of No Squadron at Laverton on April and raised to wing commander on July Equipped with Lockheed Hudsons the squadron mainly conducted maritime patrols in southern waters until December when four of its aircraft were ordered to Darwin Northern Territory in response to fears of Japanese aggression in the Pacific On December this detachment established itself at Penfui near Koepang in Dutch Timor while No Squadron s eight remaining Hudsons were stationed at Darwin on standby The following day aware that Australia was now at war in the Pacific one of the Penfui based Hudsons attacked the Japanese pearler Nanyo Maru which was suspected of being a radio ship and forced it aground By December Headlam had transferred to Penfui as commanding officer of the base as well as No Squadron
During January No Squadron s aircraft were dispersed at Penfui Boeroe Island and Darwin The Penfui detachment attacked Japanese shipping taking part in the invasion of Celebes Two Hudsons shot down or damaged three Japanese floatplanes that attacked them as they were bombing a transport ship on January the next day both Hudsons were themselves shot down by Mitsubishi Zeros Penfui was bombed by the Japanese for the first time on January and attacked regularly thereafter damaging some aircraft The intact Hudsons were withdrawn to Darwin but Headlam and his staff remained at Penfui to enable the base to be used by aircraft during reconnaissance missions from Australia On February Headlam was ordered to evacuate all his personnel except a small party to demolish the airfield with assistance from Sparrow Force He returned to Darwin the following day just as the city experienced its first raid by the Japanese Four of No Squadron s Hudsons were destroyed in the attack the remainder were relocated to Daly Waters where they continued to carry out reconnaissance and bombing missions against Japanese targets in Timor
Headlam remained in Darwin as Controller of Operations at Headquarters North Western Area Command until May when he was posted to Nhill Victoria as commanding officer of No Air Navigation School operating Ansons No Reserve Squadron was formed from the school s personnel in June On July Headlam took command of No Air Observer School AOS also operating Ansons at Mount Gambier South Australia He was promoted to group captain on December and was appointed the inaugural commanding officer of No AOS operating Ansons and Fairey Battles out of Port Pirie on December After handing over command of No AOS he commenced studies at RAAF Staff School in Mount Martha Victoria on October He was appointed senior administrative staff officer at North Western Area Command on January
Headlam became Officer Commanding North Western Area in January Posted to Britain at the end of the year he attended the Royal Air Force Staff College Andover and served with RAAF Overseas Headquarters London On his return to Australia in November he became Director of Training at RAAF Headquarters In November Headlam was appointed to take over command of No Composite Wing from Group Captain Paddy Heffernan Headquartered at RAF Changi Singapore No Wing controlled RAAF units operating during the Malayan Emergency No Bomber Squadron flying Avro Lincolns and No Transport Squadron flying Douglas C Dakotas The Lincolns conducted area bombing missions over communist held territory as well as strikes against pinpoint targets The Dakotas were tasked with courier flights VIP transport and medical evacuations across South East Asia and in Malaya with airlifting troops and cargo dropping supplies to friendly forces and despatching propaganda leaflets Headlam was slightly injured on December when a No Squadron Dakota he was co piloting on a supply drop crash landed at Kampong Aur in Pahang following engine failure In August he was named commander of RAF Tengah Singapore in addition to his post as commanding officer of No Wing Headlam handed over command of No Wing in December
On February Headlam became senior air staff officer SASO at Eastern Area Command in Penrith New South Wales During his term as SASO the RAAF began re equipping with English Electric Canberra jet bombers and CAC Sabre jet fighters The Air Force also underwent a major organisational change as it transitioned from a geographically based command and control system to one based on function resulting in the establishment of Home operational Training and Maintenance Commands Eastern Area Command considered a de facto operational headquarters owing to the preponderance of combat units under its control was reorganised as Home Command in October Headlam was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE in the New Year Honours for his exceptional ability and devotion to duty He was promoted to acting air commodore in May His appointment as aide de camp to Queen Elizabeth II was announced on October
Headlam was promoted to substantive air commodore on January In November he was posted to RAAF Overseas Headquarters London and the following year undertook studies at the Imperial Defence College Returning to Australia he served as acting Air Member for Personnel at the Department of Air Canberra from March to October between the terms of Air Vice Marshals Fred Scherger and Allan Walters and again from August to March between the terms of Walters and Air Vice Marshal Bill Hely In this role Headlam occupied a seat on the Air Board the service s controlling body that comprised its senior officers and was chaired by the Chief of the Air Staff He was also one of two RAAF representatives to serve on a committee chaired by businessman William John Allison examining conditions of defence service the committee s recommendations led to a doubling of flight pay among other improvements Headlam s other positions at the Department of Air included Air Commodore Plans from October to January and Director General Plans and Policy from January to August The latter assignment put him in charge of the RAAF s Directorate of Intelligence Headlam was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire CBE in the Queen s Birthday Honours gazetted on June In May he became acting Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
On January Headlam joined the staff of Operational Command OPCOM the successor organisation to Home Command responsible for the direction of RAAF operational units He took over as Air Officer Commanding AOC OPCOM from Air Vice Marshal Val Hancock in April Headlam was promoted to air vice marshal on May On July he was posted to RAAF Base Butterworth Malaya and took up the appointment of AOC No Group RAF in Singapore one week later He was succeeded as AOC OPCOM by Air Vice Marshal Alister Murdoch As AOC No Group Headlam had overall responsibility for regional air defence and offensive air operations during the Brunei Rebellion in December and the subsequent Konfrontasi between Indonesia and Malaysia that officially began the following month Divorced from his first wife in he married widowed social worker Vernon Spence at the Sydney registry office on January He handed over No Group to Air Vice Marshal Christopher Foxley Norris on November
Returning to Australia Headlam became Deputy Chief of the Air Staff DCAS on January He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath CB in recognition of distinguished service in the Borneo Territories on June His tenure as DCAS coincided with the most significant rearmament program the Air Force had undertaken since World War II and with manpower shortages stemming from this expansion and from Australia s increasing involvement in the security of South East Asia The first RAAF helicopters were committed to the Vietnam War towards the end of his term and he travelled to Saigon with the Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Sir John Wilton in March to plan the deployment The year before Wilton had recommended to Air Marshal Murdoch the Chief of the Air Staff that two Iroquois be sent to Vietnam for familiarisation purposes Murdoch had rebuffed Wilton and the RAAF helicopter squadron was considered underprepared for its army co operation role when it finally did deploy Headlam succeeded Air Vice Marshal Douglas Candy as AOC Support Command Melbourne on August Support Command had been formed in by merging the RAAF s former Training and Maintenance Commands On January Headlam was posted to London as Head of the Australian Joint Services Staff He served as an Extra Gentleman Usher to the Queen from November to June
Returning to Australia in June Headlam took resettlement leave before retiring from the Air Force on August He made his home in Melbourne where he died aged on December after a lengthy battle with cancer Survived by his children and his second wife he was given a private funeral and cremated at Springvale Crematorium
M is a state trunkline in the Lower Peninsula in the US state of Michigan that travels between Fremont and Howard City The section between Newaygo and Howard City travels through Fremont and along the southern edge of Manistee National Forest The current version of M is actually the second in the state the first usage appeared in the Upper Peninsula by The Lower Peninsula routing has been in use since the s Various extensions and truncations have shifted the terminus as far west as New Era or Hesperia in the past The current route was finalized in the late s
M begins at a junction with M and B west of Fremont This junction is at a tripoint of county lines M forms the north south Newaygo Oceana and Newaygo Muskegon county lines B which forms the east west Oceana Muskegon county line runs due west of the intersection M exits the intersection to the east The highway runs along th Street through rural farms into the community of Fremont The road now called Main Street passes through the downtown area and M turns south along Stewart Avenue out of town The highway rounds a curve and transitions to nd Street running eastward through more farm land As the trunkline approaches Newaygo the terrain becomes more wooded near the Muskegon River M follows Fremont Street east to a junction with M The two highways merge and run concurrently over the river and into downtown on State Street South of downtown M turns east again independent of M and runs along nd Street on the southern edge of the Manistee National Forest The east end of M is at exit on US M west of Howard City
The Michigan Department of Transportation MDOT as a part of its maintenance responsibilities tracks the volume of traffic using its roadways These levels are expressed in terms of a metric called average annual daily traffic AADT which is a calculation of the traffic along a segment of road for any average day of the year In the department s measurements indicated that a segment of M west of Fremont had the peak volume for the highway at vehicles daily The traffic nadir was vehicles east of Newaygo In addition MDOT has not had any section of the highway listed on the National Highway System a network of roads important to the country s economy defense and mobility
The first usage of M was in the Upper Peninsula by July The trunkline started at M and ran north of Newberry to the vicinity of Eight Mile Corner It was later replaced by M in
The current M dates back to It ran from US in Hart to the northern junction of US and M in Howard City The highway was routed through Ferry Hesperia and Fremont replacing M In late M was extended along the section between Newaygo and Howard City forming a M M concurrency to fill a gap in the M routing This concurrent section became just M in shortening M back to the northern M junction in Newaygo The highway was moved to a new alignment west of Ferry in late or early Instead of heading northwesterly to Hart it was continued west to end in Shelby
Two realignments in and rerouted the western end of the highway again This time it was realigned to run from Hesperia to New Era bypassing Ferry A larger change around reconfigured the highway designations in Oceana County M replaced M west of Hesperia to end at New Era instead of Muskegon The new M designation replaced M south of Hesperia M now ran from Hesperia to Newaygo only The length of the highway was increased in when the eastern end was moved back to Howard City M was rerouted to follow the US freeway south of Howard City to Cedar Springs and replaced M between Cedar Springs and Casnovia This freed up the Newaygo to Howard City highway for a return to the M designation The last change came in when the concurrency with M was eliminated in favor of M The M designation was truncated at this time to the junction west of Fremont resulting in the current highway routing
Shikamaru Nara Nara Shikamaru is a fictional character in the Naruto manga and anime series created by Masashi Kishimoto In the anime and manga Shikamaru is a ninja affiliated with the village of Konohagakure He is a member of Team a group of ninja consisting of himself Choji Akimichi Ino Yamanaka and team leader Asuma Sarutobi Shikamaru is portrayed as a lazy character unwilling to apply his prodigious intelligence Kishimoto has noted that he likes Shikamaru due to his easygoing nature Outside of the Naruto anime and manga Shikamaru has appeared in four of the feature films in the series as well as several other media relating to the series including video games and original video animations
Numerous anime and manga publications have commented on Shikamaru s character Many reviewers commented on his laziness and intelligence and noted his transformation into a leader Anime News Network celebrated Shikamaru s emergence as an unlikely hero in the Naruto storyline Shikamaru has also been highly popular with the Naruto reader base placing high in several popularity polls Merchandise based on Shikamaru has been released including action figures key chains and patches
Masashi Kishimoto has noted that he likes Shikamaru due to his easygoing nature despite being a genius and contrasted him against Sasuke Uchiha s intelligent but abrasive personality Kishimoto also comically remarked that he would marry Shikamaru if he were a girl noting that Shikamaru would likely be successful in life When designing Shikamaru s Part II appearance Kishimoto wanted to give Shikamaru a unique appearance despite drawing him with a vest that several other ninja wear in the series As a result he drew his forehead protector on his arm in order to not obscure his hair
Shikamaru first major appearance in the series is during the Chunin Exams bi yearly exams for ninja who wish to advance in rank He is part of Team alongside Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka He is a highly unenthusiastic person and he attempts to go through life with minimum effort Contrary to his lazy tendencies Shikamaru is extremely intelligent his teacher Asuma Sarutobi determined that Shikamaru s IQ was over Shikamaru s abilities are based on the Shadow Imitation Technique Kagemane no Jutsu English TV Shadow Possession Jutsu the signature technique of his clan with which he merges his shadow with an opponent s shadow making them immobilized and forced to mimic Shikamaru s movements As the series progresses Shikamaru becomes able to manipulate his shadow in new ways By Part II of the series Shikamaru is capable of utilizing multiple shadow based techniques at once and can lift his shadow from the ground in order to interact with physical objects for instance he can pierce enemies with the shadow tendrils or use them to throw weapons
Shikamaru approaches the exams with a sense of apathy when he battles the Sunagakure ninja Temari he defeats her but forfeits his match to her due to his chakra being low Despite this loss he is the only ninja among his peers to be promoted to the rank of Chunin as the overseers of the exams were impressed by the insight and intelligence he demonstrated against Temari As a Chunin Shikamaru is appointed the leader of a team to prevent Sasuke Uchiha from defecting to the village of Otogakure Although Shikamaru s team manages to defeat the Otogakure ninja barring their way Sasuke manages to escape
In Part II of the series Shikamaru is assigned the task of locating two members of the criminal organization Akatsuki While his team manages to find their targets the immortal Akatsuki member Hidan kills Asuma Sarutobi during the course of the battle despite Shikamaru s best efforts After Asuma s funeral Shikamaru sets out with the surviving members of Team to avenge their mentor with the aid of Kakashi Hatake As the other deal with Hidan s partner Kakuzu Shikamaru avenges Asuma by defeating Hidan and making sure the Akatsuki member s body is never found Following the fight Shikamaru vows to protect Kurenai Yuhi and Asuma s newborn daughter He is later assigned to the Fourth Division alongside Temari and Chji He is named a proxy general under Gaara In the series epilogue stating his personal desire during the series of final battles Shikamaru becomes advisor to the Seventh Hokage Naruto after marrying Temari and gaining a son in Shikadai Nara
Besides the Naruto anime and manga Shikamaru is featured in seven of the featured films in the series in the second film he aids Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno in fighting against Haido a utopian idealist seeking to rule the world with a power called Gelel in the fourth Shikamaru appears in a brief sequence fighting against a large group of stone soldiers in the fifth Shikamaru is sent alongside Kakashi and Sai in search of the base of the Land of Sky who plans to invade Konoha in the sixth Shikamaru alongside Sakura and Sai battle the chimera beast summoned by Hiruko in the eight Shikamaru participates in the battle against the demon Satori in the ninth the Limited Tsukuyomi universe presents a portly Shikamaru the exact opposite of his teammate Choji who becomes the team strategist instead and in the tenth Shikamaru leads the team consisting of himself Naruto Sakura Sai and Hinata Hyuga that is sent to rescue Hinata s younger sister Hanabi who was kidnapped by Toneri Otsutsuki He is also present in the third original video animation in which he participates in a tournament Shikamaru is a playable character in nearly all Naruto video games including the Clash of Ninja series and the Ultimate Ninja series In some games he utilizes variations of his Shadow Imitation Technique not seen in the anime or manga Naruto Shippden Gekit Ninja Taisen EX marks the first appearance of Shikamaru in his Part II appearance in a video game
A light novel titled Shikamaru Hiden A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness written by Takashi Yano and illustrated by Kishimoto stars Shikamaru as the main character and narrator The novel is set two years after the Fourth Ninja War focusing on Shikamaru s assignment as organizer of the newly formed Shinobi Union to capture a rogue ninja who rules over the distant Land of Silence and attempts to establish a new world order ruled by the common people It also explores his growing relationship with Temari culminating in him struggling to name his child with her years after the end of the novel
Shikamaru has ranked highly in the Weekly Shnen Jump popularity polls for the series continuously placing in the top ten and reaching fourth place in one poll The last such poll was in in which Shikamaru was in ninth place behind Sasori and ahead of Hinata Merchandise based on Shikamaru has also been released including action figures key chains and patches in both his Part I and Part II appearance NTT customers voted him as their sixteenth favorite black haired male anime character CyberConnect CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama referred to Shikamaru as one of his favorite characters from Naruto
Several publications for manga anime video games and other related media have commented on Shikamaru s character IGN stated that Shikamaru was one of their favorite characters in the series and referred to him as the poster child for any card carrying member of Generation X due to his general lack of enthusiasm and his unwillingness to utilize his potential In a review of episode IGN praised how Shikamaru managed to transcend his lazy nature in order to take on the mantle of a leader when assigned to lead a team in order to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha and agreed that the decision to make him Chunin was fair Anime News Network also commented on this development calling Shikamaru s emergence as an unlikely hero one of the highlights of the arc In a subsequent review of episode in which the mission to retrieve Sasuke has failed and the members of Shikamaru s team were critically injured IGN lauded the great moment in the episode in which Shikamaru began to cry after learning his friends will recover and declared that he will be a better leader for the sake of his friends Mania Entertainment s Justin Rich celebrated his sheer intellect calling him one of the most fascinating characters in the series and one of the few truly brilliant fighters in shnen anime Dani Moure another reviewer from the same site noted about his battle with Temari during the Chunin Exams that it was one of the better fights involving the supporting players
Meridian is the sixth largest city in the state of Mississippi in the United States It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Meridian Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area Along major highways the city is mi km east of Jackson Mississippi mi km west of Birmingham Alabama mi km northeast of New Orleans Louisiana and mi km southeast of Memphis Tennessee
Established in at the intersection of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and Southern Railway of Mississippi Meridian s economy was built on the railways and goods transported on them and it became a strategic trading center During the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman burned much of the city to the ground in the Battle of Meridian February
Rebuilt after the war the city entered a Golden Age it become the largest city in Mississippi between and and a leading center for manufacturing in the South with trains arriving and departing daily Union Station built in is now a multi modal center giving access to the Meridian Transit System Greyhound Buses and Trailways averaging passengers per year Although the economy slowed with the decline of the railroad industry the city has diversified with healthcare military and manufacturing employing the most people in The population within the city limits according to census estimates is but a population of in a mile km radius and in a mile km radius of which and people respectively are in the labor force feed the economy of the city
The area is served by two military facilities Naval Air Station Meridian and Key Field which provide over jobs NAS Meridian is home to the Regional Counter Drug Training Academy RCTA and the first local Department of Homeland Security in the state Key Field is named after brothers Fred and Al Key who set a world endurance flight record in The field is now home to the th Air Refueling Wing of the Air National Guard and a support facility for the th Aviation Brigade of the Army National Guard Rush Foundation Hospital is the largest non military employer in the region employing people
Among the city s many arts organizations and historic buildings are the Riley Center the Meridian Museum of Art Meridian Little Theatre and the Meridian Symphony Orchestra Meridian was home to two Carnegie libraries one for whites and one for African Americans The Carnegie Branch Library now demolished was one of a number of Carnegie libraries built for blacks in the Southern United States during the segregation era
The city has been selected as the future location of the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center MAEC Jimmie Rodgers the Father of Country Music was born in Meridian Highland Park houses a museum which displays memorabilia of his life and career as well as railroad equipment from the steam engine era The park is also home to the Highland Park Dentzel Carousel a National Historic Landmark It is the world s only two row stationary Dentzel menagerie in existence Other notable natives include Miss America Susan Akin James Chaney an activist who was killed in the Mississippi civil rights workers murders in and Hartley Peavey founder of Peavey Electronics headquartered in Meridian The federal courthouse was the site of the trial of suspects in the murder of Chaney and two other activists it was the first time a white jury convicted a white official of a civil rights killing
Previously inhabited by the Choctaw Native Americans the area now called Meridian was obtained by the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in during the period of Indian Removal After the treaty was ratified European American settlers began to move into the area
After receiving a federal land grant of about acres ha Richard McLemore the first settler of Meridian began offering free land to newcomers to attract more settlers to the region and develop the area Most of McLemore s land was bought in by Lewis A Ragsdale a lawyer from Alabama John T Ball a merchant from Kemper County bought the remaining acres km Ragsdale and Ball now known as the founders of the city began laying out lots for new development on their respective land sections
There was much competition over the proposed name of the settlement Ball and the more industrial residents of the city supported the name Meridian believing the term to be synonymous with junction the more agrarian residents of the city preferred Sowashee meaning mad river in a Native American language from the name of a nearby creek and Ragsdale proposed Ragsdale City Ball erected a station house on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad the sign on which would alternate between Meridian and Sowashee each day Eventually the continued development of the railroads led to an influx of railroad workers who overruled the others in the city and left Meridian on the station permanently The town was officially incorporated as Meridian on February
Meridian was a small village at the start of the American Civil War in Its strategic position at the railroad junction led to the Confederate construction of several military installations to support the war During the Battle of Meridian in General William Tecumseh Sherman led troops into the city destroying the railroads in every direction as well as an arsenal and immense storehouses his forces burned much of the buildings to the ground Sherman is reported to have said afterwards Meridian with its depots store houses arsenal hospitals offices hotels and cantonments no longer exists Despite the destruction the railroad lines in the city were rapidly repaired back in operation working days after the battle Race relations remained tense during the Reconstruction era with the riot of following a fire that damaged many businesses
The town boomed in the aftermath of the Civil War and experienced its Golden Age from to The railroads in the area provided for a means of transportation and an influx of industries which caused a population boom As the population rose commercial activity increased in the downtown area Between and Meridian was the largest city in Mississippi and a leading center for manufacturing in the South Many of the city s historic buildings were built during and just after this era including the Grand Opera House in the Wechsler School in two Carnegie libraries in and the Threefoot Building Meridian s tallest skyscraper in
The city continued to grow thanks to a commission government s efforts to bring in new industrial plants in and a booming automobile industry in the s Even through the stock market crash of and the following Great Depression the city continued to attract new businesses With escapism becoming popular in the culture during the depth of the Depression the S H Kress Co building built to provide luxury to the common man opened in downtown Meridian as did the Temple Theater which was used as a movie house The federal courthouse was built in as a WPA project
After a brief slowdown of the economy at the end of the Depression the country entered World War II which renewed the importance of railroads The rails were essential to transport gasoline and scrap metal to build military vehicles so Meridian became the region s rail center again This renewed prosperity continued until the s when the automobile and Interstate Highway System became more popular than passenger rails The decline of the railroad industry caused significant job losses resulting in a population decline as workers left for other areas
During the American Civil Rights Movement in the s Meridian was home to a Council of Federated Organizations COFO office and several other activist organizations James Chaney and other local residents along with Michael Schwerner his wife Rita and Andrew Goodman volunteers from the North worked to create a community center holding classes to help prepare African Americans in the area to regain the power to vote Whites in the area resented the activism and racial tension often resulted in violence In June Chaney Schwerner and Goodman went to Neshoba County Mississippi to meet with members of a black church that had been bombed and burned The three disappeared that night on their way back to Meridian Following a massive FBI investigation their murdered bodies were found two months later buried in an earthen dam
Seven Klansmen including a deputy sheriff were convicted in the federal courthouse in Meridian of depriving the victims of their civil rights and three were acquitted in the Mississippi civil rights workers murders trial It was the first time that a white jury had convicted a white official in a civil rights killing In the case was reopened by the state which brought charges in the case for the first time Edgar Ray Killen was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to years in prison Meridian later honored Chaney by renaming a portion of th Avenue after him and holding an annual memorial service
Starting in the s and following the construction of highways that made commuting easier residents began to move away from downtown in favor of new housing subdivisions to the north After strip commercial interests began to move downtown the city worked to designate several areas as historic districts in the s and s to preserve the architectural character of the city The Meridian Historic Districts and Landmarks Commission was created in and the Meridian Main Street program was founded in
Meridian Main Street organized several projects to revitalize downtown including the construction of a new Amtrak Station in based on the design of the historic train station used during Meridian s Golden Age it had been demolished Other projects included the renovation of the Rosenbaum Building in and Weidmann s Restaurant in as well as support for integrated urban design Meridian Main Street along with The Riley Foundation helped renovate and adapt the historic Grand Opera House in for use as the Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and the Performing Arts
After ownership of the Meridian Main Street was transferred to the Alliance for Downtown Meridian in late the two organizations along with the Meridian Downtown Association spearheaded the downtown revitalization effort The Alliance serves as an umbrella organization allowing the other two organizations to use the its support staff and housing and in turn the Alliance serves as a liaison between the organizations Plans were underway to renovate the Threefoot Building but newly elected Mayor Cheri Barry killed the plans in early Today the Alliance helps to promote further development and restoration downtown its goal is to assist businesses such as specialty shops restaurants and bars because these help downtown become more active during the day and at night The Meridian Downtown Association is primarily focused on increasing foot traffic downtown by organizing special events and the Meridian Main Street program supports existing businesses downtown
Given Meridian s site as a railroad junction its travelers have attracted the development of many hotels Even before Meridian reached its Golden Age several large hotels including the Great Southern and the Grand Avenue hotels were built before the start of the th century With the growth of the railroads and the construction of the original Union Station in many hotels were constructed for passengers and workers The Elmira Hotel was constructed in and the Terminal Hotel was constructed in Hotel Meridian was constructed in and Union Hotel was built in Union Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in and both Hotel Meridian and Grand Avenue Hotel were listed as contributing properties to the Meridian Urban Center Historic District
As the city grew the hotels reflected ambitions of the strong economy as evidenced by the eleven story skyscraper Lamar Hotel built in Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the Lamar Hotel was adapted for use as a county annex building In it was listed as a Mississippi Landmark
The EF Young Hotel was built in A staple in the African American business district that developed west of the city s core the hotel was one of the only places in the city during the years of segregation where a traveling African American could find a room
As the city suburbs developed in the s and s most hotels moved outside of downtown Rehabilitation of the Riley Center in has increased demand and a push for a new downtown hotel The Threefoot Building has been proposed for redevelopment for this purpose but restoration efforts stalled with a change in city administrations The Threefoot Preservation Society was formed in to raise public awareness and support for the building s renovation featuring tours of the first floor and anniversary events
Meridian has nine historic districts that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places The Meridian Downtown Historic District is a combination of two older districts the Meridian Urban Center Historic District and the Union Station Historic District Many architectural styles are present in the districts most from the late th and early th centuries including Queen Anne Colonial Revival Italianate Art Deco Late Victorian and Bungalow The districts are
East End Historic District roughly bounded by th St th Ave th St th Ave th St and th Ave
Highlands Historic District roughly bounded by th St th Ave th St and th Ave
Meridian Downtown Historic District runs from the former Gulf Mobile and Ohio Railroad north to th St between th and th Ave excluding Ragsdale Survey Block
Meridian Urban Center Historic District roughly bounded by st and th Aves th St and the railroad
Union Station Historic District roughly bounded by th and th Aves th St and the railroad
Merrehope Historic District roughly bounded by rd Ave th Ave th St and th St
Mid Town Historic District roughly bounded by rd Ave th St th Ave and nd St
Poplar Springs Road Historic District roughly bounded by th St rd Ave nd St and th Ave
West End Historic District roughly bounded by th St th Ave Shearer s Branch and th St
Meridian has operated under the mayor council or strong mayor form of government since A mayor is elected every four years by the population at large The five members of the city council are elected every four years from each of the city s five wards considered single member districts The mayor the chief executive officer of the city is responsible for administering and leading the day to day operations of city government The city council is the legislative arm of the government setting policy and annually adopting the city s operating budget
City Hall which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places is located at rd Avenue The current mayor is Percy Bland Members of the city council include Dr George M Thomas representative from Ward Kenneth Dustin Markham representative from Ward Barbara Henson representative from Ward Kim Houston representative from Ward and Randy Hammon representative from Ward The council clerk is Pam McInnis In total the city employs people
The city established a Department of Homeland Security DHS shortly after Hurricane Katrina in becoming the only local DHS in the state The team oversees an area of nine counties Upon receiving million in grants from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and other organizations the department began training law enforcement offices from other Southern states in passenger rail rescue as well as offering civilian classes in basic handguns Boy Scout first aid and hunting and firearms training The DHS helps during times of crisis such as Hurricane Ivan in September when the department helped establish and support shelters for evacuees The city now serves as the leader of one of the task forces in the Mississippi DHS a combination of three nine county teams
Headed by police chief Lee Shelbourn since the Meridian Police Department consists of full time officers as well as part time and reserve staff available In the department s Criminal Investigations Division responded to cases of which were felonies In crimes were reported up slightly from crimes the preceding year Meridian has been described as the safest city in Mississippi with more than people The East Mississippi Correctional Facility is located in unincorporated Lauderdale County near Meridian It is operated by the GEO Group on behalf of the Mississippi Department of Corrections The chief of the Meridian Fire Department is Anthony Clayton The fire department responded to more than calls in including structural fires and emergency service calls
The Mississippi Department of Mental Health operates the East Mississippi State Hospital in Meridian
The United States Postal Service operates the Meridian North Meridian and the West Meridian Station post offices
In state politics the Mississippi Senate district map divides the city into three sections The northern tip of the city is in the st State Senate District and seats Terry Clark Burton R A strip of the city from the southwest corner up to the northeast corner comprises part of the nd State Senate District and seats Sampson Jackson II D The western and southeastern portions of the city lie in the rd State Senate District and seats Videt Carmichael R In the Mississippi House of Representatives districts the city is divided into four districts The southern and eastern portions of the city reside in House District and are represented by Steven A Horne R The city s core makes up the entirety of House District and is represented by Wilbert L Jones D Surrounding House District is House District represented by Greg Snowden R The western section of the city along with a small section in the north lie in House District and are represented by Tad Campbell R
On the national level the city is located in Mississippi s rd congressional district represented by Gregg Harper R who has been in office since Lauderdale County home to Meridian has voted for the Republican candidate in every United States presidential election since Prior to the shift to the Republican Party white area voters supported Democratic Party candidates as for decades since the late nineteenth century it was a one party state
The city s growth has reflected the push and pull of many social and economic factors The total population increased in each census from the city s founding until although varying from rates as high as to as low as In the census the population decreased then slightly increased by after which the population slowly declined increasing again since the turn of the st century Between and the population declined more than As of the census of the city s population was and the population density was inhabitants per square mile km In the city was the sixth largest in the state The population increased as of
Meridian is the principal city in the Meridian micropolitan area which as of consisted of three counties Clarke Kemper and Lauderdale and had a population of There is a population of in a mile km radius and in a mile km radius
While the overall population growth of the city has varied there has been a steady growth in the number and percentage of non white residents The only decline in this group was between and when the city s overall population declined markedly In the Census the racial makeup of the city was African American White Asian Native American Pacific Islander from other races and from two or more races Hispanic or Latino of any race were of the population
According to the Census of the housing units inside city limits were occupied of them by families of occupied households had children under the age of were married couples living together consisted of a female householder with no husband present and were non families of all households were made up of individuals and had someone living alone who was years of age or older The average household size was and the average family size was The average household size has steadily decreased since when it was Meridian s median age has increased from in to in
The median income for a household in the city was and the median income for a family was Males had a median income of versus for females The per capita income for the city was About of families and of the population were below the poverty line including of those under age and of those age or over
The population of Meridian and its surrounds is fairly observant with of Lauderdale County identifying as affiliated with some type of religious congregation compared with the national average of Of the affiliated in were in the Southern Baptist Convention were with the United Methodist Church and were associated with the Catholic Church
Immigrant Jews from Germany and eastern Europe were influential in commercial development of the city building businesses and services Congregation Beth Israel was founded in just before the city s Golden Age Meridian once had the largest Jewish community in the state with Jewish people living in the city in Today fewer than Jews live in Meridian most of whom are elderly
Meridian is located in the North Central Hills region of Mississippi in Lauderdale County According to the United States Census Bureau the city has a total area of sq mi km of which sq mi km is land and sq mi km is water Along major highways the city is mi km east of Jackson Mississippi mi km west of Birmingham Alabama mi km northeast of New Orleans Louisiana mi km southeast of Memphis Tennessee and mi km west of Atlanta Georgia The area surrounding the city is covered with cotton and corn fields along with oak and pine forests and its topography consists of clay hills and the bottom lands of the head waters of the Chickasawhay River
The natural terrain of the area has been modified in the urban core of the city by grading but it maintains its gentle rolling character in the outlying areas Numerous small creeks are found throughout the city and small lakes and woodlands lie in the northern and southern portions of the city Sowashee Creek runs through the southern portion of the city and branches off into Gallagher s Creek which flows through the center of the city Loper s Creek runs through the far western part of the city while smaller creeks including Shearer s Branch Magnolia Creek and Robbins Creek are dispersed throughout the city
Meridian is in the humid subtropical climate zone The average high temperature during summer June through August is around F C and the average low is around F C In winter December through February the average maximum is around F C and minimum F C The warmest month is July with an average high of F C and the coldest month of the year is January with an average low of F C
The average annual precipitation in the city is in mm Rainfall is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year and the wettest month of the year is March in which an average of in mm of rain falls Much rainfall is delivered by thunderstorms which are common during the summer months but occur throughout the year Severe thunderstorms which can produce damaging winds and or large hail in addition to the usual hazards of lightning and heavy rain occasionally occur These are most common during the spring months with a secondary peak during the Fall months These storms also bring the risk of tornadoes
Early on the economy depended greatly upon the railroads in the area The city was the largest in Mississippi around the start of the th century with five major rail lines and trains coming in and out daily The city s economy not only depended on the rails but the goods such as timber and cotton transported on them With these rail based industries the city was a great economic power in the state and region from about through Though its economy slowed with the decline of the railroading industry in the s the city has adapted moving from a largely rail based economy to a more diversified one with healthcare military and manufacturing employing the most people
Along with Lauderdale County and the city of Marion Meridian is served by the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation which was formed in by a group of business leaders from the area While as of April the city s civilian labor force was only people there is a population of in a mile km radius and in a mile km radius of which and people respectively are in the labor force The city thus serves as a hub of employment retail health care and culture activities Eighty percent of Lauderdale County s workers reside in the county while live within miles
In April there were people employed in the healthcare field in Lauderdale County Rush Hospital is the largest healthcare organization in the region employing people followed by East Mississippi State Hospital with and Anderson Hospital with There are three hospitals in Meridian as well as many other healthcare related facilities Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center provides cardiovascular surgery a Level II newborn intensive care unit and a health and fitness center Rush Foundation Hospital and the related Rush Health Systems operate a Specialty Hospital of Meridian which offers long term care for non permanent patients who require more recovery time in a hospital setting Riley Hospital has two centers for stroke treatment and rehabilitation services Other healthcare facilities in Meridian include the Alliance Health Center and East Mississippi State Hospital the latter of which has been in operation since
Retail is another major employer in the county with people employed in April Nearly billion annually is spent on retail purchases in the city The square foot m Bonita Lakes Mall offers over one hundred shopping venues including department stores specialty shops restaurants eateries and United Artists Theatres Phase I of the construction of Meridian Crossroads a square foot m shopping center in the Bonita Lakes area was completed in November providing a major boost to retail in the area Also the shopping district on North Hills Street has continued to expand and in March additional retail and office space was opened near the Highway Walmart Supercenter
The area is also served by two military facilities Naval Air Station Meridian and Key Field which supply over jobs to residents of the surrounding area NAS Meridian provides training for naval carrier pilots and other enlisted personnel Also housed at the base is the Regional Counter Drug Training Academy RCTA which provides narcotics training for law enforcement in many southeastern states Containing the first local Department of Homeland Security in the state the city is the leader in a nine county regional response team and a twenty nine county regional response task force Key Field is the site of the famous flight by brothers Fred and Al Key who set a world endurance flight record in Key Field is now home to the th Air Refueling Wing of the Air National Guard and a support facility for the th Aviation Brigade of the Army National Guard The site also contains an exhibit reviewing the history of aviation and is the home of Meridian s Aviation Museum
The total manufacturing employment of Lauderdale County in April was people Peavey Electronics Corporation which has manufactured guitars amplifiers and sound equipment since operates its headquarters in the city Other businesses in the area include Avery Dennison Structural Steel Services Sara Lee Tower Automotive and Teikuro Corporation The city is also home to four industrial parks
In downtown the MSU Riley Center provides revenue from tourism arts and entertainment sales The Riley Center attracts more than visitors to downtown Meridian annually for conferences meetings and performances Loeb s Department Store on Front St has remained a Mississippi clothing landmark having passed through four generations of family ownership The store has been selling fine men s and women s clothing since when the store was first opened by Alex Loeb
Known for more than a century of arts Meridian contains many art and cultural organizations and hosts many cultural events One of the first art organizations in the city The Meridian Art League was established in February Art exhibitions were originally held in Lamar Hotel in downtown Meridian but after a name change to Meridian Art Association in exhibitions were held at various locations around the city After the Carnegie library at th Ave and th St was closed the Art Association remodelled the building into the Meridian Museum of Art to serve as a permanent home for exhibits The museum was opened in and has since featured rotating exhibitions as well as many educational programs for both students and adults Over thirty exhibitions are held annually ranging from traditional decorative arts to ethnographic and tribal materials photography crafts and many other works of art The collection also includes th and th century portraits th century photography and several sculptures
The Meridian Council for the Arts MCA was founded as Meridian s and Lauderdale County s official arts agency in MCA operates its Community Art Grants program the annual Threefoot Festival several workshops and other special events each year MCA is partnered with many arts organizations in the city and county including the Meridian Museum of Art the Meridian Little Theatre and the Meridian Symphony Orchestra Meridian Little Theatre one of the South s oldest subscription based community theatres was built in and currently provides entertainment to residents of and visitors to Meridian and Lauderdale County entertaining over guests each season making it Mississippi s most attended community theatre The Meridian Symphony Orchestra MSO founded in played its first concert in and its first full season in In the MSO booked its first international soloist Elena Nikolaidi to perform with the orchestra The Orchestra helped the Meridian Public School District develop its own orchestra and strings programs and also helped develop the Meridian Symphony Chorus The current conductor is Dr Claire Fox Hillard who has been with the orchestra since The MSO will celebrate its th anniversary in February with a performance from Itzhak Perlman
The city s former Grand Opera House was built in by two half brothers Israel Marks and Levi Rothenberg During its operation the opera house hosted many famous artists and works the first being a German company s rendition of Johann Strauss II s The Gypsy Baron After closing in the late s due to the Great Depression the opera house was abandoned for nearly years A million grant in by the Riley Foundation a local foundation chartered in sparked the building s restoration while million came from a combination of city county and federal grants The opera house s renovation was completed in September under the new name Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts The Riley Center which includes a seat auditorium for live performances a seat studio theater and sq ft m of meeting space attracts more than visitors to downtown Meridian annually for conferences meetings and performances
Meridian is rightly considered an architectural treasure trove being one the nations most intact cities from the turn of the last century Architecture students from around the nation and Canada are known to visit Meridian in groups as part of their coursework due to numerous structures in the city having been designed by noted architects The only home in the US south designed by noted Canadian born Architect Louis S Curtiss famous for inventing the glass curtain wall skyscraper is extant on Highland Park The Frank Fort designed Threefoot Building is generally considered one of the best Art Deco skyscrapers in the US and is often compared to Detroit s famed Fisher Building Noted California Architect Wallace Neff designed a number of homes in Meridian as well as in the Alabama Black Belt which adjoins the city across the nearby Alabama State line He had relatives in Meridian and Selma who were executives in the then thriving railroad industry and would take commissions in the area when commissions in California were lean His work is mostly concentrated in the lower numbered blocks of Poplar Springs Drive where his Poplar Springs Drive is often compared to the similarly designed Falcon Lair the Beverly Hills home in Benedict Canyon of Rudolph Valentino One Neff work was lost to an expansion of Anderson Hospital in and another in Marion Park burned in the s The Meridian Post Office with its interior done entirely of bronze and Verde marble is also noteworthy as a very fine example of the type of Post Office structures built in thriving and well to do cities in the s and originally had Lalique lighting which was removed sadly during a s remodeling and which are now in private residences on Poplar Springs Drive and in North Hills
Meridian has also been selected as the future location of the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center MAEC The Mississippi Legislature approved the idea in and in promised million in funding if private contributors could raise million The city donated to the cause in September The MAEC as proposed would be located on acres ha at Bonita Lakes and consist of an outdoor amphitheatre an indoor concert hall and a Hall of Fame honoring Mississippi artists The Hall of Fame will be located downtown in the old Montana s building That property and the adjacent Meridian Hotel building were acquired in July for In February the MAEC revealed its Walk of Fame outside of the Riley Center in an attempt to promote the planned Hall of Fame The first star on the walk was dedicated to Jimmie Rodgers a Meridian native In September of the same year the second star was revealed recognizing BB King a famous blues musician from Mississippi On June authors Tennessee Williams Eudora Welty and William Faulkner were added to the walk Sela Ward was added to the walk on June The MAEC plans to add many more Mississippi born stars to the Walk of Fame names mentioned include Morgan Freeman Jimmy Buffett Elvis Presley Conway Twitty and others
Another location in the city used for large productions is the Hamasa Shrine Temple Theater The Temple Theater houses a pipe Robert Morgan organ one of two Theater Organs still in their original installations in the state With seating for persons the silent movie era was a prosperous time for the Temple At the time it was one of the largest stages in the United States second only to the Roxy Theater in New York City Today seating persons the Temple is used year round for area events live stage shows plays concerts Hamasa Shrine functions and public screenings of classic movies
Highland Park houses a Jimmie Rodgers museum which displays the original guitar of The Singing Brakeman and other memorabilia of his life and career as well as railroad equipment from the steam engine era In addition to the museum building itself there are outside memorials and a vintage steam locomotive on display A Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker has been placed in Meridian to honor the city as the birthplace of Jimmie Rodgers and emphasizes his importance to the development of the blues style of music in Mississippi The city was the first site to receive this designation outside the Mississippi Delta Also a Mississippi Country Music Trail marker was placed in Oak Grove Cemetery in honor of Rodgers on June Each year since the city has held a festival during May to honor the anniversary of his death
The park is also home to a th century carousel manufactured around by Gustav Dentzel of Philadelphia Pennsylvania Highland Park Dentzel Carousel has been in operation since is a National Historic Landmark and is the world s only two row stationary Dentzel menagerie in existence Its house is the only remaining original carousel building built from a Dentzel blueprint Around Town Carousels Abound is a public arts project of carousel horses representing the historic carousel Sixty two pieces have been sponsored by local businesses and citizens and design of the horses was conceived and painted by local artists They are placed throughout the city and county
The city contains several recreational parks including Highland Park Bonita Lakes and Okatibbee Lake Highland Park contains picnic shelters swimming pools tennis courts a baseball field softball fields and a playground all open year round to visitors Bonita Lakes is a city owned acre km park including three lakes The park also includes the Long Creek Reservoir and Lakeview Municipal Golf Course along with nature trails a jogging and walking track biking paths horseback riding trails pavilions picnic facilities boat ramps paddle boats concessions and fishing Along with the lakes the Bonita Lakes area includes Bonita Lakes Mall Bonita Lakes Crossing and Bonita Lakes Plaza Okatibbee Lake is a acre km establishment containing a acre km lake which offers boating fishing swimming water skiing picnicking hunting hiking and camping Splashdown Country Water Park a room motel and cabins are located on the lake
Since Meridian has been a host of the State Games of Mississippi a statewide annual multi sport event modeled after the Olympic Games The organization is a member of the National Congress of State Games which is affiliated with the US Olympic Committee In its first year athletes competed in twelve sports and since then over athletes have participated in the Games In more than athletes participated in sports All competitors in the games can compete in the Southeast Sports Festival while medalists may move up to the bi annual State Games of America
Originally the games were held in one weekend in June but as more sports were added the event was expanded to two weekends Opening ceremonies always begin on the rd Friday of June in downtown Meridian The games are held at several sports parks including Northeast Park Sammie Davidson Complex and other various fields throughout the city Northeast Park is an acre ha park on Highway that contains ten tennis courts four softball fields three soccer fields an asphalt track and a large picnic pavilion The Sammie Davidson Sports Complex includes six tennis courts four softball fields and a half mile track Other sports fields include the Meridian Jaycee Soccer Complex Sykes Park and Phil Hardin Park
There are also several golf courses in the city including the aforementioned Lakeview Municipal Golf Course an hole course open to the public daily Briarwood County Club located on Highway North is a private club with golf swimming fishing and dining facilities Other golf courses serving the city include Northwood Country Club Okatibbee Creek Golf Center and Ponta Creek Golf Course
Amtrak s Crescent line connects Meridian with the cities of New York New York Philadelphia Pennsylvania Baltimore Maryland Washington DC Charlotte North Carolina Atlanta Georgia Birmingham Alabama and New Orleans Louisiana The Union Station Multi Modal Transportation Center MMTC is located at Front Street part of the Meridian Downtown Historic District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places Originally built in but later demolished in then rebuilt in the station includes several modes of transportation including the Meridian Transit System Amtrak Norfolk Southern rail corridor Greyhound buses Trailways and other providers of transit services The number of passengers on Amtrak trains Greyhound buses and Meridian Transit System buses averages per year
The city is served by Meridian Regional Airport located at Key Field Airport Boulevard South mi km southwest of the city At foot m the airport s runway is the longest public runway in Mississippi The airport which has been in service since offers daily flights to Dallas Fort Worth TX
During the Great Depression residents of the city contemplated abandoning the airport because of the cost of maintenance but in Brothers Fred and Al Key managers of the airport thought of a way to keep the airport operating From June until July the brothers flew over the city in their plane the Ole Miss The record they established in their days aloft totaling hours and minutes attracted enough publicity and funds to the city to keep the airport running Key Field is therefore named after the brothers whose flight endurance record remains unbroken in conventional flight
Runs west through Jackson Mississippi eventually terminating near Kent Texas and east through Tuscaloosa Alabama eventually terminating in Florence South Carolina Interstate
Joins with I in the city and runs north through Tuscaloosa Alabama ending in Wildwood Georgia It also runs south through Hattiesburg Mississippi and on to Slidell Louisiana
Runs parallel to Interstate south to New Orleans Louisiana and north all the way to the Canada US border US Highway
Transnational route which runs north through Columbus Mississippi to the US Canada border and south through Quitman Mississippi to Mobile Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico US Highway
Runs west through Jackson Mississippi to Dallas Texas and east through Demopolis Alabama all the way to Tybee Island Georgia and the Atlantic Ocean
Runs north to West Mississippi and south to the Mississippi Alabama border where it continues as Alabama State Route Mississippi Highway
Begins in Meridian and runs north to Shuqualak Mississippi Mississippi Highway
Formerly US but now only exists as an alternate route in several cities Mississippi Highway
Begins in Meridian and runs north to Lynville Mississippi
Early public education in Meridian was based on the Mississippi Constitution From to trustees appointed by the City Council served on the Board of School Directors which had authority to operate the schools Although there were several schools in the city before they were privately owned and only enrolled about students The city did not build its first publicly owned school until September The first public school for blacks in the city was held in facilities rented from St Paul Methodist Church The Mississippi Legislature amended the city charter in January to allow the city to maintain its own municipal school district and in March of the same year in bonds was approved for the city to build new public schools From this bond the Wechsler School was built in becoming the first brick public school building in the state built for blacks
From this early district and later additions the Meridian Public School District grew to its current size which now includes six elementary schools middle schools and high schools The city also contains several private schools including Lamar School Calvary Christian School Community Christian School and St Patrick s Catholic School The campus of Meridian High School the main high school in the district occupies acres ha including six buildings and classrooms The school is made up of grades and enrolls approximately students
Meridian is home to two post secondary educational institutions Meridian Community College founded in is located at Highway N and offers free tuition for four semesters to graduates from the Meridian Public and Lauderdale County School Districts as well as homeschooled children who reside inside Lauderdale County Originally known as Meridian Junior College and located at Meridian High School the college moved to its present location in After desegregation laws were passed MJC merged with TJ Harris Junior College in which had previously enrolled African American students The name change from Meridian Junior College to Meridian Community College took place In to more accurately reflect the diversity of opportunities it provides for a growing community area Mississippi State University also operates a campus in the city As of the Fall semester students from counties throughout the state and several in Alabama attended the college
Meridian is served by the Meridian Lauderdale County Public Library located at the corner of th Street and th Avenue The city originally had two Carnegie libraries both built in one for blacks and one for whites A group of women had formed the Fortnightly Book and Magazine Club in the s and began raising money to build a library for the city The books they collected and shared within the club were later the basis of the library collection for Meridian With wide support for the library the club enlisted Israel Marks a city leader to approach the national philanthropist Andrew Carnegie for funding assistance The library for blacks was built at th Street and th Avenue on land donated by St Paul Methodist Church and the library for whites was established in a building originally owned by members of the First Presbyterian Church of Meridian who sold it to the city on September The African American library was the only library for blacks in the state until after World War I and is the only Carnegie library ever built for African Americans in the country The two libraries served the city until when the institutions became integrated because of the Civil Rights Act of combined their collections and moved all materials to their current location The former white library was renovated and converted into the Meridian Museum of Art in and the former African American library was demolished on May
The only daily newspaper printed in the city is The Meridian Star which has been in operation since The paper was originally named The Evening Star but was renamed in and has been Meridian s only daily newspaper since With a daily circulation of about in March the paper serves Lauderdale County as well as adjacent portions of western Alabama and eastern Mississippi
Though the Meridian Star is now the only newspaper printed in the city there have been a few other historical newspapers One such paper is the Memo Digest a ten to twenty page publication published during the s The Digest focused on issues relevant to the African American population of the region gathering a circulation of about people Other newspapers in the city have included The Colored Messenger The State The Weekly Mercury The Blade Weekly Echo Fair Play Headlight Meridian Morning Sun Teacher and Preacher and Clarion
The city is the principal city in the Meridian Mississippi Designated Market Area DMA which includes households with televisions WTOK TV broadcasts as an ABC affiliate from the city headquartered at rd Avenue WTOK operates two digital subchannels WTOK DT a MyNetworkTV affiliate and WTOK DT Meridian s CW WGBC TV the market s NBC affiliate is headquartered at Crestview Circle Since January WGBC has also been the market s FOX affiliate and it also features some programming from the Retro Television Network RTN WGBC operates under a program services agreement with WMDN TV the market s CBS affiliate which operates a local AccuWeather service on its second subchannel WMAW TV is the local affiliate of Mississippi Public Broadcasting
The city is also the principal city in the Meridian Arbitron Radio Market which includes people over the age of WJXM FM headquartered at Highway North takes the largest share of ratings in the market at in Fall In the same period WZKS FM was second with and WMOX AM was third with Other popular stations in the market include WUCL FM WOKK FM WEXR FM WYHL AM and WKZB FM Mississippi Public Broadcasting can be found on WMAW FM FM
Meridian has produced or hosted many famous people in the arts and other areas For example
Alvin Childress who played the lead role in the Amos n Andy Show was born in the city in
Diane Ladd was also born in the city in
Sela Ward was born in Meridian in
Gil Carmichael Meridian businessman and transportation specialist was the Republican nominee for the Mississippi Senate in and US Senate in governor in and and lieutenant governor in
Winfield Dunn former Governor of Tennessee lived in Meridian
John Fleming current US Representative for Louisiana s th congressional district lived in Meridian
The late Lieutenant Governor Carroll Gartin who was born in Meridian lived in Laurel
Lewis McAllister a businessman in Tuscaloosa Alabama was the first Republican to serve in the Mississippi House of Representatives since Reconstruction he resided in Meridian prior to
Gillespie V Montgomery former US Representative lived in Meridian
Hartley Peavey founder of Peavey Electronics which is headquartered in Meridian is a Meridian native
Tom Stuart from to was the first Republican to serve as mayor of Meridian in the th century
Emmy award winning meteorologist Bill Evans meteorologist WABC TV New York was born in Meridian where he held his first broadcasting jobs
Novelist Edwin Granberry who won the O Henry Award for Best Short Short Story was born in Meridian For years Granberry wrote the Buz Sawyer comic strip Meridian is the birthplace of novelist and short story writer Barry Hannah
Classical composer John Luther Adams is a Meridian native
The Island Def Jam rapper Big KRIT was born in Meridian KRIT is known for his many mixtapes and albums such as KRIT Wuz Here and Cadillactica He has gained a large following for his lyricism and self produced beats as well as his ability to change his style on songs from slow and conscious tracks The Vent to fiery and upbeat tracks Mt Olympus
The guitarist songwriter George Cummings born in Meridian in was a founding member of Dr Hook the Medicine Show
Paul Davis a singer songwriter best known for the late s and early s pop hits I Go Crazy and Love Affair was born in Meridian in after retiring from the music business he returned to the city where he remained until a fatal heart attack in
Chris Ethridge February April was an American country rock bass guitarist He was a member of the International Submarine Band ISB and The Flying Burrito Brothers and he co wrote several songs with Gram Parsons Ethridge worked with Jackson Browne Judy Collins Ry Cooder Whitney Houston Willie Nelson Randy Newman Linda Ronstadt Leon Russell Nancy Sinatra Johnny Winter and The Byrds
The singer songwriter Steve Forbert was born in Meridian in
Jimmie Rodgers the Father of Country Music was born in the city in The Jimmie Rodgers Museum is located in Meridian and the Jimmie Rodgers Festival has been an annual Meridian event since
David Ruffin former lead singer of The Temptations and his older brother Jimmy Ruffin were born in the surrounding area Whynot and Collinsville respectively
George Soul the singer songwriter most famous for the rhythm and blues anthem Get Involved is a resident of Meridian where he was born in
Hayley Williams lead singer of the band Paramore was also born in the city in
Singer Al Wilson born in June was a Meridian native
The city has also been home to several athletes many of whom have competed at professional levels Among them are Dennis Ray Oil Can Boyd former Major League Baseball pitcher Negro league baseball catcher Paul Hardy professional basketball player Derrick McKey Jay Powell another pitcher Joe Stringfellow played in the NFL professional basketball player George Wilson
Other notable natives of the city include
Susan Akin who won the Miss America beauty pageant in
James Chaney one of the victims of the Mississippi civil rights workers murders in
Fred and Al Key known as The Flying Keys holders of the world flight endurance record are Meridian natives Al Key is also a former mayor of the city
Fred Phelps leader of the Westboro Baptist Church
Cullen Bohannon the protagonist of the AMC series Hell on Wheels hails from Meridian Mississippi where he was a tobacco farmer and later a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War
Dill Harris one of the characters of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird is from Meridian which is mentioned throughout when referencing Dill s home
Papa Stour is one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland with a population of under twenty people some of whom immigrated after an appeal for residents in the s Located to the west of mainland Shetland and with an area of hectares square miles Papa Stour is the eighth largest island in Shetland Erosion of the soft volcanic rocks by the sea has created an extraordinary variety of caves stacks arches blowholes and cliffs The island and its surrounding seas harbour diverse populations of wildlife The west side of the island is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the seas around the island are a Special Area of Conservation
The island has several Neolithic burial chamber sites as well as the remains of Duke Hakon s th century house dating from the Norse occupation of the island The population reached or more in the nineteenth century when a fishing station was opened at Crabbaberry in West Voe Subsequently there was a steady decline in population although the numbers have increased from a low of in the s
Today the main settlement on the island is Biggings just to the east of which is Housa Voe from where the Snolda ferry arrives from its base at West Burrafirth on the Shetland Mainland Crofting especially sheep rearing is the mainstay of island life
Numerous shipwrecks have occurred around the coast and the celebrated poem Da Sang o da Papa Men by Vagaland recalls the drama of the days when Papa Stour was a centre for deep sea fishing
Papa Stour is located at the south western end of St Magnus Bay There are kilometres mi of rugged coastline which is indented by numerous small embayments and four larger voes Hamna Voe Old Norse harbour bay in the south is the most sheltered anchorage and the surrounding cliffs contain a natural rock arch Housa Voe to the east Old Norse house bay is less secluded but is the main harbour for the island and the ferry s embarkation point
Brei Holm and Maiden Stack guard the harbour entrance to the south The former is a tidal island and was a leper colony until the th century although it has been suggested that many of the lepers there were suffering from a vitamin deficiency rather than leprosy The latter s name relates to a story from the th century Lord Thorvald Thoresson is said to have constructed the tiny house at its top whose ruins are still visible in order to preserve his daughter from men Unfortunately for his plans when she left she was found to be pregnant in another version of the story she and her fisherman sweetheart successfully eloped West Voe the inner part of which is called Robies Noust is the main voe in the north coast the smaller Culla Voe lying immediately to the west
The main settlement on the island today is Biggings which overlooks Housa Voe and is surrounded by in bye land to the east of the hill dyke which runs south from West Voe To the west the island is bisected by a belt of glacial moraine about one and a half kilometres in length Much of the rest of the area consists of a shallow stony soil that may be derived from glacial till There is an almost complete absence of peat on the island and due to the volcanic rocks the soils are relatively fertile The lack of peat led to turf scalping for fuel and the bare areas of rock in the interior
The highest point on the island is in the north west at Virda Field which rises to metres feet Virda is possibly from the Old Norse for heap of stones
In addition to the larger islets mentioned above there are various other isles and skerries around the coast of Papa Stour They include Aesha Stack Boinna Skerry Borse Skerry Fogla Skerry Forewick Holm Galti Stacks Holm of Melby Koda Skerry Lyra Skerry Skerries of Quidaness Skerry of Lambaness Sula Stack Swat Skerry The Horn Tiptans Skerry and Wilma Skerry The Ve Skerries lie kilometres mi to the north west They include Helliogoblo North Skerry Ormal Reaverack and The Clubb In between Papa Stour and Ve Skerries lies the shallow bank of Papa rof
On June Stuart Hill the owner and only resident of the hectare acres island of Forewick Holm which he has renamed Forvik Island made a declaration of dependence creating the Crown Dependency of Forvik On the basis of a marriage arrangement between King Christian of Norway and King James III of Scotland that dates to Hill argued that the island should be considered a British crown dependency and thus not a part of the United Kingdom or of the European Union This claim was not recognised by the United Kingdom
The island is composed of a variety of volcanic and sedimentary rock formations from the Devonian period At that time the Scottish landmass formed part of the Old Red Sandstone Continent and lay some degrees south of the equator The accumulations of Old Red Sandstone laid down from to million years ago were created as earlier Silurian rocks uplifted by the formation of Pangaea eroded and then were deposited into river deltas The freshwater Lake Orcadie existed on the edges of the eroding mountains stretching from Shetland to the southern Moray Firth The structure of Papa Stour is largely made up of ashes and lavas from volcanic activity associated with this period including bands of solidified volcanic ash and lava rhyolite but there is also a Devonian fish bed at Lamba Banks There are numerous large boulders deposited by Pleistocene glaciation
Erosion of the soft volcanic rocks by the sea has created an extraordinary variety of caves stacks arches blowholes cliffs voes and geos that are amongst the finest in Britain The Holl o Boardie is a cave that passes right through the north west tip of the island It is nearly half a mile long and wide enough to row through Kirstan or Christie s Hole in the south west is another spectacular cave part of the roof of which collapsed in Yet another is Francie s Hole close to Hamna Voe in the west This was the favourite of John Tudor who wrote of the island in his Victorian memoirs and described the cave as
in fairyland so exquisite is the colouring of the roof and sides and so pellucid is the water with alcoves or recesses like stalls in a church
In the spectacular headland Da Horn o Papa fell into the sea during a storm The nearby islet of Brei Holm also has caves that can be accessed by small boats when conditions permit
Otters grey seals killer whales and harbour porpoises are frequently seen on and around Papa Stour Atlantic puffin Arctic and common tern bonxie and Arctic skua northern fulmar common guillemot razorbill curlew wheatear ringed plover and great black backed gull all breed on the island and numerous migratory species have been recorded
There is a profusion of wild flowers including mountain everlasting spring squill and eyebright as well as the ubiquitous heather The west side of the island is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the seas around Papa Stour are a Special Area of Conservation The traditional Shetland Pony is still bred
Human settlement of the island dates from circa BC and there are remains of several Neolithic burial chambers known as heel shaped cairns Little is known of the pre Celtic and Celtic eras but when the Norse arrived it is likely they found a religious settlement as the name of the island derives from Papey Stra meaning Big island of the Papar Celtic monks in distinction to Papa Little some kilometres mi to the west
Papa Stour is the subject of a manuscript written in Old Norse which is the oldest surviving document from Shetland It deals with a dramatic incident in the house of Duke Hakon Magnusson who was later to become King Hakon V of Norway There is a circle of stones near the beach at Housa Voe which are the remains of a ting or local assembly This was the scene of a duel fought and won by Lord Thorvald Thoresson who was accused of corruption in the document and was later called dominus de Papay The story of his unfortunate daughter is referred to above The remains of Duke Hakon s thirteenth century house are still visible near Housa Voe
In Shetland came under nominal Scottish control although the Norse Lairds of Norway kept their Papa Stour estates until the th century In the th century merchants from Bremen and Hamburg were operating a summer trading booth to buy fish from the local fleet By the th century two Scottish lairds Thomas Gifford of Busta and Arthur Nicolson of Lerwick owned the island They maintained a prosperous Haaf Old Norse deep sea fishing industry undertaken in the summer months using six oared boats known as sixareens
In addition to the leper colony on Brei Holm there may have been another at Hilla Fielle overlooking Hamna Voe A recent archaeological survey was inconclusive but suggests the site may be much older than the supposed th century colony
The island church which overlooks Kirk Sand in the bay of Fore Wick was founded in metres from the present church there may be an older chapel site of Sneeans or Snyans on the headland between the west end of Kirk Sand and the bay of Tusselby It is called the ald kirk by locals and referred to by the Ordnance Survey as the site of a Romish chapel belonging to about the twelfth century There is a tradition that the work there was interfered with by supernatural powers and that each day s work on the building was destroyed during the night Eventually the cornerstones were moved overnight by these unearthly agencies to the present site of the church and work was re commenced there successfully Excavations in found little besides large blocks of rhyolite and a piece of whalebone rib suggesting that the oral tradition may have some truth to it
In the th century the Crabbaberry fishing station in West Voe was opened and the island had a population of people or more However fuel shortages and a decline in fishing due to the introduction of steam drifters saw a fall in population from the s on At this time another duel entered the history of Papa Stour Edwin Lindsay an Indian army officer and the son of the th Earl of Balcarres was declared insane and sent to the island in disgrace after refusing to fight in one He spent years as a prisoner before the Quaker preacher Catherine Watson arranged for his release in Lindsay s Well is a spring at the south of the island where he was allowed to bathe
There are good examples of horizontal water mills also known as Norse or Clack Mills around Dutch Loch Originally these were two story buildings with turf roofs built into banks to give access to the upper floor where the mill stone was sited Inside the building there was a fixed lower millstone and a rotating upper millstone driven by the water falling onto the paddles below Some were still in use on Papa Stour in the early years of the th century and there is still a working example of one of these mills on the Burn of Clumlie at Troswick in the south Mainland of Shetland
In common with many small Scottish islands Papa Stour s population peaked in the th century and has experienced a significant decline since then see eg Mingulay By the island school had closed and the population had declined to sixteen fairly elderly residents but an advertisement in Exchange and Mart reversed the decline A croft and five sheep were offered free of charge to incomers which brought a flood of applicants By the census recorded a population of However by the population had fallen to after serious discord between islanders led to several court cases A number of people left the island and the school closed By early the population had dropped to just nine after a family of seven left The census recorded a usually resident population of during the decade Scottish island populations as a whole grew by to
The coasts around Papa Stour have claimed numerous wrecks In Hamnavoe Tiptans Skerry alone has sunk Dutch French German and Norwegian ships
The Aberdeen trawler Ben Doran A foundered on the Ve Skerries miles northwest of Papa Stour on the evening of March while on her way to the village of Scalloway to land her catch When she grounded weather conditions were fairly good but it was not until the following day that a passing trawler saw and reported the wreck By the time that various rescue attempts were launched by the coastguard and local volunteers there being no lifeboat in Shetland at that time weather conditions had deteriorated to the point where it was impossible to approach the skerries A request had been made for the Stromness lifeboat from Orkney only miles away to launch but the request was made too late to be of help All crew perished in the wreck Only bodies were recovered that of James Mitchell which was returned to Aberdeen and the bodies of J Cormack and JR Insh which were buried in Scalloway
The cargo ship SS Highcliffe ran aground in fog on Forewick Holm in February On this occasion the conditions were clement and only the ship and cargo were lost In the Aberdeen trawler Juniper ran aground in Lyra Sound at the bottom of the metres feet cliffs The man crew were rescued by the Aith lifeboat the coxswain being awarded the RNLI silver medal for this rescue
Papa Stour s most recent shipwreck occurred on December when the Aberdeen trawler Elinor Viking A skipper Alec Flett foundered on the Ve Skerries The Aith Lifeboat came to the scene but was unable to get near enough to rescue the crew because of the sea conditions At the request of Alec Webster Coastguard Station Officer Lerwick a volunteer crew in a British Airways Sikorsky SN helicopter from Sumburgh Airport was scrambled They managed to winch all the boat s crew to safety within hours of the grounding despite the storm force winds The helicopter crew later received a number of awards for bravery There was no loss of life but this incident prompted the building of a lighthouse on the skerries in and may also have been the example required for the formation of the present Search and Rescue helicopter unit based at Sumburgh Airport
Crofting is the mainstay of island life Sheep form the backbone of the agricultural economy but a diversity livestock are kept including cattle pigs goats chickens ducks and geese Vegetable are grown too often in the shelter of circular walls such plots being known as plantie scrubs Fishing is still conducted but on a relatively small scale There is a post office at the pier but no shop Mains electricity only came to the island at the close of the twentieth century The Papa Stour Project is a Christian supported housing service offering accommodation to men with drug and alcohol issues Ferries now sail across the Sound of Papa to West Burrafirth on the Shetland Mainland The crossing takes minutes and although the Snolda carries cars there is only one short road on the islandFor visiting yachts the four main voes provide good shelter but the strong tides in both the Sound of Papa and to the north west require considerable care
There is an airstrip which caters for regular flights from Tingwall
The Papa Stour sword dance may be of Norse origin and bears similarities to the long sword dance of the north east of England A description of the dance appears in The Pirate by Sir Walter Scott
The writer and journalist John Sands lived on Papa Stour and Foula for a while during the late nineteenth century The writer folklorist and musician George P S Peterson was brought up on Papa Stour
It is also the Papa of Vagaland s poem Da Sang o da Papa men now adopted as part of the folksong tradition as set to music by TMY Manson The insistent chorus chant Rowin Foula Doon is particularly striking
Oot bewast da Horn o Papa
Owir a hidden piece o water
Roond da boat da tide lumps makkin
Sunlicht trowe da cloods is brakkin
We maan geng whaar fish is takkin
Rowin Foula doon refers to the fishermens practice of rowing their open fishing boat out to sea until the high cliffs of Foula were no longer visible This entailed the boat being some kilometres mi west of Papa Stour The tide lumps are increased swells of unusual size due to the combined action of wind against tide The resonant final image of the piece is of the fishermen being led back home to Papa by the scent o flooers across the water This is an example of Vagaland s ability to create a vivid sensual impression of a situation An extra layer of meaning is added by the knowledge that Da Horn o Papa collapsed in a storm around the time of this poem s composition so that it is a tribute not just to a lost way of life but a noted geographical feature
Angel of Death is the opening track on the American thrash metal band Slayer s album Reign in Blood The lyrics and music were written by Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman and are based on Nazi physician Josef Mengele who conducted human experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II Angel of Death led to the band facing accusations of Nazi sympathizing and racism throughout their career
Despite the controversy surrounding the song and its contribution to the delay in the release of Reign in Blood Angel of Death is featured on all of Slayer s live albums and DVDs and has appeared in several movies The song was well received by critics Steve Huey of AllMusic described it as a classic
Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman wrote Angel of Death after reading books about Nazi physician Josef Mengele while on tour with the band I remember stopping someplace where I bought two books on Mengele I thought This has gotta be some sick shit So when it came time to do the record that stuff was still in my head that s where the lyrics to Angel of Death came from
The lyrics detail Mengele s surgical experiments on patients at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II Mengele s explorations were conducted on such groups as dwarfs and twins and included both physical and psychological examinations Among the tests he performed that are mentioned in Angel of Death are experimental surgeries performed without anesthesia transfusion of blood between twins isolation endurance gassing injections with lethal germs sex change operations the removal of organs and limbs and abacination
Sewn together joining heads Just a matter of time til you rip yourselves apart a line from the penultimate verse is a reference to the allegation Mengele stitched together twins one of them deformed the hunchback was sewn to the other child back to back their wrists back to back too This claim was first made by Auschwitz survivor Vera Alexander at the trial of SS Hauptscharfhrer Adolf Eichmann the architect of the Holocaust where it was asserted that Mengele sewed the veins together and turned them into Siamese twins This allegation became more widely known when Vera Alexander was featured in the documentary The Search for Mengele which has been cited by several authors including Gerald Posner an expert on Mengele
Towards the end of the song there is a line Feeding off the screams of the mutants he s creating which was taken from the film The Boys from Brazil in which Dr Mengele was the villain
The lyrical content of Angel of Death contributed to the delay of the release of Slayer s album Reign in Blood The band were signed to Def Jam Records whose distributor Columbia Records refused to release the album due to lyrical themes and artwork concerns deeming the artwork too graphic Reign in Blood was eventually distributed by Geffen Records on October However due to the controversy Reign in Blood did not appear on Geffen Records official release schedule
Angel of Death caused outrage among survivors of the Holocaust as well as their families and the general public The controversy led to accusations of Nazi sympathizing which have followed Slayer throughout their career People took Hanneman s interest in Nazi history and his collection of Nazi medals as evidence of sympathizing his most prized item being a German Knight s Cross Hanneman counteracted asserting
I know why people misinterpret it it s because they get this knee jerk reaction to it When they read the lyrics there s nothing I put in the lyrics that says necessarily he was a bad man because to me well isn t that obvious I shouldn t have to tell you that
According to guitarist Kerry King Yeah Slayer are Nazis fascists communists all that fun shit And of course we got the most flak for it in Germany I was always like Read the lyrics and tell me what s offensive about it Can you see it as a documentary or do you think Slayer s preaching fucking World War II People get this thought in their heads especially in Europe and you ll never talk them out of it
The song drew accusations of racism which the band has denied The band members are often asked about the accusations in interviews and have stated numerous times that they do not condone racism and are merely interested in the subject
In the song Jihad from Slayer s album Christ Illusion drew comparison to Angel of Death Jihad deals with the September attacks and tells the story from a terrorist s perspective Vocalist Araya was expecting the subject matter to create a similar backlash to that of Angel of Death although it did not materialise in part he believes due to peoples view that the song is just Slayer being Slayer
Angel of Death is the longest track on the album Reign in Blood spanning minutes and seconds where the total duration of the album is minutes Additionally it has one of the most conventional song structures on the album featuring prominent verses and choruses where most tracks on the album eschew them Hanneman and King deliver their intricate riffs which offer the few hints of melody on the album according to PopMatters reviewer Adrien Begrand and Araya bursts out his piercing scream with Lombardo performing beats of beats per minute
When drummer Lombardo left Slayer in the band hired a full time replacement in Forbidden drummer Paul Bostaph Bostaph made one mistake out of the nine songs the band trialled him with on Angel of Death Before the big double bass part there is a lead section which Bostaph could not understand as he had to learn from live records recorded with Lombardo Bostaph could not tell how many revolutions the guitar riff goes before the bass sequence The band members told him there were eight perfecting the song afterwards
Although Angel of Death did not enter any charts it received strong praise from critics in reviews for Reign in Blood Clay Jarvas of Stylus Magazine noted that the song smokes the asses of any band playing fast and or heavy today Lyrically outlining the horrors to come while musically laying the groundwork for the rest of the record fast lean and filthy
Adrien Begrand of PopMatters remarked that There s no better song to kick things off than the masterful Angel of Death one of the most monumental songs in metal history where guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman deliver their intricate riffs drummer Dave Lombardo performs some of the most powerful drumming ever recorded and bassist vocalist Tom Araya screams and snarls his tale of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele
Capitalizing on the publicity generated by the controversy the band utilized Nazi imagery by adapting a logo to one similar to the eagle atop swastika during the Seasons in the Abyss period Hanneman placed SS stickers on his guitar and wrote SS a song about Reinhard Heydrich the second in command in the Schutzstaffel organization
Angel of Death has appeared in several movies and TV shows including Gremlins The New Batch in a scene when the gremlin Mohawk is turning into a spider Jackass The Movie during a car stunt the Iraq War documentary Soundtrack to War which details the role of music on the contemporary battlefield and on an episode of The Leftovers when Nora asks a female escort to shoot her
The half time riff was sampled by Public Enemy in their song She Watch Channel Zero sampled by MOP in their song Raise Hell which appeared in the Breaking Bad episode Thirty Eight Snub and sampled by KMFDM on their single Godlike and featured in the multi platform video game Tony Hawk s Project Nolan Nelson who selected the soundtrack for the game asserts the song is one of the greatest heavy metal songs ever recorded Don t know who Slayer is I feel sorry for you
A Slayer tribute band called Dead Skin Mask released an album with eight Slayer tracks Angel of Death being one of them The death metal bands Debauchery and Monstrosity covered the song and the track was featured on cello metal band Apocalyptica s album Amplified A Decade of Reinventing the Cello Sgt Discharge a thrash metal band with members from Morbid Saint has also covered this song Al Sur del Abismo Tributo Argentino a Slayer a Slayer tribute album compiled by Hurling Metal Records featured sixteen tracks covered by Argentina metal bands Asinesia covered Angel of Death The song was once again covered by deathcore band Carnifex and appears on their third album Hell Chose Me as a bonus track included on the vinyl and iTunes editions
A compilation album of bands that have been featured in the Ozzfest line up of which Slayer have headlined multiple times features Angel of Death
The song saw a release as playable downloadable content in the game Rocksmith
Calvin McCarty born November is a Canadian football running back for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League CFL He played as a tailback until when he became the starting fullback for the Eskimos McCarty is known for being able to fill many roles at his position with TSN sportscaster Chris Schultz noting in that he is a multi purpose running back who catches the ball extremely well blocks well and runs well He is a champion of the rd Grey Cup
Prior to being drafted by the Edmonton Eskimos in the fourth round of the CFL Draft McCarty played high school football for the St Thomas More Knights where he broke multiple school records He later played college football for the Western Washington Vikings With the Vikings McCarty developed into a dual threat being used heavily as a rusher and receiver McCarty has spent his entire professional career with the Edmonton Eskimos making him the most veteran player on the team as of the season
McCarty played high school football for the St Thomas More Knights in Burnaby British Columbia beginning in playing as both a running back and middle linebacker on the Grade team He quickly became a key player on the team including rushing for yards and four touchdowns while adding defensive tackles in the Grade provincial semi finals on November against the Handsworth Royals For that performance he was named Star of the Week by The Vancouver Sun The Knights went on to defeat the Vancouver College Fighting Irish in the Grade BC championship game where McCarty scored another three touchdowns
The following year McCarty joined the senior team at St Thomas More skipping the junior team entirely He continued in his role as a running back while switching to the secondary defensively Despite being a rare Grade player on the senior team he was one of the Knights two leading rushers that year McCarty scored a touchdown in the AAA BC championship game helping the Knights win their first senior title as they beat the Pinetree T Wolves While KC Steele the Knights coach has a policy of not recording player statistics it is estimated that McCarty finished with over rushing yards and touchdowns
In McCarty played a significant role in the Knights rushing and return game He rushed for yards and three touchdowns against the Burnaby Central Wildcats in the annual Burnaby Bowl adding two punt returns for touchdowns By the end of October the Knights had compiled a perfect record and defensive coordinator and former CFL defensive back Lou Deslauriers called McCarty the best player for his age and talent that we ve ever had at our school He recorded yards and four consecutive touchdowns with only carries in the Knights victory over the W J Mouat Hawks in the AAA championship game For his role in earning the Knights their second AAA title McCarty was named the game s MVP becoming the youngest player to earn this award
McCarty remained a presence on the field for the Knights in expanding his role by playing some snaps as a fullback He rushed for yards in that year s Burnaby Bowl including three touchdowns as a halfback and one as a fullback McCarty had another notable performance in a blowout against the South Delta Sun Devils running for yards and three touchdowns He also showed himself to be a capable receiver including making five catches for yards in a match against the Holy Cross Crusaders McCarty also finished that game with yards and two touchdowns on only three carries Despite giving up only points during the entire regular season the Knights lost in the quarter finals of the playoffs against the Centennial Centaurs after McCarty was stopped one yard away from the endzone on the last play of the game
As a senior McCarty recorded yards and scored touchdowns in just nine games averaging yards and over three touchdowns per game He ran for yards and three touchdowns in a loss against the W J Mouat Hawks in the quarter finals of the AAA playoffs He was named the Provincial Player of the Year for his performance and finished his four year AAA career at St Thomas More with touchdowns breaking a school record
McCarty played basketball and baseball during high school as well He lettered in basketball with the Knights At the Big League World Series McCarty played for Team Canada as a shortstop and center fielder helping the team to third place in the international competition Despite being skilled as a baseball player McCarty chose football over professional baseball due to the physicality of the former sport
McCarty originally committed to Boise State University and played for the Broncos In he was given redshirt status and did not play McCarty played a limited role the following year but capitalized on the opportunities he was given rushing for yards on only carries His only touchdown came on a yard carry in the October game against the Fresno State Bulldogs The Bulldogs finished with an season in
McCarty transferred to Reedley College and played for the Tigers in He ended the season with rushing yards receiving yards and touchdowns as the Tigers earned a record along their way to the Central Valley Conference championship title McCarty also played baseball at Reedley
After his single season at Reedley McCarty transferred to Western Washington University and played football for the Vikings McCarty was immediately a significant factor in the Vikings gameplan In the season opener he rushed for yards and three touchdowns on carries against the Humboldt State Lumberjacks He also played a large role in the passing game early in the season making eight receptions for yards through the first two games After starting the first seven games for the Vikings McCarty broke his foot in a game against the South Dakota Hardrockers At the time of his injury he led the Vikings in rushing and receiving yards He finished the season with rushing yards and five touchdowns on carries as well as receptions for yards McCarty was also named a second team all star of the North Central Conference
Following his only season at Western Washington McCarty declared himself eligible for the CFL Draft He was selected in the fourth round of the draft by the Edmonton Eskimos with the th overall pick He was re signed on December to a multiple year contract and again following the season
McCarty made the active roster and played in all regular season games his rookie season He was used in the passing game and on the special teams finishing with seven receptions for yards and a touchdown as well as five special teams tackles McCarty made his CFL debut on June in the season opener against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers He received his first carry and reception in a Week game against the Calgary Stampeders where he was given two carries for one yard and caught one reception for yards
McCarty played a larger role in his second season with the Eskimos especially as a receiver On September in a match against the Stampeders starting running back A J Harris was injured and McCarty rushed for yards on carries as a backup Filling in again for the injured Harris on September against the Montreal Alouettes McCarty was named Canadian Player of the Week for the first time with yards on only carries and a touchdown Receiving his first start of his career on October McCarty rushed for yards on carries with a touchdown along with eight catches for yards earning him another Canadian Player of the Week award He played in all games and started three times in his second year finishing with yards and four touchdowns on carries He had catches the second highest amount among running backs He also continued his role on the special teams ending the season with special teams tackles During the season head coach Danny Maciocia referred to McCarty as the best fourth round pick he d ever been associated with
McCarty split time with Arkee Whitlock in He rushed for two touchdowns in Week being named the Canadian Player of the Week for the third time He was also named the Canadian Player of the Month in July after continuing to play a large role in the rushing game In August McCarty injured his hamstring in a game against the Stampeders and missed several games He briefly returned in mid September before being sidelined again with recurring hamstring issues until late October In Week McCarty ran for yards and a touchdown off of carries helping the Eskimos defeat the BC Lions in a blowout Despite having his season sidetracked by injuries McCarty finished with rushing yards and five touchdowns on attempts as well as seven special teams tackles He saw a significantly smaller role as a receiver catching passes for only yards
McCarty remained in a multi purpose role in and was utilized more frequently in the passing game compared to the previous season He made a reception for a first down following a fake punt in Week He missed two games later in the season due to a hand injury In a September game against the Toronto Argonauts McCarty rushed for yards on carries and two fourth quarter touchdowns including a yard breakaway McCarty was utilized about equally on the ground and in the air ending his season with rushing yards on carries and receiving yards on catches as well as five total touchdowns He continued to play on the special teams where he made eight tackles He started in six of the games he played and the Eskimos nominated him for Most Outstanding Canadian
In the Eskimos utilized a committee of running backs with McCarty Daniel Porter and Jerome Messam all receiving significant playing time McCarty was used mostly in short yardage situations on the ground while also being active as a receiver and on special teams He played in games made eight starts and finished with yards on carries with no touchdowns He also caught passes for yards and a touchdown McCarty played in both of the Eskimos playoff games In the West Semi Finals against the Stampeders he rushed for a goal line touchdown in addition to making three receptions and two special teams tackles McCarty played a more limited role in the West Finals against the BC Lions where he was given only one carry for six yards made one tackle on special teams and caught two passes for a total of four yards
McCarty played a limited role in both due to injuries and competition from other backs including Cory Boyd Hugh Charles and Jerome Messam McCarty missed six games due to a high ankle sprain suffered during the Labour Day Rematch Playing in the other games but starting in none McCarty rushed only times and made five receptions with a lone rushing touchdown He added four special teams tackles
McCarty played a role as a receiver and special teams player in but was almost entirely absent from the rushing game He rushed for yards on carries but caught passes for yards and two touchdowns He continued to play on the special teams and recorded nine special teams tackles
McCarty was shifted from playing mostly as a backup tailback to the fullback position where he started all regular season games In his new position McCarty was primarily used for blocking and remained involved on special teams and as a receiver He continued his extremely limited role as a rusher finishing the season with just eight carries McCarty had catches for yards and two touchdowns as well as a career high special teams tackles
McCarty was again used as a fullback and special teams player in After sustaining an unspecified injury in week he missed several games and was placed on the six game injured list McCarty finished the season with only one carry and nine catches his lowest total number of touches in any CFL season With starts McCarty finished with one carry for yards nine receptions for yards as well as five special teams tackles and one kick return for yards McCarty played in the West Final and had one special teams tackle He became a Grey Cup champion for the first time after rushing for three yards on a fake punt in the championship game versus the Redblacks
McCarty grew up in Muskogee Oklahoma After his mother Jackie Conway was unable to financially support him McCarty moved to Canada and lived with his father Orlando McCarty
His mother was a college softball player for the NEO Lady Norse while his father was a college basketball player for the Bacone Warriors and the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm McCarty s siblings were also college athletes Tiffany played softball for the McPherson Bulldogs while Jordan was a quarterback with the Reedley Tigers
Hurricane Beatriz was a Category hurricane that killed four people after brushing the western coast of Mexico in June Originating from an area of disturbed weather on June several hundred miles south of Mexico Beatriz gradually intensified Gaining latitude the system became increasingly organized and reached hurricane status on the evening of June The following morning Beatriz attained winds of mph km h as it passed roughly mi km of Mexico Due to its interaction with land the hurricane abruptly weakened hours later Early on June Beatriz dissipated over open waters Prior to Beatriz s arrival in Mexico hurricane watches and warnings were issued for coastal areas Hundreds of shelters opened across the states of Colima and Guerrero Heavy rains from the storm triggered significant flooding along the Sabana River in Acapulco killing four people However the overall effects of Beatriz were limited and the rains were largely beneficial in mitigating a severe drought
On June a trough situated off the southern coast of Guatemala showed signs of possible tropical cyclogenesis Though located within an area favoring development the system remained broad and disorganized as it moved slowly west northwestward Gradually convection consolidated around an area of low pressure On June a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert was issued for the system as it was expected to develop into a tropical depression within hours On the following day the low further developed and was declared Tropical Depression Two E by the National Hurricane Center at UTC Upon being declared the depression was located about mi km south southeast of Lzaro Crdenas Mexico However after post analysis the depression had actually developed nine hours earlier Maintaining a west northwesterly track in response to a subtropical ridge to the north the depression was forecast to move into a favorable environment characterized by low wind shear and sea surface temperatures up to F C Three hours after classification the depression strengthened Tropical Storm Beatriz the second named storm of the season
Early on June convection increased markedly with several overshooting tops denoted by cloud top temperatures below C F appearing on satellite imagery A notable increase in southerly outflow also took place As the subtropical ridge north of the storm weakened Beatriz acquired a more northerly component to its track bringing the center of the storm closer to Mexico Convective bands gradually wrapped around the system throughout the day During the afternoon hours of June a hurricane hunter aircraft found Beatriz just below hurricane strength and subsequently the system was upgraded just a few hours later while situated roughly mi km southeast of Manzanillo Mexico Early on June a to mi to km wide eye developed within the central dense overcast In light of this the National Hurricane Center estimated Beatriz to have attained winds of mph km h along with a barometric pressure of mbar hPa inHg however it was noted that this could be conservative based on estimates of mph km h from the University of Wisconsin and the Satellite Analysis Branch
Throughout the morning of June Beatriz brushed the coast of Mexico with the center passing roughly mi km south southeast of La Fortuna Mexico Centered just off the coast of Mexico the system interacted with land and began weakening Hours later convection rapidly diminished as dry air became entrained in the circulation In response to quick degradation of the system s structure the NHC downgraded Beatriz to a tropical storm Rapid weakening continued throughout the day and by the evening hours the storm no longer had a defined circulation Lacking an organized center and deep convection the final advisory was issued on Beatriz The storm s remnants persisted for several more hours before dissipating roughly mi km southwest of Cabo Corrientes Mexico
Following the classification of Tropical Depression Two E on June the Government of Mexico issued a tropical storm warning for coastal areas between Zihuatanejo and Manzanillo A hurricane watch was also put in place from Tecpn de Galeana to Punta San Telmo Later that day the tropical storm warning was upgraded to a hurricane warning and the watch was extended westward to La Fortuna As Beatriz continued to strengthen the watches and warnings were extended westward to Cabo Corrientes on June Early on June the easternmost advisories were discontinued as Beatriz moved away Later that morning all watches and warnings were discontinued in light of Beatriz s rapid weakening
In Colima and Jalisco residents were warned of heavy rains that could trigger flooding and mudslides Schools across both states canceled classes for June In Colima shelters were opened to the public Additionally the Mexican Navy was placed on standby for hurricane relief A total of temporary shelters were opened in Guerrero many of which were in Acapulco as many residents were expected to evacuate flood prone area An orange level alert was issued for portions of Chiapas in light of potentially heavy rains Throughout Western and Southwestern Mexico the Servicio Meteorolgico Nacional National Weather Service advised that all air and sea traffic be suspended until the passage of Beatriz
Across Guerrero Beatriz produced heavy rain peaking at mm in in Copala Guerrero Several homes across the state were damaged though none were destroyed In Acapulco homes were inundated by flood waters prompting evacuations in areas built in to relocate residents after Hurricane Pauline Several landslides blocked off roads and a m ft section of a roundabout was destroyed In the community of Amatillo three people were killed after being washed away by flood waters Heavy rains from Beatriz caused the Sabana River to overflow its banks placing homes across colonias under water One person drowned in San Agustn after falling in the swollen river Twenty seven colonias in and around the city lost power after muddy floodwaters entered a substation Throughout Oaxaca at least a dozen homes lost their roofs due to high winds Portions of Colima Chiapas Michoacn and Jalisco experienced heavy rains however in many areas the rain proved beneficial in mitigating a severe drought
The Bourgeois Blues is a blues song by American folk and blues musician Lead Belly It was written in June in response to the discrimination and segregation that Lead Belly faced during a visit to Washington DC to record for Alan Lomax It rails against racism the Jim Crow laws and the conditions of contemporary African Americans in the southern United States
The song was recorded in December for the Library of Congress and re recorded in for commercial release It has been remixed and covered by a number of artists including Pete Seeger Ry Cooder Hans Theessink and Billy Bragg
The Bourgeois Blues is regarded as one of Lead Belly s best original works but it also drew controversy There is doubt over the song s authorship with some scholars contending that Lead Belly was unlikely to have written a work in a genre new to him without a collaborator Questions have been raised over his role in the American Communist Party and whether he and the song were used to further the party s political goals
Most music historians date the writing of The Bourgeois Blues to Lead Belly s June trip to Washington DC when he was invited by the folklorist Alan Lomax to record for the Library of Congress s folk music collection On the first night Lead Belly and his wife Martha spent in the city they encountered racially discriminatory Jim Crow laws similar to those found in their native Louisiana most hotels refused to rent rooms to African Americans and the few that would were either full or refused to serve him because he was with a white man Lomax Lomax in some versions of the story described as an unnamed white friend offered to let the couple stay for the night in his apartment near the Supreme Court Building The next morning Lead Belly awoke to Lomax arguing with his landlord about the presence of a black man with the landlord threatening to call the police
While in Washington Lead Belly encountered several other incidents of segregation that are believed to have contributed to the impetus of the song For instance when Lead Belly Lomax and their wives wanted to go out to dinner together they discovered that it was impossible for the mixed race group to find a restaurant that would serve them Lead Belly was told that if he returned later without Lomax he would be served
In response to one of these incidents a friend of Lead Belly s variously identified as either Lomax or Mary Elizabeth Barnicle joked that Washington was a bourgeois town Though Lead Belly did not know what the word bourgeois meant he was fascinated by the sound of it and after its meaning was explained to him he decided to incorporate it into a song about the trip The song came together quickly one account claims that it only took a few hours for Lead Belly to write it Lomax liked it because it was partly based on what happened in his apartment
The Bourgeois Blues is a blues style protest song that criticizes the culture of Washington DC It protests against both the city s Jim Crow laws and the racism of its white population Its structure includes several verses and a refrain that declares that the speaker is going to spread the news all around about the racial issues plaguing the city The song particularly in the refrain conflates race and economics by referring to Caucasians as bourgeois
The first two verses speak of the segregation that Lead Belly encountered in Washington DC the first recounts the fact that during the trip Lead Belly was turned down wherever he tried to get served due to his race while the second recounts the argument between Lomax and his landlord over Lead Belly staying in his apartment The third verse sarcastically cites the home of the brave the land of the Free juxtaposed with the mistreatment he received at the hands of white people in Washington DC The fourth verse speaks of the racism of the white population of the city leading to the song s end which suggests that African Americans boycott buying homes in the district
The song s tone implies that the speaker feels powerless against the discrimination and racism that he encounters despite this by spreading the news of his poor treatment in a song the speaker uses what power he has to tell both southern African Americans and northern whites that the status quo is deeply flawed and that something needs to change
The Bourgeois Blues follows a traditional twelve bar blues format It is written in time but annotated to note that the song rhythmically should swing at medium shuffle The song was written in B It uses twelve measures with verses one to four repeating followed by the final two verses and a coda
Lead Belly first recorded The Bourgeois Blues in December in New York City for donation to the Library of Congress He re recorded the song in April for Musicraft Records for release the same year as a rpm record The version that was commercially released features Lead Belly singing and playing the twelve string guitar without any other accompaniment
The song has been covered and reinterpreted by a variety of artists including Pete Seeger and Hans Theessink Seeger recorded and released both live and studio versions of the song on several of his albums In Australia the song was reworked as Canberra Blues by The Bitter Lemons an R B band The lyrics speak of the problems faced by young Australians in the Australian Capital Territory in the s Theessink adapted the song to his style of European blues for the album Journey On in
In Billy Bragg reworked the song as Bush War Blues Bragg s cover is a topical protest song about the Iraq War In one verse Bragg claims that the Iraq War was not for democracy but instead was to make the world safe for Halliburton In another he takes on the Christian right asking where the moderates are Finally Bragg chides the United States government for not dealing with poverty at home before going to war
The Bourgeois Blues is one of Lead Belly s most famous songs and is remembered as his most heartfelt protest song There is disagreement among music scholars as to its importance Robert Springer claims that the song is peripheral to the wider study of the blues while Lawson points to it as a watershed in the way African Americans see themselves in the fabric of the United States There is debate over the relationship between the song and radical politics After its release it became popular with left wing political groups Lead Belly was invited to perform at Camp Unity the Communist Party USA s summer retreat and the FBI subsequently opened a file on him in the s This led to the accusations that the Communists were taking advantage of him and using him as a platform The party claims to the contrary that they were some of the few people who respected him and gave him a chance to perform
Jeff Todd Titon and several other writers have suggested that Lead Belly had significant help with its authorship and claim it is not a genuine protest song This theory stems from the idea that Lead Belly did not have a history of protest music before he was discovered by Lomax Since the music that Lomax recorded was sold to northerners sympathetic to Civil Rights it has been suggested that Lomax helped him write a song attractive to a white audience Lead Belly admitted that the term bourgeois was unfamiliar to him and it seems out of place compared to the vocabulary of his past work
Sorry is a song by American singer Madonna from her tenth studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor It was written and produced by Madonna and Stuart Price and released as the second single from the album on February It later appeared on Celebration her greatest hits album An uptempo dance song Sorry was one of the first tracks developed for the album and had numerous remix treatments before the ultimate version of the track was finalized One of the remixes was done by the Pet Shop Boys featuring added lyrics by the band The actual song features a dance groove tempo It talks about personal empowerment and self sufficiency
Sorry received positive reviews from contemporary critics who declared the track the strongest song on Confessions on a Dance Floor Some critics also commented on the song s disco influenced beats while comparing it to Madonna s older dance songs It achieved commercial success topping the singles charts in Italy Spain Romania and the United Kingdom where it became Madonna s twelfth number one single Elsewhere the song was a top ten hit However in the United States the song did not perform well due to an underplay on radio but was able to reach the top of Billboard s dance charts and became one of the decade s most successful dance hits
The accompanying music video directed by Madonna s choreographer Jamie King was a continuation from the Hung Up music video It featured Madonna and her dancers roaming around a city in a van dancing on roller skates and Madonna fighting with a group of men in a cage She performed the song on her Confessions Tour in a similar fight sequence to that shown in the video An additional video was created as a backdrop for a remix of the song which depicted political leaders and scenes of war and destruction
Sorry was one of the first tracks developed for Confessions on a Dance Floor along with Hung Up and Future Lovers It was also the one which took the most time to finish because Madonna thought it was too melodramatic and could never decide when it was right The songs were developed with a remixed perspective in mind Madonna commented that Whenever I make records I often like the remixes better than the original ones So I thought screw that I m going to start from that perspective She promoted the album at the dance party Misshapes held at Luke Leroy s nightclub in Greenwich Village invited by Junior Sanchez to take over the DJ booth where she mixed Hung Up with Sorry Musically Sorry is an uptempo dance song containing layers of beats and strong vocal on the chorus It is set in common time with a moderately fast dance groove tempo of beats per minute Composed in the key of C minor Madonna s vocal range spans from F to G It follows the chord progression of E Cm A B during the spoken introduction It then changes to Fm Gm Cm in the chorus while continuing in A Cm A Fm in the intermediate verses ultimately ending in repeated lines of I ve heard it all before
Lyrically the song has excerpts of different languages including French Spanish Italian Dutch Hebrew Hindi Polish and Japanese The song talks about personal empowerment and self sufficiency denoting a shift in focus of Madonna as an artist from her previous songs about supremacy like Everybody Vogue or Music which was centered around the subject of music itself Among the various remixes the Pet Shop Boys remix incorporated Whitney Houston s I Wanna Dance with Somebody Who Loves Me with a more pronounced bassline and uses a double breakdown in the introduction Pet Shop Boys and Madonna had always mutually admired each other from the time they wrote the song Heart for Madonna but never delivered it The remix had added lyrics sung by band member Neil Tennant which subsequently appeared on their remix album Disco Four Madonna s voice hits on the first chorus which was remixed to have a masculine synth and a serious hook A breakdown happens before the fifth minute ends leading to the entry of programmed drum sounds after which the song ends
Jennifer Vineyard of MTV News wrote that Sorry is the album s strongest track and that it is a Pet Shop Boys esque song Vineyard went on to say that it wistfully evokes the sounds of the s era dance clubs that first lofted her toward stardom According to a review in the BBC s Collective New single Sorry states Queen Madge s unapologetic stance and though the song is wrapped up in relationship sentiment one cannot help but hear the subtext perhaps directed at her more savage critics there are more important things than hearing you speak Alan Braidwood from BBC Music called the song lethally catchy Mike Pattenden of The Times and Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine noted that the bassline of the song utilizes The Jacksons song Can You Feel It The song was noted by Slant Magazine as one of the best songs of In a review of Sorry from Virgin Media it wrote that the song s musicscape features an infectious combo of pumping filtered synths and disco beats Keith Caulfield from Billboard commented that Sorry should keep fans hung up on Madonna s ability to create instant radio and club classics He also called the song springy while reviewing the album
Ben Williams of New York magazine wrote that the song is propelled by a catchy bass melody Joan Morgan of The Village Voice in review of Confessions on a Dance Floor wrote The party continues admirably with the multilingual kick your man to the curb Sorry Stephen M Deusner of Pitchfork Media wrote The cascades of sound wash directly into Sorry setting up the song s panlingual apologies and shifting bass tectonics Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that the first half of the album consists of love songs happy and sad and included Sorry into the mix Alexis Petridis from The Guardian called the song as triumphant Kitty Empire from the same newspaper said that Sorry sees Madonna taking a lover to task over an insistent dance pop rush Alan Light from Rolling Stone called the song throbbing Thomas Inksweep from Stylus magazine commented that Sorry and first single Hung Up may not be as sleazy like Madonna s initial singles Burning Up or Physical Attraction but they have the same modus operandi of being designed for all night dancing
In the United States Sorry debuted at number on the Billboard Hot chart for the issue dated March and reached a peak of the following week The same week it reached a peak of on the Pop chart Its low chart performance in America was attributed to limited radio airplay A petition was signed by about fans at petitionlinecom Known as the End the Madonna US Radio Boycott it was addressed to Clear Channel Communications CEO Mark P Mays Message boards at Entertainment Weekly and VH were filled with entries by users showing support for Madonna as well as conspiracy theories about why she was not played on radio The song however reached the top of the Hot Dance Club Play chart for two weeks as well as Hot Dance Airplay chart for five weeks As of April the song has sold digital units in the United States
In the United Kingdom it debuted at number one on the chart dated February The song became Madonna s th number one single in Britain and second consecutive single from the album to peak the British chart after Hung Up This made Madonna the female artist with most number one songs in the United Kingdom while placing her in fifth place in overall tabulation According to the Official Charts Company the song has sold digital downloads there and was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry BPI In Australia the song debuted and peaked at four
The song peaked at number two on the Canadian Singles Chart and was certified platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association CRIA on April for sales of units of paid digital downloads Sorry debuted at number five in Ireland and was on the chart for weeks Elsewhere in Europe the song became a top ten hit for Madonna reaching the top ten of countries like Austria Belgium Flanders and Wallonia Denmark Finland France Germany Netherlands Norway Sweden and Switzerland while reaching the top of the charts in Italy Spain and Billboard s Eurochart Hot Singles
The music video incorporated parts of the television show Pimp My Ride and was shot by Madonna in London in January while she was making plans for her then forthcoming Confessions Tour It was directed by Madonna s longtime choreographer Jamie King and featured choreography from The Talauega Brothers Many of the performers featured in Madonna s Hung Up video were in that of Sorry which was shot as a continuation from the Hung Up video Madonna s parts in the video were shot first followed by the shot of the skaters The shoot took place for over two days
The video starts with Madonna standing in front of neon lighted screen in a purple leotard uttering Sorry in different languages As the music starts she comes out from the gaming parlour of her Hung Up video with her dancers They board a van where Madonna and her dancers strip of their clothes into new ones Madonna wears a white leotard with a matching tassled corset with her hair in s retro inspired style and pair of knee high silver platform boots
As they move around the city in the van they pick up different men from the streets to join them These scenes are interspersed with the scenes of Madonna singing in front of the neon screen The video progresses like this until the intermediate verse whence Madonna is shown standing in a cage opposite to a number of men As the bridge builds up Madonna starts fighting with the men She starts bending backwards and tying herself in knot like positions while doing backflips and somersaults which defeats the men The chorus starts again and Madonna and her dancers are shown skating in circles around a roller rink The video ends with the close up of Madonna in the purple leotard and fades into her silhouette
Sorry was performed on the Confessions Tour as part of the bedouin themed segment Madonna was dressed in a Jean Paul Gaultier kaftan with pants and high heeled boots As Madonna finished the performance of the song Isaac she took off the kaftan and wore a jacket given to her by the dancers and greets them one by one The Pet Shop Boys music for the song s remix start in the background Madonna and her female dancers take to one side of a giant cage and start singing the song As the song progresses to the intermediate verses Madonna engages in an energetic fight with her male dancers which demonstrated her bending her body and putting her leg over her head and jumping from the cage on a dancer s back
The song was also used as a video backdrop during the interlude between the bedouin and the glam rock sections The video featured images of fascists and political leaders from past and present like Adolf Hitler and Idi Amin Dada to George W Bush and Tony Blair Their images flashed across the screen with text and footage of war atrocities intermingled in between Madonna appears on the screens wearing her Sorry video leotard and utters the words talk is cheap and don t speak along with the music and Bush s lips stuttering The performances of Sorry and the remix video was included in The Confessions Tour CD and DVD
The Daily Mail called the performance energetic Tom Young from BBC Music called the performance a delight but described the video as the lowlight of the tour Ed Gonzalez from Slant Magazine wrote that the performance was not among the concert s highlights However he commented that the remix backdrop feels ecstatic a collage of Godardian weight you can dance too Thomas Inkseep from Stylus described the song s performance and remix as fantastic
Giovanni Bianco Graphic Design Art Direction
Orlando Puerta Remixing A R
Pet Shop Boys Keyboards Producer Remixing
The High Five Interchange is one of the first five level stack interchanges built in Dallas Texas Located at the junction of the Lyndon B Johnson Freeway Interstate I and the Central Expressway US Highway US it replaces an antiquated partial cloverleaf interchange constructed in the s
The million project was started in and completed in December It was designed by the HNTB Corporation and built by Zachry Construction Corporation
The interchange is considered by Popular Mechanics to be one of The World s Strangest Roadways because of its height as high as a story building its permanent bridges and other unusual design and construction features In the American Public Works Association named the High Five Interchange as Public Works Projects of the Year
The High Five Interchange north of downtown in Dallas Texas is a massive five level freeway interchange It is the junction of two major highways carrying heavy rush hour traffic the Lyndon B Johnson Freeway Interstate and the Central Expressway US and is the first five level stack interchange to be built in the city
It replaces the antiquated three level modified cloverleaf interchange built in the s that caused a severe bottleneck by narrowing US down to two lanes at the junction of the two highways The looped ramps of the cloverleaf forced motorists to slow down drastically backing up traffic Left hand exits contributed to the congestion Further its two frontage roads were not directly connected to each other making local access difficult
Alluding to the celebratory gesture the High Five name refers to the five flyover ramps handling the left turn movements that tower over the landscape The interchange is as high as a story building and includes bridges spread across five levels the High Five support tiers and miles of additional highway The highest ramps are feet m above ground The lanes of US which are on the bottom level are feet m below ground level giving the structure a total height of feet from bottom to top As part of the project I was widened to include four dedicated high occupancy vehicle lanes HOV lanes that are barrier separated and reversible
The roads on the five levels are
Level I US an eight lane highway four lanes going each way
Level II The junction of the two six lane frontage roads each having three through lanes in each direction left turn lanes and turnarounds and easy access to US and I
Level III I ten regular lanes five going each way and four HOV lanes two going each way separated by barriers
Level IV and V Direct connection ramps two levels eliminating the left exits of the modified cloverleaf
The interchange with its decorative etchings on precast concrete elements along with the visually appealing coloration specified by the Texas Department of Transportation TxDOT can be regarded as an enormous work of public art The High Five also incorporates a hiking and bike trail named the Cottonwood Trail which runs under all levels of the interchange The section of the trail passing beneath the interchange was constructed as part of the High Five project by TxDOT
The interchange is considered by Popular Mechanics as one of The World s Strangest Roadways calling it a labyrinth of lanes and a five level marvel of engineering because of its height the number of its bridges and other unusual design and construction features
The High Five Interchange project was planned as a replacement for the existing antiquated interchange that accommodated vehicles daily and was located in one of the most intensely developed commercial zones in Dallas It was a collaborative project between the TxDOT affected motorists and property owners and the primary contractor Zachry Construction An essential consideration was to complete the project with as little disruption to the traffic flow as possible
Reasons for upgrading the interchange in addition to the need to increase traffic flow and reduce congestion were to improve air quality safety and local access
Zachry Construction Corporation submitted the lowest bid and was awarded the million contract by TxDOT the largest ever by that agency The construction contract for the High Five Interchange was unique in that it contained elements not found in other construction project contracts For example it specified the concrete maturity method to be used to ensure the concrete s strength the first time TxDOT had ever done so and contained an early completion bonus a sliding scale of up to million if the company completed the contract within four years Also built into the construction contract was a provision that Zachry was charged for lane rentals by TxDOT for time they closed down traffic lanes fees based on hourly assessments and the time of day the lane was closed The fees ranged from to a high of for rush hours In order not to interfere with traffic flow during construction the new interchange was designed largely as elevated flyover ramps and viaducts so they could be built high over the existing junction lanes once traffic was transferred to the new structures the old lanes could simply be closed off and removed Little of the original interchange remained when the project was finished
To save time and money innovative construction methods were employed The original plans called for the segments of the long ramps and spans used to direct connect roads to be made of steel but because building with steel would interfere with heavy traffic flow during construction cast in place segmental concrete was substituted in the plans However Zachry decided to use precast concrete segmental bridges rather than casting the bridge elements in place and used a unique machine designed and constructed by Deal SRL of Italy and costing about million to move the pieces into place
During the construction million cubic yards of earthwork was used cubic yards of concrete was mixed on site and square feet of retaining walls were built Additionally feet of drilled shafts and linear feet of drainage pipe were completed In addition to the construction of permanent bridges six temporary bridges were built resulting in million square feet of bridge deck
The project was designed by the HNTB Corporation who provided professional engineering consultation throughout the construction which had begun in and was completed in December more than months sooner than planned
In the American Public Works Association named the High Five Public Works Project of the Year for its massive size its innovative design the complexity and rapidity of its construction and the need it fulfilled for the community TxDOT as the managing agency Zachry Construction Corporation as the primary contractor and HNTB Corporation as the primary consultant received the award in recognition of their cooperative alliance in completing the project
Tim Richmond June August was an American race car driver from Ashland Ohio He competed in IndyCar racing before transferring to NASCAR s Winston Cup Series now Sprint Cup Series Richmond was one of the first drivers to change from open wheel racing to NASCAR stock cars full time which has since become an industry trend He won the Indianapolis Rookie of the Year award and had victories during eight NASCAR seasons
Richmond achieved his top NASCAR season in when he finished third in points He won seven races that season more than any other driver on the tour When he missed the season opening Daytona in February media reported that he had pneumonia The infection most likely resulted from his compromised immune system which was weakened by AIDS Despite the state of his health Richmond competed in eight races in winning two events and one pole position before his final race in August of that year He attempted a comeback in before NASCAR I banned him for testing positive for excessive OTC over the counter drugs Ibuprofen and Pseudoephedrine NASCAR later announced they gave Tim Richmond a new test and tested negative Tim Richmond filed a lawsuit against NASCAR after NASCAR insisted they wanted access to his entire medical record before they would reinstate him after losing the lawsuit Richmond withdrew from racing NASCAR later stated their original test was a Bad Test
Richmond grew up in a wealthy family and lived a freewheeling lifestyle earning him the nickname Hollywood In describing Richmond s influence in racing Charlotte Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler said We ve never had a race driver like Tim in stock car racing He was almost a James Dean like character When Richmond was cast for a bit part in the movie Stroker Ace He fell right in with the group working on the film said director Hal Needham Cole Trickle the main character in the movie Days of Thunder played by Tom Cruise was loosely based on Richmond and his interaction with Harry Hyde and Rick Hendrick
Richmond grew up in Ashland Ohio His parents Al and Evelyn ne Warner Richmond met in the course of their work Al was a welder for pipe construction companies and Evelyn was a field office manager Noticing that highway crews had to dig up the entire highway to lay pipe Al designed a machine to bore underneath the highway To market this invention he founded Richmond Manufacturing which eventually exported machines worldwide
Tim s driving days started as a toddler when he was given a go kart that he often drove inside buildings and across his lawn He later raced the kart at tracks in Moreland and New Pittsburg Richmond grew up in a well to do family and was sometimes therefore treated differently by his classmates so his parents enrolled him in Miami Military Academy in Miami Florida During his years in Miami Tim and his mother moved to Florida and his father stayed in Ohio While home in Ohio over a summer break he met local drag racer Raymond Beadle through lifelong friend Fred Miller When Richmond reached age his parents purchased him a Pontiac Trans Am a speedboat and a Piper Cherokee airplane for his birthday Yet his mother Evelyn often worried about spoiling her only son She once said Tim was lazy and I did everything for him I ruined him I admit it He was my whole life
Richmond excelled in sports he set a conference record in high hurdles and his high school football career was stellar enough that the academy retired his sports jersey after his gridiron days were over Miami Military Academy named him Athlete of the Year in Richmond s other interests included flying and he earned his private pilot license at age Following high school graduation Richmond attended Ashland University for about one year before dropping out
A friend of Richmond s father co owned a sprint car and Richmond joined the team as a crew member for Dave Shoemaker In year old Richmond took the car onto Lakeville Speedway at Lakeville Ohio for some practice laps Somebody put a stopwatch on me Richmond said I was running laps faster than Dave had been It was the first time I had ever driven a race car Richmond and his father found a red white and blue colored No car in Pennsylvania which was the same number and paint scheme that Richmond used on model cars as a child In his first competition at the track officials placed Richmond in the slowest heat He passed several cars before spinning out and breaking an axle Although he made several attempts to get the car pointed in the right direction the broken axle prevented the car from driving straight After being towed to the pits he parked the car for the rest of the event Later that season they towed the car to Eldora Speedway only to have Richmond crash the car again In response Richmond s father fired him as the driver The next season Al Richmond bought a SuperModified better suited to his son s driving style In Tim Richmond became both Sandusky Speedway s Rookie of the Year and the SuperModified class track champion
Richmond returned to racing sprint cars in the United States Automobile Club s USAC national sprint car tour in Competing in races he finished th in points as the series Rookie of the Year That year he attended Jim Russell s road racing school at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park setting a student course record Richmond raced in a Mini Indy car event at Phoenix International Raceway winning the Formula Super Vee support event in a Lola T The win attracted sponsors and attention from major owners like Roger Penske He also competed in USAC s Silver Crown series
Richmond s father bought an Eagle Indy Car chassis and an Offenhauser engine for the race at Michigan International Speedway Richmond qualified st fastest with a mph km h lap significantly slower than Bobby Unser s mph km h pole position speed The race ended for him when his motor blew up on the fourth lap and he finished last rd Owner Pat Santello was looking for a driver to replace Larry Rice for his CART team at the following race at Watkins Glen International so he gave Richmond a test at Willow Spring where he had previously set the student record Santello hired Richmond who then qualified th fastest for the event and finished in eighth place the best of his IndyCar career Richmond raced in three more events that season
After crashing during the first day of qualifying for the Indianapolis Richmond nevertheless obtained the th starting position in the race He worked his way up to the top during the race led a lap and finished ninth as he ran out of fuel at the end of the race To the delight of the crowd winner Johnny Rutherford gave him a ride back to the pits He was named the Indianapolis Rookie of the Year I busted up a few Indy cars right after that he said Milwaukee Mid Ohio at Michigan I cut one in two I was afraid my racing career would come to a halt So when I got an offer to drive stock cars I took it and it turned out I liked driving them better
Pocono Raceway President Joseph Mattioli III convinced Richmond to make the change to stock car racing on the NASCAR circuit Richmond made his first NASCAR start two months after winning the Indianapolis Rookie of the Year award He debuted at the Coca Cola at Pocono on July finishing th in a D K Ulrich owned Chevrolet That season he competed in five events with two DNFs did not finish and three th place finishes Overall he finished the season st in points
Richmond raced for three teams in He started the season by competing in events for Ulrich He had his first career top finish taking sixth place at Talladega Superspeedway soon followed by a seventh place finish at Texas World Speedway After Kennie Childers hired him away from Ulrich mid season Richmond had top finishes at Pocono and Bristol For the final seven races of the season he drove for Bob Rogers and had a top finish at Dover International Speedway Overall for the season Richmond had six top finishes to place th in season points
Richmond started without a ride before getting a one race deal to drive for Billie Harvey at the Rockingham track Richmond completed laps of the lap event to finish st retiring from the race with engine problems For the following event Richmond was hired to drive JD Stacy s No car In his first race for the team Richmond earned his first career top finish when he placed fifth at Darlington Raceway Returning to Pocono he finished second before winning his first race on the road course at Riverside California the following week Later that season he earned his first pole position at Bristol The tour returned to Riverside for the final race of the season where Richmond won his second race sweeping both events at the track Benny Parsons said that watching Richmond go through the Esses was unbelievable For the season Richmond had twelve top s two wins and one pole to finish th in points
In Richmond began racing for Raymond Beadle whom he had known before he started racing He returned to the three cornered Pocono racetrack earning his first oval victory During the season he accumulated four pole positions Darlington Pocono Charlotte and Atlanta one win Pocono and fifteen top s on his way to finishing tenth in season points He made his first appearance in a NASCAR Busch Series now Nationwide Series car but did not finish any of the three races he entered that season
Esquire magazine named Richmond as one of the best of the new generation in That year he had one win at North Wilkesboro Speedway and second place finishes at Dover Darlington and Riverside Richmond finished the season th in points with finishes in the top and in six in the top In the final season that Richmond competed for Beadle his best finish was a second place run at Bristol He ended the season th in points with Top s in races In the Busch Series he qualified at the pole position in the two races he entered and won the Charlotte race
Richmond joined Hendrick Motorsports in where he teamed up with veteran crew chief Harry Hyde It took the team until the middle of the season to gel Richmond had suffered a race winless streak that was finally broken at the Van Scoy Diamond Mine at Pocono in June After two straight second place finishes at Charlotte and Riverside Richmond started the Pocono event in third place inside the second row That race saw a caution for rain with five laps left before the halfway point NASCAR wanted the cars to get to the halfway point to make the race official so the sanctioning body had the drivers slowly circle the track It took the drivers minutes to complete the laps and the rain was so heavy that some drivers had to look out their side windows because they could not see out their windshields Two hours later the track had dried and the race resumed with Richmond in third After Richmond s car was adjusted to remove the push the car was more to his liking Because his radio did not work he was unable to communicate with his crew chief Hyde and he made his final pit stop with laps left Hyde worried that Richmond had stopped a lap too early to ensure that he would have enough fuel to make it to the end After Richmond took the lead with laps left in the race Dale Earnhardt made up three seconds on Richmond s five second lead With four laps to go Buddy Arrington spun in a three car accident The remaining laps of the race where completed slowly under caution and Richmond took the checkered flag for the victory He had led laps including the final taking his first victory in a Rick Hendrick car
The tour returned to Pocono a month later and Richmond battled for another victory in a fog shortened event In the final lap sprint Richmond competed in a three car battle with Geoff Bodine and Ricky Rudd Richmond crossed the finish line beside Rudd winning the race by seconds He notched four more victories that season and over a span of twelve races Richmond earned three second place finishes and six wins The National Motorsports Press Association named him Co Driver of the Year with Earnhardt after Richmond accumulated top finishes and in the top He had a career best third place finish in points after winning seven events in in what was his last full NASCAR season
Richmond fell ill the day after the NASCAR annual banquet during a promotional trip to New York He was not well enough to begin the NASCAR season despite lengthy hospitalization in Cleveland and further rest at home when Richmond missed the Daytona his condition was reported as double pneumonia Media later reported that he had tested positive for acquired immune deficiency syndrome AIDS He returned to Pocono for the Miller High Life during the middle of the year Starting third he led by the fifth lap and ultimately led laps including the final to win the race by eight car lengths over Bill Elliott In the middle of the race Richmond s car suffered gearbox problems Because he could use only fourth high gear he had to use that gear to slowly exit the pits Richmond was emotional after the victory saying I had tears in my eyes when I took the checkered flag Then every time anyone congratulated me I started bawling again Richmond earned a victory in the next race at Riverside and made his final start at Michigan International Speedway s Champion Spark Plug that August finishing th with a blown engine He resigned from Hendrick Motorsports in September
Although Richmond attempted a comeback in NASCAR suspended him for testing positive for banned substances The substances were identified as Sudafed a non prescription over the counter allergy medication and Advil an over the counter pain reliever In April Richmond sued NASCAR over the suspension Although he retested later that year and was reinstated he could not find a car to drive In his final public appearance in February Richmond denied that he abused drugs and said that a mistake had been made in his drug test His suit with NASCAR was settled out of court the terms sealed
Richmond withdrew into his condo in Florida There were by then rumors of HIV and AIDS which he denied He was later hospitalized in West Palm Beach
ESPN sent a get well soon card to Richmond when it aired the July NASCAR race at Pocono The television network showed highlights of Richmond s victory at the track from Tim had Hollywood good looks and the charisma of Tom Cruise said his friend Dr Jerry Punch There he was in victory lane with the team all around him and beauty queens hanging all over him It was important for the people at the hospital to see Tim the way he really was when he was healthy and handsome and vital not the way he was as they saw him every day in the hospital
On August Richmond died at the age of about two years after his final NASCAR race He was buried in Ashland Ohio
The secrecy surrounding the circumstance of his death caused speculation for several days At the time Punch stated that Richmond had been hospitalized due to a motorcycle accident though it is unlikely that Richmond had the strength to ride a motorcycle during his last months Ten days after his death on August the Richmond family held a press conference to reveal that Richmond died from complications from AIDS which he acquired from an unknown woman Richmond s physician Dr David Dodson said There s no way of knowing who that woman was Tim was a celebrity with a lot of charisma a handsome guy He naturally attracted a lot of women Punch later claimed that more than drivers and personnel underwent HIV testing in the wake of Richmond s death
In a few months after Richmond s death Washington television station WJLA TV and reporter Roberta Baskin reported that Dr Forest Tennant who was then the National Football League s drug adviser falsified drug tests that ultimately helped shorten Richmond s NASCAR career Baskin reported that sealed court documents and interviews showed Tennant and NASCAR used allegedly false drug test results in to bar Richmond from racing Baskin also stated that NASCAR had targeted Richmond requesting that Tennant establish a substance abuse policy with Richmond in mind A series of drug tests and falsely reported positive results shortly before the Daytona kept Richmond from driving in what was to have been his last big race the report said The New York Times published the findings While neither Tennant nor NASCAR supplied an official response at the time NASCAR did confirm that they were seeking to replace Tennant
The Ashland County Sports Hall of Fame inducted Richmond in their second class in In NASCAR named Richmond one of its greatest drivers of all time He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in The Mansfield Motorsports Park ARCA Re Max Series race in was named the Tim Richmond Memorial ARCA Re Max in honor of the area native The race at Mansfield was co promoted by Mattioli s son Joseph Mattioli III
The documentary film Tim Richmond To The Limit was produced as part of ESPN s for series with a premiere date of October
key Bold Pole position awarded by qualifying time Italics Pole position earned by points standings or practice time Most laps led
The Trout Creek Mountains are a remote semi arid Great Basin mountain range mostly in southeastern Oregon and partially in northern Nevada in the United States The range s highest point is Orevada View Benchmark feet m above sea level in Nevada Disaster Peak elevation feet m is another prominent summit in the Nevada portion of the mountains
The mountains are characteristic of the Great Basin s topography of mostly parallel mountain ranges alternating with flat valleys Oriented generally north to south the Trout Creek Mountains consist primarily of fault blocks of basalt which came from an ancient volcano and other vents on top of older metamorphic rocks The southern end of the range however features many granitic outcrops As a whole the faulted terrain is dominated by rolling hills and ridges cut by escarpments and canyons
Most of the range is public land administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management There is very little human development in the remote region cattle grazing and ranching are the primary human uses but former mines at the McDermitt Caldera produced some of the largest amounts of mercury in North America in the th century Public lands in the mountains are open to recreation but are rarely visited Vegetation includes large swaths of big sagebrush in addition to desert grasses and cottonwood and alder stands Sage grouse and mountain chickadee are two bird species native to the range and common mammals include pronghorn and jackrabbits
Despite the area s dry climate a few year round streams provide habitat for the rare Lahontan cutthroat trout Fish populations in the Trout Creek Mountains declined throughout much of the th century In the s the effects of grazing allotments on riparian zones and the fish led to land use conflict The Trout Creek Mountain Working Group was formed in to help resolve disagreements among livestock owners environmentalists government agencies and other interested parties The stakeholders met and agreed on changes to land use practices and since the early s riparian zones have begun to recover
The Trout Creek Mountains are in a very remote area of southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada in Harney and Humboldt counties The nearest human settlements are the Whitehorse Ranch about miles km directly north from the middle of the mountains Fields Oregon about miles km to the northwest Denio Nevada about miles km to the west and McDermitt Nevada Oregon about miles km to the east The mountains are about miles km directly southwest of Boise Idaho and about miles km northeast of Reno Nevada
The range and surrounding non mountainous areas cover an area of square miles km The mountains run miles km north to south and miles km east to west More of the range is in Oregon than in Nevada The highest point in the range is Orevada View Benchmark which is feet m above sea level and is located in Nevada about one mile south of the Oregon border About two miles southeast of Orevada View is Disaster Peak a large symmetrical butte that is visible throughout the region At feet m Disaster Peak anchors the southern end of the mountains in a sub range called The Granites
The Oregon Canyon Mountains border the Trout Creek Mountains on the east along the Harney Malheur county line according to the United States Geological Survey s definitions while the Pueblo Mountains are the next range west of the Trout Creek Mountains The Bilk Creek Mountains in both Oregon and Nevada border the Trout Creek Mountains on the southwest the two ranges are separated by Log Cabin Creek and South Fork Cottonwood Creek South of the Trout Creek Mountains is the Kings River Valley which separates the Bilk Creek Mountains on the west from the Montana Mountains on the east
The terrain in the Trout Creek Mountains varies from broad flat basins and rolling ridges to high rock escarpments cut by deep canyons The canyons have steep walls with loose talus slopes at the bottoms There are meadows around springs in the mountains although most streams in the range do not flow year round Major streams that flow off the north slopes of the mountains include from west to east Cottonwood Creek Trout Creek Willow Creek and Whitehorse Creek These streams all flow into endorheic basins in Harney County Oregon Trout Creek and Whitehorse Creek are the largest of the four The Kings River and McDermitt Creek each drain an area on the south slopes of the Trout Creek Mountains The Kings River begins in The Granites and flows south into Nevada where it meets the Quinn River which evaporates in the Black Rock Desert McDermitt Creek begins in Oregon a few miles north of The Granites and flows generally east crossing the Oregon Nevada border five times before disappearing into the floor of the Quinn River Valley south of McDermitt
The mountains lie within the Basin and Range Province or Great Basin of the Western United States which is characterized by a series of parallel fault blocks that form long north south mountain ranges separated by wide high desert valleys The Trout Creek Mountains are uplifted and tilted blocks with steep escarpments along the southern and eastern sides of the range The southern area of the range known as The Granites has numerous outcroppings of Cretaceous age granite These granite outcrops are commonly found in the eroded valleys below the volcanic ridgelines
The Trout Creek Mountains are composed mostly of basalt from a shield volcano that once stood where Steens Mountain is today Crustal thinning and the Yellowstone hotspot which was then beneath southeastern Oregon induced eruptions from Steens and nearby vents about million years ago in the Miocene The vents produced a series of lava flows that spread across the land now known as the Trout Creek Mountains Eruptions from the Steens volcano lasted for about one million years and at least separate lava flows occurred Under the resulting basalt rock lie much older metamorphic rocks that may be related to some of the Triassic age formations of the Blue Mountains in northeastern Oregon Within these metamorphic rocks are diorite and granodiorite intrusive bodies which were presumably intruded during the Cretaceous Period
The broad McDermitt Caldera is a prominent geologic feature in the Trout Creek Mountains The oval shaped caldera is a collapsed lava dome that straddles the Oregon Nevada border on the eastern side of the range and south of the Oregon Canyon Mountains It is about miles km long and miles km wide The lava dome was created by volcanic eruptions in the early Miocene A total of five large ash flows were produced along with a large rhyolite dome structure The caldera formed when the dome collapsed about million years ago The caldera contains significant ore deposits and mercury and uranium have been mined at eight or more sites in and around the caldera Other areas in the caldera were mined for ores of antimony cesium and lithium
The Trout Creek Mountains are semi arid because they are in the eastern rain shadow of mountain ranges to the west When moist air from the Pacific Ocean moves eastward over the Oregon and California coastal ranges and the Cascade Range most precipitation falls in those mountains before reaching the Trout Creek Mountains As a result the average annual precipitation in the Trout Creek Mountains is only to inches to mm per year with most areas receiving between and inches and mm annually Much of the annual precipitation occurs between the beginning of March and the end of June Most of the rest falls as snow during the fall and winter months Snowpack at elevations below feet m usually melts by April however at the higher elevations snow can remain until mid June Local flooding often occurs in the spring as the snowpack melts
The prevailing winds are from the west southwest and they are normally strongest in March and April Brief intense thunderstorms are common between April and October Thunderstorms in the summer months tend to be more isolated and often produce dry lightning strikes
Vegetation in the Trout Creek Mountains is dominated by big sagebrush and desert grasses Other common shrubs include bitterbrush snowberry and Ceanothus There are also patches of mountain mahogany in some areas Common grass species include Idaho fescue bluebunch wheatgrass cheatgrass western needlegrass Sandberg s bluegrass Thurber s needlegrass and bottlebrush squirreltail as well as basin wildrye in some well drained areas
Less than one percent of the range consists of meadow wetlands and riparian greenways vegetation along stream banks However these areas are vital to the local ecosystem The meadows surround springs which are mostly on gently sloping uplands or in stream bottoms and range in size from about to acres to ha Narrow riparian greenways follow the year round streams Many greenway areas have quaking aspen and willow groves Cottonwood and alder groves can be found at lower elevations where terrain is flatter and stream channels are wider Sedges and rushes are also native to these stream bottoms Years of heavy livestock grazing in parts of the range resulted in the loss of some grass species riparian vegetation and young aspen and willow trees Restoration of riparian areas began in the early s and plans to reduce grazing were implemented in the s and early s However large wildfires in southeastern Oregon during the summer of burned much of the range s vegetation damaging riparian ecosystems and killing hundreds of grazing cattle
Animals in the Trout Creek Mountains are adapted to the environment of the High Desert Pronghorn are common in the open sagebrush covered basins while mule deer live in the cottonwood and willow groves There are also bighorn sheep cougars and bobcats in the high country Jackrabbits and coyotes are prevalent throughout the range Mustangs sometimes pass through the mountains as they roam the Great Basin Some other mammals include the northern pocket gopher mountain cottontail and Belding s ground squirrel North American beavers live in and along streams as do Pacific tree frogs western spadefoot toads and garter snakes Native bird species include the sage grouse mountain chickadee gray headed junco black throated gray warbler Virginia s warbler MacGillivray s warbler pine siskin red crossbill bushtit hermit thrush northern goshawk and species of raven and eagle
Several streams in the Trout Creek Mountains are home to trout including the rare Lahontan cutthroat trout subspecies These include Willow Creek Whitehorse Creek Little Whitehorse Creek Doolittle Creek Fifteen Mile Creek Indian Creek Sage Canyon Creek Line Canyon Creek and some tributaries of McDermitt Creek Lahontan cutthroat trout live in small isolated populations that are often confined to individual streams many of them in the Trout Creek Mountains These populations have significant genetic differences due to their history of isolation For most of the th century the trout s numbers declined considerably It was listed under federal law as an endangered species in and was reclassified as threatened in Reasons for the fish s decline included habitat degradation from cattle grazing drought overfishing competition with other fish and hybridization with introduced rainbow trout which decreased the number of genetically pure Lahontan cutthroat trout However reductions in cattle grazing in riparian zones since the s allowed fish habitat and populations to start to recover
The Bureau of Land Management BLM administers most land in the Trout Creek Mountains but there are also some private lands and some roads in the area The private lands are mainly used for ranching along mountain streams while the BLM lands include large grazing allotments for local ranchers cattle At least mining claims in the mountains have been recorded since some of which were staked for gold exploration Commercial mining has occurred in some areas mostly near the McDermitt Caldera where uranium and large amounts of mercury have been extracted Mines in what was called the Opalite Mining District produced flasks of mercury the richest supply of mercury in the western hemisphere from cinnabar extracted from the caldera in the th century The two leading mercury producing mines in North America were the Cordero and McDermitt mines on the edge of the caldera in Nevada Together they operated from to The McDermitt Mine the last mercury mine in the United States closed three years later in However mineral exploration has continued at the Cordero Mine in the st century and waste containing mercury and arsenic was returned there from the community of McDermitt as part of a US Environmental Protection Agency cleanup project
The entire mountain range is very remote as a result there are few visitors and the range offers a wilderness like experience Camping hunting fishing and hiking are the most popular activities The only developed recreation site nearby is at Willow Creek Hot Springs just south of the Whitehorse Ranch where nearby there are miles of trails designated for four wheel off road vehicles Hunters come to the mountains seeking trophy mule deer pronghorn chukars and rabbits Fishing on some streams is sometimes permitted on a catch and release basis The mountains are also suitable for hiking cross country or on game trails in natural corridors along canyons and creek bottoms There are more than archaeological sites in the range that document use by Northern Paiute people as long as years ago
Cattle grazing in the Trout Creek Mountains began in the late th century and the BLM currently oversees grazing allotments in the area Cattle can be found grazing in some areas during the spring and summer months The effects of grazing on the local environment were the subject of controversy in the s
By the s and s a century of intense cattle grazing had reduced much of the riparian vegetation along stream banks in the Trout Creek Mountains and elsewhere in the Great Basin As a result stream banks were eroding and upland vegetation was encroaching into riparian zones Aspen populations declined as grazing cattle eliminated young trees decreasing shade over streams and raising water temperatures These conditions put the rare Lahontan cutthroat trout population at risk Since the Lahontan was officially designated as a threatened species environmental groups began advocating the cancellation of grazing permits in the Trout Creek Mountains
Beginning in the early s the Bureau of Land Management identified damaged riparian zones and began projects to restore natural habitat in those areas Approximately willow trees were planted along streams small dams were put together to create more pools in the streams and fencing was added to protect riparian zones from grazing Next the agency sought to reform land use plans to change grazing practices which became a complex and controversial project
As environmentalists pressed the BLM to close much of the Trout Creek Mountains to grazing frustrated ranchers joined the Sagebrush Rebellion seeking to protect their grazing allotments Initially it appeared that the issue of grazing in the range would produce prolonged litigation with appeals potentially lasting decades However in interest groups representing all sides of the issue joined to form the Trout Creek Mountain Working Group The group s goal was to find a solution acceptable to everyone a plan that would protect both the land s ecological health and ranchers economic needs
Initial members of the Trout Creek Mountain Working Group included
Over the next several years the group continued to meet and discuss options for restoring the land while meeting the economic needs of local ranchers Meetings were all open to the public
The group eventually endorsed a grazing management plan that provided for both the ecological health of sensitive riparian areas and the economic well being of ranchers In the Whitehorse Ranch agreed to rest two grazing allotments totaling acres ha to restore critical stream greenways and mountain pastures The ranch s allotment on Fifteen Mile Creek was rested for three years and its Willow Creek pasture received a five year rest before grazing was resumed In addition the grazing season in mountain pastures was reduced from four months to two and the total number of cattle released in the allotment areas was reduced from to Finally sensitive areas were fenced to protect them from cattle and additional water sources were constructed away from streams Other ranches also agreed to rest specific pastures including the Trout Creek Cottonwood Creek and Whitehorse Butte allotments
In the Bureau of Land Management approved a new grazing allotment management plan It was based on the agreements made by the Trout Creek Mountain Working Group and it took effect in Since then vegetation in riparian areas of the Trout Creek Mountains has recovered and studies by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service have found that the Lahontan cutthroat trout population still listed as threatened is also recovering
Mycena inclinata commonly known as the clustered bonnet or the oak stump bonnet cap is a species of mushroom in the family Mycenaceae The doubtfully edible mushroom has a reddish brown bell shaped cap up to cm in in diameter The thin stem is up to cm in tall whitish to yellow brown at the top but progressively becoming reddish brown towards the base in maturity where they are covered by a yellowish mycelium that can be up to a third of the length of the stem The gills are pale brown to pinkish and the spore print is white It is a widespread saprobic fungus and has been found in Europe North Africa Asia Australasia and North America where it grows in small groups or tufts on fallen logs and stumps especially of oak British mycologist EJH Corner has described two varieties of the mushroom from Borneo Lookalike species with which M inclinata may be confused include M galericulata and M maculata
First described as Agaricus inclinatus by Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries in it was assigned its current name in by Lucien Qulet Mycena galericulata var calopus named by Karsten in and its basionym Agaricus galericulatus var calopus named by Fries in are synonyms
In a molecular study of the large subunit ribosomal DNA sequences of mycorrhizal fungi of the orchid Gastrodia confusa M inclinata was found to be closely related to M aurantiomarginata M crocata and M leaiana
The specific epithet inclinata means bent in The mushroom is commonly known as the clustered bonnet or the oak stump bonnet cap
The cap is light reddish brown with a diameter typically ranging from to cm to in Initially conic to bell shaped to convex it flattens during maturity developing visible surface grooves corresponding to the gills underneath the cap The margin of the cap has minute but distinct scallops The surface is moist and smooth and hygrophanous The cap frequently develops splits in the margin or cracks in the disc the central part of the cap The flesh of the cap is thick in the center but thin elsewhere grayish to whitish fragile and with a slightly mealy odor and taste The gills have a decurrent attachment to the stem that is running down the length of the stem and are a pale brownish color with tinges of red They are broad between and mm and have a close to subdistant spacing with about gills reaching the stem The fragile stem is to cm to in long by to cm to in thick and yellow to yellow brown becoming reddish brown to orange brown in the bottom half in maturity The lower portion of young stems is covered with white flecks Roughly equal in thickness at the top and bottom the base of the stem is covered by a yellowish mycelium that can be up to a third of the length of the stem The edibility of the mushroom is doubtful and consumption best avoided
The spores are by m broadly ellipsoid smooth and strongly amyloid it turns black when treated with Melzer s reagent The basidia spore bearing cells are four spored The pleurocystidia cystidia on the gill face are not differentiated The cheilocystidia cystidia on the gill edge are embedded in the gill edge and very inconspicuous club shaped by m and have tips that are covered with contorted projections that can be slender or thick The flesh of the gills is homogeneous and pale yellowish to dirty brown when stained in iodine The flesh of the cap has a distinct pellicle a well differentiated hypoderm a region of tissue immediately under the pellicle and a filamentous tramal body gill tissue it is pale yellowish to sordid brownish in iodine stain
EJH Corner defined the varieties M inclinata var kinabaluensis and var subglobospora in his publication on Agaric mushrooms of Malesia a biogeographical region straddling the boundary of the Indomalaya and Australasia ecozones The variety kinabaluensis named after its type locality Kinabalu has a cap margin that is not scalloped little or no odor and cheilocystidia with shorter processes It was found growing on the dead wood of Lithocarpus havilandii a stone oak tree in the beech family Variety subglobospora found in Sabah has spores that are almost spherical
Mycena maculata bears some resemblance to M inclinata but is only associated with decaying hardwood logs and stumps and is found in eastern North America and sometimes on oak on the West Coast In age it develops reddish spots on the gills that are not seen in M inclinata M inclinata is often confused with the edible M galericulata a common species that is variable in cap color size and shape M galericulata typically has a bluntly conical cap that is dull gray brown and white to grayish veins that have numerous cross veins M polygramma has a ridged stem that is bluish gray
Mycena inclinata is a saprobic fungus deriving its nutrients from decomposing organic matter found in plant litter such as leaves twigs bark and branches It accomplishes this by producing enzymes capable of breaking down the three major biochemical components of plant cell walls found in litter cellulose hemicellulose and lignin
The fruit bodies of Mycena inclinata grow in dense groups or clusters on decaying hardwood logs and stumps especially oak and chestnut during the spring and autumn The fungus forms a white woolly mycelium on the surface of decomposing oak leaves Occasionally it can be found growing on a living tree In eastern North America it is abundant in the area bounded by Nova Scotia Ontario Manitoba Missouri North Carolina and New York It has been found in Oregon but the species appears to be generally rare along the Pacific Coast The range of the fungus also includes Europe the Canary Islands North Africa East Siberia Japan Malesia Turkey and New Zealand
In a study of the trace metal concentrations of various mushrooms species found in Ordu Turkey M inclinata was found to have comparatively high levels of iron mg per kg and nickel mg kg measured on a dry weight basis Laboratory studies have shown that the fungus is resistant to aluminum The fungus has been investigated for its ability to decolorize synthetic dyes that are used in the textile plastics biomedical and foodstuff industries The dyes are not readily biodegradable and when discharged into the environment are persistent and many are toxic
Capel Lligwy sometimes referred to as Hen Gapel Lligwy is a ruined chapel near Rhos Lligwy in Anglesey north Wales dating back to the first half of the th century The chapel s original purpose is unknown but it might have been used as a memorial chapel or in connection with a local royal court or as a chapel of ease in a large parish with a growing population It was used for a time until the early th century as a private place of worship for a nearby house then later fell into disrepair The walls still remain with some traces of render on them internally but there is no roof
It contains a th century side chapel with a vault beneath used as a burial chamber It is a Grade II listed building a national designation given to buildings of special interest which warrant every effort being made to preserve them in particular because it is a substantially th century structure with the unusual th century vaulted south chapel
The oldest parts of Capel Lligwy date from the first half of the th century This was a time when many churches on Anglesey in north west Wales were first built in stone following the end of Viking raids and attempts by the Normans to gain control of the island The reason for its construction and the saint to whom it was dedicated are unknown Geraint Jones author of a guide to the churches of Anglesey suggests that it may originally have been a memorial chapel or connected to a royal court nearby Yates and Longley authors of a guide to ancient Anglesey monuments note that it was built in the large parish of Penrhos Lligwy and was perhaps intended to serving the expanding population in medieval times Despite this it seems to have remained as a chapel of ease rather than become a parish church in its own right The chapel is sometimes referred to as Hen Gapel Lligwy hen being the Welsh word for old and capel meaning chapel
The walls were partially rebuilt in the th century and the upper parts of the walls date from this time A chapel was added to the south side of the building in the th century A vault under the south chapel was used to bury members of a local family the Pierce Lloyds In the vault was used to record some atmospheres for the album You Have Just Been Poisoned By The Serpents by The Serpents a collective of Welsh musicians including members of Echo and the Bunnymen Super Furry Animals and Ectogram that was described by one journalist as possibly the strangest pop group of all time
For a time Capel Lligwy was used as a private place of worship for Lligwy House a venerable mansion once owned by the Lloyd family which came into the possession of William Irby st Baron Boston in the th century After the early part of the th century however the chapel became unused and began to fall into disrepair The walls remain to gable level with some traces of render on the inside but the roof has gone
Capel Lligwy is in the Anglesey countryside near Llanallgo the parish church of St Gallgo Llanallgo is about miles km away Part of the churchyard wall remains showing that it was originally within a mainly circular enclosure as often found with early churches It is cared for by Cadw the Welsh Assembly Government body responsible for the built heritage of Wales and is open to the public
Capel Lligwy is built from rubble masonry at about feet m up the walls the style changes and smaller stones are inserted into spaces between the larger blocks showing where the th century rebuilding started The doorway is on the south side headed by a plain arch and dates from the th century There is a stone bellcote at the west end There is no structural division between the nave where the congregation would have sat and the chancel where the altar would have been located There are no window openings on the north side but there is a blocked opening to the east about feet m wide and there are the remains of a window on the south wall There is a blocked window in the south wall of the south chapel The vault which is about square feet m is reached by stone steps from inside the south chapel Limestone slabs form the roof of the vault and the floor of the chapel above A stone in the nave about square feet m with a hole in the top might once have been used as a churchyard cross
Capel Lligwy has national recognition and statutory protection from alteration as it has been designated as a Grade II listed building the lowest of the three grades of listing designating buildings of special interest which warrant every effort being made to preserve them It was given this status on September and has been listed because it is important as a substantially th century structure with some architectural details surviving from this early period even though it is now in a ruinous condition Cadw which is responsible for the inclusion of Welsh buildings on the statutory lists also notes the unusual th century vaulted south chapel
The th century antiquarian Angharad Llwyd mentioned the church in her history of Anglesey She said that the architecture was of the rudest kind which bears testimony to its great antiquity She recounted that a fox had once taken shelter in the ruins and when it was dug out the vault was discovered containing several human skeletons which crumbled into dust when exposed to the air She added that further exploration of the vault then revealed a large mass of human bones several feet in depth
A book about abandoned churches in Wales refers to the ancient monuments in this part of Anglesey and calls Capel Lligwy a medieval gesture of Christian power in a land so obviously imbued with the spirit of a pagan past It notes that the wheel has turned full circle and Capel Lligwy today is just another ruined relic of a former age The authors describe the chapel as a simple square building with a small and ruggedly austere south chapel adding that the stone slabs over the vault are almost in imitation of the ancient burial chambers which dot the surrounding landscape
The Michigan Wolverines men s basketball team represented the University of Michigan during the NCAA Division I men s basketball season The team played its home games in Ann Arbor Michigan at Crisler Center for the th consecutive year It had a seating capacity of It was also the team s th straight season as a member of the Big Ten Conference Fifth year head coach John Beilein led the team alongside All Big Ten players Trey Burke Tim Hardaway Jr and Zack Novak Burke was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was Michigan s first Associated Press All American honoree since
The team s season began with a preseason media day and practices in October In February Michigan hosted ESPN s College GameDay for the first time in a game against Ohio State It was the eighth time a Big Ten team hosted the show which began in
The team was in the national rankings all season and ended as the Big Ten co champion with Michigan State and Ohio State It had three victories over teams ranked in the top at the time of the meeting eighth ranked Memphis ninth ranked Michigan State and sixth ranked Ohio State The team was undefeated at home until its last home game of the season Michigan lost in the semifinals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament and bowed out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to end the season with a record The team won the school s first Big Ten Conference Championship since the season and had the school s best Big Ten record since the season
Before the season began point guard Darius Morris the Big Ten assists leader in the season left the team after being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers The incoming class included Carlton Brundidge and Ohio Mr Basketball point guard Trey Burke Both Brundidge and Burke were among Scoutcom s top players of the class Brundidge ranked th and Burke ranked th Max Bielfeldt committed to Michigan in April despite his family s ties to the Illinois Fighting Illini Illinois University s Bielfeldt Athletic Administration Building was endowed by his family Sai Tummala who along with Bielfeldt was recruited by Ivy League schools rounded out the incoming class Tummala earned an academic scholarship and was considered a walk on candidate for the basketball team
Tim Hardaway Jr son of former NBA All Star Tim Hardaway returned to the team He was coming off a freshman season in which he was a unanimous Big Ten All Freshman All Big Ten honorable mention Collegeinsidercom Freshmen All America and Team USA FIBA U honoree Jordan Dumars the son of Detroit Pistons All Star Joe Dumars left the team citing nagging knee issues
Former team captains Travis Conlan and and CJ Lee served as director of basketball operations and administrative specialist respectively Peter Kahler was the team s video coordinator
Michigan announced its game non conference schedule on August The team began the season in a renovated Crisler Arena new seats and a high definition scoreboard were added but seating capacity was reduced to from in the previous seasons
Michigan came in third place in the three game Maui Invitational Tournament between November The team defeated the eighth ranked Memphis Tigers lost to the sixth ranked Duke Blue Devils and defeated the Pac favorite UCLA Bruins Tim Hardaway Jr was named the Big Ten Player of the Week and Trey Burke was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week In an ACC Big Ten Challenge game in late November Michigan lost to Virginia In its next game Michigan defeated Iowa State On December Michigan beat Oakland its highest scoring game since beating Northern Michigan on November It was also Michigan s first game since with three point scorers Hardaway Burke and Evan Smotrycz Burke earned his second Freshman of the Week honor on December after scoring a season high points and nine assists in the game On the same day Michigan was the highest rated Big Ten team in the Ratings Percentage Index although the team trailed several schools in the national polls In the final two non conference games of the season Smotrycz scored his first two double doubles against Alabama A M and Bradley on December and December
Heading into the Big Ten Conference schedule both of the teams Michigan had lost to were ranked Duke was th and th in the AP and Coaches polls and Virginia was rd and th On December Michigan won its first Big Ten Conference opener since beating Penn State as Smotrycz extended his double double streak to three games On January Burke earned his first Big Ten Conference Player of the Week honor and his third Freshman of the Week honor for his points in Michigan s first two conference games On December against Penn State he posted points seven assists five rebounds and no turnovers On January he added a career high points on for shooting with three rebounds and three assists against Minnesota to earn Big Ten Conference Player of the Week the following day
On January Michigan became the leader in the conference with a record thanks to conference wins over ranked Wisconsin and Michigan State teams Michigan remained in first place until losing to Ohio State ten days later The team went in conference in February including wins over ranked Indiana and Ohio State teams Michigan lost its final home game of the season to Purdue on February to finish with a home record On March the team defeated Illinois for their first road win in Illinois since During the game Michigan s th of the season Trey Burke broke Gary Grant s school freshman assists record set over the course of games in the season by pushing his total to
In the first game of the Big Ten Conference Men s Basketball Tournament against Minnesota Burke led the team to victory with a career high points Burke s total was a school record for the Big Ten Conference Men s Basketball Tournament In the semifinal contest however Michigan was eliminated by Ohio State for the third year in a row Michigan entered the NCAA Men s Division I Basketball Tournament seeded fourth but lost to the thirteenth seeded Ohio Bobcats Burke became Michigan s first Associated Press All American honoree since Robert Traylor and Louis Bullock in
Stu Douglass concluded the season as the school s all time leader in games played with He surpassed Loy Vaught who played in games Novak set the school record in career minutes played with surpassing Louis Bullock who played minutes Burke had a school record setting freshman season in assists ending the year with
The team posted the following statistics
Five of the nominees for the men s basketball Lowe s Senior CLASS Award were from the Big Ten including Michigan s Zack Novak
Trey Burke was one of nearly Bob Cousy Award candidates named in December On January Burke was one of finalists On January Novak was named one of ten finalists for the Lowe s Senior CLASS Award along with three other Big Ten athletes He was also one of four Big Ten men s basketball players named Academic All District putting him among the finalists for the man Academic All America team Novak was named a third team Academic All American
CBSSportscom Second Team All American
Big Ten Freshman of the Year Big Ten media
Co Big Ten Freshman of the Year Sporting News
All Big Ten second team coaches and media
USBWA All District V Team
All Big Ten third team coaches and media
Academic All American third team
All Big Ten honorable mention media
The team lost senior captains Stu Douglass and Zack Novak as well as senior reserve Corey Person to graduation following the season Person was later granted an extra year of eligibility to return to the team At the end of the season three players Evan Smotrycz Carlton Brundidge and Colton Christian decided to leave the program Smotrycz who had started in of the games he played in during his first two years left the program as the program s fifth all time three point shooter with a percentage of Smotrycz transferred to Maryland Brundidge transferred to Detroit and Christian transferred to Florida International
Following the season Trey Burke first said he was not inclined to enter the NBA Draft A few days later however the realization that the pool of point guards in the draft was shallow and Burke s stock was high led to some deliberation for him and his family When you have a season as a freshman like he did the NBA they like them young Trey s father Benji Burke said They think their ceiling is higher when they re young Trey had a solid season for a freshman It s going to be one of the weaker point guard drafts in years Some observers thought Burke was at his peak in terms of NBA potential Eventually he decided to return to play for Michigan for another year
The team announced in September that Glenn Robinson III son of former first overall NBA Draft pick Glenn Robinson verbally agreed to attend Michigan making him the first commitment in the school s class of Canadian wing guard Nik Stauskas gave Michigan its second verbal commitment for the class of on March On November Mitch McGary who was ranked as the number two prospect in the nation at the time announced his verbal commitment to Michigan Within hours of the commitment ESPN said that Michigan s ranked as the fifth best class in the nation All three signed a National Letter of Intent with the team on November After several other schools announced their commitments the McGary s commitment moved Michigan from outside the top to the seventh best class in the nation according to ESPN Michael Spike Albrecht committed to Michigan on April
Upsilon Andromedae b abbreviated Andromedae b And b occasionally designated Upsilon Andromedae Ab to distinguish it from the red dwarf Upsilon Andromedae B also named Saffar is an extrasolar planet approximately light years away from the Sun in the constellation of Andromeda The planet orbits the Solar twin star Upsilon Andromedae A approximately every five days Discovered in June by Geoffrey Marcy and R Paul Butler it was one of the first hot Jupiters to be discovered It is also one of the first non resolved planets to be detected directly Upsilon Andromedae b is the innermost known planet in its planetary system
In July the International Astronomical Union launched a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets and their host stars The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names In December the IAU announced the winning name was Saffar for this planet The winning name was submitted by the Vega Astronomy Club of Morocco and honours the th Century astronomer Ibn al Saffar of Muslim Spain
Like the majority of known extrasolar planets Upsilon Andromedae b was detected by the variations in its star s radial velocity caused by the planet s gravity The variations were detected by making sensitive measurements of the Doppler shift of Upsilon Andromedae s spectrum The planet s existence was announced in January together with Cancri b and the planet orbiting Tau Botis
Like Pegasi b the first extrasolar planet discovered around a normal star Upsilon Andromedae b orbits very close to its star closer than Mercury does to our Sun The planet takes days to complete an orbit with a semimajor axis of AU
A limitation of the radial velocity method used to detect Upsilon Andromedae b is that only a lower limit on the mass can be found In the case of Upsilon Andromedae b this lower limit is of the mass of Jupiter though depending on the inclination of the orbit the true mass may be much greater However astronomers found recently that inclination of the orbital plane is around and the true mass may be about MJ Coplanarity is not to be assumed the mutual inclination between c and d is degrees
Given the planet s high mass it is likely that Upsilon Andromedae b is a gas giant with no solid surface
The Spitzer Space Telescope measured the planet temperature and found that the difference between the two sides of Upsilon Andromedae b of about degrees Celsius ranging from minus to degrees to about to degrees Celsius The temperature difference has led to speculation that Upsilon Andromedae b is tidal locked with the same side always facing Upsilon Andromedae A
Sudarsky had on the assumption that the planet is similar to Jupiter in composition and that its environment is close to chemical equilibrium predicted Upsilon Andromedae b to have reflective clouds of silicates and iron in its upper atmosphere The cloud deck instead absorbs the sun s radiation between that and the hot high pressure gas surrounding the mantle exists a stratosphere of cooler gas The outer shell of dark opaque hot cloud is assumed to consist of vanadium and titanium oxides pM planets but other compounds like tholins cannot be ruled out yet
The planet is unlikely to have large moons since tidal forces would either eject them from orbit or destroy them on short timescales compared to the age of the system
The planet with Pegasi b was deemed a candidate for direct imaging by Planetpol Preliminary results from polarimetric studies indicate that the planet has predominately blue color is times as large and times as massive as Jupiter meaning that the mean density is g cm It has a geometric albedo of in visible light
Upsilon Andromedae b appears to be responsible for increased chromospheric activity on its parent star Observations suggest that there is a hot spot on the star around away from the sub planetary point This may be the result of interactions between the magnetic fields of the planet and the star The mechanism may be similar to that responsible for the activity of RS Canum Venaticorum variable stars or the interaction between Jupiter and its moon Io
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe born July is an English actor who rose to prominence as the title character in the Harry Potter film series He made his acting debut at years of age in BBC One s television film David Copperfield followed by his cinematic debut in s The Tailor of Panama At age he was cast as Harry Potter in the first Harry Potter film and starred in the series for years until the release of the eighth and final film in
Radcliffe began to branch out to stage acting in starring in the London and New York productions of Equus and in the Broadway revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying He starred in the horror film The Woman in Black and played beat poet Allen Ginsberg in the independent film Kill Your Darlings
He has contributed to many charities including Demelza Hospice Care for Children and The Trevor Project for suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth which gave him its Hero Award in
Radcliffe was born in West London England He is the only child of Alan George Radcliffe a literary agent and Marcia Jeannine Gresham ne Marcia Gresham Jacobson a casting agent who was involved in several films for the BBC including The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Walk Away and I Stumble His father who was raised in Banbridge County Down Northern Ireland is from a very working class Protestant background His mother is Jewish and was born in South Africa and raised in Westcliff on Sea Essex Her family had originally come from Poland and Russia Radcliffe s parents had both acted as children
In a interview Radcliffe stated There was never religious faith in the house I think of myself as being Jewish and Irish despite the fact that I m English He has stated We were Christmas tree Jews and that he is very proud of being Jewish
Radcliffe first expressed a desire to act at the age of five and in December aged he made his acting debut in BBC One s televised two part adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield portraying the title character as a young boy He was educated at two independent schools for boys Sussex House School a day school in Chelsea s Cadogan Square and the City of London School a day school on the North Bank of the River Thames in London s financial district known as the City of London Attending school became difficult for Radcliffe after the release of the first Harry Potter film with some fellow pupils becoming hostile though he says it was people just trying to have a crack at the kid that plays Harry Potter rather than jealousy
As his acting career began to consume his schedule Radcliffe continued his education through on set tutors He admitted he was not very good at school considering it useless and finding the work really difficult He achieved A grades in the three AS level exams that he took in but decided to take a break from education and did not go to college or university Part of his reasoning was that he already knew he wanted to act and write and that it would be difficult to have a normal college experience The paparazzi they d love it he told Details magazine in If there were any parties going on they d be tipped off as to where they were
In producer David Heyman asked Radcliffe to audition for the role of Harry Potter for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone the best selling book by British author J K Rowling Rowling had been searching for an unknown British actor to personify the character and the movie s director Chris Columbus recalled thinking This is what I want This is Harry Potter after he saw a video of the young actor in David Copperfield Eight months later and after several auditions Radcliffe was selected to play the part Rowling also endorsed the selection saying I don t think Chris Columbus could have found a better Harry Radcliffe s parents originally turned down the offer as they had been told that it would involve six films shot in Los Angeles Warner Bros instead offered Radcliffe a two movie contract with shooting in the UK Radcliffe was unsure at the time if he would do any more than that
The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone in the United States took place in Radcliffe received a seven figure salary for the lead role but asserted that the fee was not that important to him his parents chose to invest the money for him The film was highly popular and was met with positive reviews and critics took notice of Radcliffe Radcliffe is the embodiment of every reader s imagination It is wonderful to see a young hero who is so scholarly looking and filled with curiosity and who connects with very real emotions from solemn intelligence and the delight of discovery to deep family longing wrote Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle
A year later Radcliffe starred in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets the second installment of the series Reviewers were positive about the lead actors performances but had polarised opinions on the movie as a whole The release Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was the third film in the series Radcliffe s performance was panned by New York Times journalist A O Scott who wrote that Watson had to carry him with her performance Next was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in The film was the second highest grossing Harry Potter film at that point and Radcliffe singled out the humour as being a reason for the movie s creative success
The future of the franchise was put into question when Radcliffe and his co leads Emma Watson and Rupert Grint hesitated signing on to continue their roles for the final two episodes however by March Radcliffe had signed for the final films which put an end to weeks of press speculation that he would be denied the role due to his involvement in Equus in which he had performed nude on stage Radcliffe reprised his role for the fourth time in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Radcliffe stated that director David Yates and actress Imelda Staunton made Order of the Phoenix the most fun film in the series to work on His performance earned several award nominations and he received the National Movie Award for Best Male Performance As his fame and the series continued Radcliffe Grint and Watson left imprints of their hands feet and wands in front of Grauman s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood In July Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was released the series sixth instalment Radcliffe received nominations for Best Male Performance and Global Superstar at the MTV Movie Awards
For financial and scripting reasons the last book was divided into two films shot back to back which drew criticism from the series fanbase Radcliffe defended the split stating that it would have been impossible to properly adapt the final novel into a single film He added that the last movie was going to be extremely fast paced with a lot of action while the first part would be far more sedate focusing on character development he added that had they combined them those things would not have made it to the final cut Filming lasted for a year concluding in June and on the last day of shooting like most of the cast and crew Radcliffe openly wept
The final film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part was released in July Radcliffe along with the film was critically acclaimed Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post asked Who could have predicted that Radcliffe Grint and Watson would turn out to be good actors similarly Rex Reed said Frankly I m sorry to see Radcliffe go while Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers commented on Radcliffe Well played sir Roger Ebert gave the film a highly positive review but felt that Radcliffe Grint and Watson were upstaged by the supporting actors
Radcliffe admitted that some people would never be able to separate him from the character but also said he is proud to be associated with this film series forever Despite positive feelings about the movies he has no interest in doing more Harry Potter films After Rowling hinted about writing an eighth book Radcliffe was asked if he would do another film to which he replied It is very doubtful I think years is a long time to spend with one character Despite devoting so much time to the series Radcliffe has asserted that he did not miss out on a childhood like other child actors I ve been given a much better perspective on life by doing Potter
Radcliffe made his film debut in The Tailor of Panama an American film based on John le Carr s spy novel and a moderate commercial success In he made his stage debut as a celebrity guest in a West End theatre production of The Play What I Wrote directed by Kenneth Branagh who also appeared with him in the second Harry Potter film In he appeared in the film December Boys an Australian family drama about four orphans that was shot in and released to theatres in mid September Also in Radcliffe co starred with Carey Mulligan in My Boy Jack a television drama film shown on ITV on Remembrance Day The film received mostly positive reviews with several critics praising Radcliffe s performance as an year old who goes missing in action during a battle Radcliffe stated For many people my age the First World War is just a topic in a history book But I ve always been fascinated by the subject and think it s as relevant today as it ever was
At age in a bid to show people he was prepared for adult roles he performed onstage in Peter Shaffer s play Equus which had not been revived since its first run in at the Gielgud Theatre Radcliffe took on the lead role as Alan Strang a stable boy who has an obsession with horses Advance sales topped million and the role generated significant pre opening media interest as Radcliffe appeared in a nude scene Equus opened on February and ran until June Radcliffe s performance received positive reviews as critics were impressed by the nuance and depth of his against type role Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote that he displays a dramatic power and an electrifying stage presence that marks a tremendous leap forward He added I never thought I would find the diminutive but perfectly formed Radcliffe a sinister figure but as Alan Strang there are moments when he seems genuinely scary in his rage and confusion The production then transferred to Broadway in September with Radcliffe still in the lead role Radcliffe stated he was nervous about repeating the role on Broadway because he considered American audiences more discerning than those in London Radcliffe s performance was nominated for a Drama Desk Award
After voicing a character in an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons in late Radcliffe debuted as J Pierrepont Finch in the Broadway revival How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying a role previously held by Broadway veterans Robert Morse and Matthew Broderick Other cast members included John Larroquette Rose Hemingway and Mary Faber Both the actor and production received favourable reviews with USA Today commenting Radcliffe ultimately succeeds not by overshadowing his fellow cast members but by working in conscientious harmony with them and having a blast in the process Radcliffe s performance in the show earned him Drama Desk Award Drama League Award and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations The production itself later received nine Tony Award nominations Radcliffe left the show on January
His first post Harry Potter project was the horror film The Woman in Black adapted from the novel by Susan Hill The film was released on February in the United States and Canada and was released on February in the UK Radcliffe portrays a man sent to deal with the legal matters of a mysterious woman who has just died and soon after he begins to experience strange events and hauntings from the ghost of a woman dressed in black He has said he was incredibly excited to be part of the film and described the script as beautifully written
In he portrayed American poet Allen Ginsberg in the thriller drama Kill Your Darlings directed by John Krokidas He also starred in an Irish Canadian romantic comedy film The F Word directed by Michael Dowseand written by Elan Mastai based on TJ Dawe and Michael Rinaldi s play Toothpaste and Cigars and then he starred in an American dark fantasy horror film directed by Alexandre Aja Horns Both of the films premiered at the th Toronto International Film Festival
Radcliffe also performed at the Nol Coward Theatre in the stage play revival of Martin McDonagh s dark comedy The Cripple of Inishmaan as the lead Billy Claven for which he won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor in a Play In Radcliffe starred as Igor in a science fiction horror film Victor Frankenstein directed by Paul McGuigan and written by Max Landis which was based on contemporary adaptations of Mary Shelley s novel Frankenstein In Radcliffe portrayed Manny a talkative corpse in the indie film Swiss Army Man
He is set to star as American reporter Jake Adelstein in Tokyo Vice In November he joined the ensemble cast of Shane Carruth s third film The Modern Ocean alongside Anne Hathaway Keanu Reeves Tom Holland Chlo Grace Moretz Asa Butterfield Jeff Goldblum and Abraham Attah
In Radcliffe revealed that he has a mild form of the neurological disorder developmental coordination disorder The motor skill disorder sometimes prevents him from doing simple activities such as writing or tying his own shoelaces I was having a hard time at school in terms of being crap at everything with no discernible talent Radcliffe commented In August he stopped drinking alcohol after finding himself becoming too reliant on it
In November Radcliffe published several poems under the pen name Jacob Gershon a combination of his middle name and the Jewish version of his mother s maiden name Gresham in Rubbish an underground fashion magazine He has a close friendship with his Harry Potter co stars Tom Felton and Emma Watson and is tight knit with his family whom he credits for keeping him grounded
Sources disagree about Radcliffe s personal wealth he was reported to have earned million for the first Harry Potter film and around million for the sixth Radcliffe appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List in which estimated his personal fortune to be million making him one of the richest young people in the UK In March he was ranked number one on the Forbes Most Valuable Young Stars list and by April The Daily Telegraph measured his net worth at m making him the th richest young person in the UK Radcliffe was considered to be the richest teenager in England later that year In February he was named the sixth highest paid Hollywood male star and placed at number five on Forbes s December list of Hollywood s highest grossing actors with a film revenue of US million mainly due to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being released that year
Radcliffe maintains a home in the West Village of Lower Manhattan in New York City As of October Radcliffe has been dating American Erin Darke whom he met on the set of Kill Your Darlings There were rumours and stories of a possible engagement in mid but Darke s father Ian Darke denied there were any such plans in December
Radcliffe is an atheist He has been quoted as saying I m an atheist and a militant atheist when religion starts impacting on legislation and in a separate interview he stated I m very relaxed about it being an atheist I don t preach my atheism but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do Anything he does on television I will watch
Radcliffe is a supporter of the Labour Party Until Radcliffe had publicly supported the Liberal Democrats and before the general election Radcliffe endorsed Nick Clegg the Lib Dem leader In however Radcliffe switched his allegiance to Labour citing disappointment with the performance of Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems in government and approving of the Labour leader Ed Miliband In September he endorsed Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership contest to succeed Miliband He is a supporter of a British republic At the age of sixteen Radcliffe became the youngest non royal ever to have an individual portrait in Britain s National Portrait Gallery NPG On April his portrait drawn by Stuart Pearson Wright was unveiled as part of a new exhibition opening at the Royal National Theatre it was then moved to the NPG where it resides
Speaking out against homophobia Radcliffe began filming public service announcements in for The Trevor Project promoting awareness of gay teen suicide prevention He first learned of the organisation while working on Equus on Broadway in and has contributed financially to it I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it he said in a interview In the same interview he spoke of the importance of public figures advocating for equal rights Radcliffe considers his involvement to be one of the most important things in his career and for his work for the organisation he was given the Hero Award in
Radcliffe has supported various charities He designed the Cu Bed for Habitat s VIP Kids range a cube made of eight smaller ones which can be made into a bed chaise longue or chair with all the royalties from the sale of the bed going directly to his favourite charity Demelza House Children s Hospice in Sittingbourne Kent Radcliffe has urged his fans to make donations in lieu of Christmas presents to him to the charity s Candle for Care program In he was among several celebrities who donated their old glasses to an exhibit honouring victims of the Holocaust During the Broadway run of Equus he auctioned off a pair of jeans and other items worn in the show for New York based Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS and presenting at the Gypsy of the Year competition He has also donated money to Get Connected UK a London based free confidential national helpline for troubled youth
Radcliffe is a fan of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League
Thirteen Years Later is the fifth episode of the third season of the American crime thriller television series Millennium It premiered on the Fox network on October The episode was written by Michael R Perry and directed by Thomas J Wright Thirteen Years Later featured guest appearances by the members of the band Kiss performing both as themselves and as minor characters
In this episode Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Frank Black Lance Henriksen and Emma Hollis Klea Scott investigate a series of murders on the set of a horror film and realize that the production is based on a case Black solved several years earlier
Thirteen Years Later proved a difficult episode to produce with filming requiring a large number of shots to be completed and the script to be adjusted on short notice It has evoked mixed responses from critics although the guest appearances by the members of Kiss have been more universally criticized
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Frank Black Lance Henriksen and Emma Hollis Klea Scott travel to Travelers Rest South Carolina to investigate the deaths of film director Lew Carroll Paul Stanley and Marta Danbury the leading actress in his newest film As the local sheriff guides Black and Hollis through the murder scene Black realizes that the film is based on a real murder case he investigated thirteen years previously he is shocked to learn that the true story is being sensationalized for the screen
The pair interview the cast and crew as suspects discovering that many would benefit from either of the deaths producer Kenny Neiderman had been having an affair with Danbury Rowdy Beeman replaced Carroll as director Ruby Dahl and Ramona Tangent whose roles in the film will expand without Danbury and Mark Bianco a method actor relishing the opportunity to meet Black whose role he plays Also questioned is Hugo Winston the man whose partner was murdered in the earlier case and who is campaigning against what he sees as a disrespectful production
The production continues and after the filming of a pool scene the crew gather in catering Beeman discovers a severed finger in his sandwich recognizing from its ring that it belonged to Niederman When the sheriff shuts down production Black theorizes that the killer may target the crew s hotel he and Hollis arrive to find the body of the film s publicist hanging from a rope The next day a film extra Gene Simmons confesses to the killings Black pokes holes in his story and discovers he is not a credible perpetrator Regardless production is resumed and shortly afterwards several crew members are found with their throats cut while Winston s body hangs nearby in an apparent murder suicide
Black doubts that Winston is the killer and while Hollis stays in the hotel he visits the production s climactic shoot set during a performance by the band Kiss As he looks around him the sheriff s body is thrown down from the rafters as the pandemonium settles Black realizes that horror films end with the leading lady being targeted the killer is after Hollis Racing back to her hotel Black discover Hollis fending off a chainsaw wielding Bianco Black is able to subdue Bianco after Hollis disables the chainsaw the actor then explains that he lacked Black s insight and had to commit the crimes in order to see through the eyes of a killer
Thirteen Years Later is the second episode of Millennium to have been written by Michael R Perry who had previously penned the second season episode The Mikado and would provide a further three scripts in the third season The episode was directed by Thomas J Wright who helmed a total of twenty six episodes across all three seasons Wright would also go on to direct Millennium the series crossover episode with its sister show The X Files
The episode features guest appearances by the members of the band Kiss Peter Criss Ace Frehley Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley who each portray both themselves and a small cameo role However the band members insisted during filming that their roles be given an equal amount of dialogue which led to Perry being asked to amend scenes on short notice and fax updated scripts to the shooting locations ultimately much of this additional material was filmed but not used in the episode Ace Frehley was also unenthusiastic towards his role and requested to play a pound black man instead wishing to wear a fat suit like those used in the Eddie Murphy film The Nutty Professor he was eventually convinced that such a suit would take too long to fabricate
Perry has described the production Thirteen Years Later as being one of the most gruelling of the series run citing its abundance of stunt work and physical effects as the cause of this Perry praised Wright for his ability to direct the episode within the usual time constraints as he felt the number of shots involved was more akin to a feature film than a television episode Guest star Jeff Yagher who played killer Mark Bianco is the husband of actress Megan Gallagher who starred in the first two seasons of Millennium as Black s wife Catherine
Thirteen Years Later was first broadcast on the Fox network on October The episode earned a Nielsen rating of during its original broadcast meaning that percent of households in the United States viewed the episode This represented approximately million households
Thirteen Years Later received mixed reviews from critics The AV Club s Todd VanDerWerff rated the episode a B VanDerWerff felt that the episode s comedic slant was necessary within the wider series as he considered Millennium s dark tone to be prone to unintentional comedy and that a comic episode provided an outlet for this VanDerWerff found the script to be at its strongest when satirizing the character of Frank Black but admitted that it falls apart when attempting to send up other subjects he also felt that the guest appearance by Kiss felt unnecessary and contrived Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson in their book Wanting to Believe A Critical Guide to The X Files Millennium The Lone Gunmen rated Thirteen Years Later one star out of five Shearman felt that the episode had the potential to be much better but that the whole concept drowns in overkill He considered the episode s characters to too shallow and its commentary to be too heavy handed to fully execute anything meaningful criticism was also levelled at the guest roles by the members of Kiss
Route is a state highway in the US state of New Jersey It runs mi km from an interchange with Interstate I in Hamilton Township in Mercer County where it continues as I to Route Bridge Street Race Street in Frenchtown Hunterdon County Between the southern terminus and I the route is a mix of freeway and four lane divided highway that runs along the Delaware River through Trenton This section includes a truck restricted tunnel that was built along the river near historic houses and Riverview Cemetery North of I Route turns into a scenic and mostly two lane highway North of the South Trenton Tunnel it is designated the Delaware River Scenic Byway a New Jersey Scenic Byway and National Scenic Byway that follows the Delaware River in mostly rural sections of Mercer County and Hunterdon County The obsolete Delaware Raritan Canal usually stands between the river and the highway Most sections of this portion of Route are completely shaded due to the tree canopy Route also has a spur Route which connects Route to US Route US in Trenton
Route was initially designated in to run from downtown Trenton to Newark following present day Route and US between Lambertville and Somerville and US between Somerville and Newark The route between Lambertville and Frenchtown was originally Route A In Route was shifted to follow the alignment of Route A to avoid the concurrencies with the US Routes Route between South Warren Street in Trenton and I in Ewing Township was upgraded to a four lane highway with a portion of freeway in the s and s In the southern freeway part of Route between I I and Route in Hamilton Township was completed This freeway section was linked to the rest of Route by a tunnel completed in A realignment of Route in Lambertville by the s made the route concurrent with the entire length of mile long km Route
Route begins at a modified cloverleaf interchange with Interstate and Interstate in Hamilton Township and it serves as the western continuation of Interstate heading to the northwest as a six lane freeway The route interchanges with Route a spur of Route which connects to US Route at a partial interchange with a northbound exit and southbound entrance Route narrows to four lanes past this interchange and crosses into Trenton The route comes to a southbound exit and entrance for Lamberton Road At this point Route becomes the Delaware River Scenic Byway a state scenic byway that was also designated a National Scenic Byway in Route runs along the bank of the Delaware River and enters a truck restricted tunnel that passes by historic houses and Riverview Cemetery Within this tunnel Route features a southbound exit and northbound entrance for Lalor Street The route emerges from the tunnel as the John Fitch Parkway passes by Arm Hammer Park and comes to a traffic light at Thunder Road Cass Street where it widens back to six lanes Route meets South Warren Street at another traffic light The median widens and it passes under the Morrisville Trenton Railroad Bridge which carries the Amtrak Northeast Corridor over the Delaware River
Route passes under the Trenton Morrisville Toll Bridge which carries US Route over the Delaware River Access to US Route southbound is provided by ramps from Route while access to Route from northbound US Route is provided by South Warren Street Route passes under the Lower Trenton Bridge and the median narrows again It interchanges with Market Street which provides access to Route and then features an interchange which provides access to the New Jersey State House with a northbound exit and southbound entrance Route crosses the Assunpink Creek and features an interchange which provides access to South Warren Street with exits in both directions but only a northbound entrance Route continues to a cloverleaf interchange with Calhoun Street County Route which provides access to the Calhoun Street Bridge over the Delaware River Riverside Avenue exits as a frontage road paralleling the northbound lanes of Route before the road features a northbound exit for Hermitage Avenue Route comes to a partial interchange with Parkside Avenue with a northbound exit and southbound entrance and then features a northbound exit for South Eastfield Avenue
The freeway portion of Route ends at the intersection with Lee Avenue and it continues northwest along the Delaware River as a four lane divided highway The route meets the southern terminus of County Route Sullivan Way The median widens again and then narrows as the route meets the southern terminus of Route a former alignment of Route that currently serves as a frontage road Route crosses into Ewing Township and becomes the Daniel Bray Highway It passes under the West Trenton Railroad Bridge which carries CSX and SEPTA s West Trenton Line over the Delaware River Route intersects Route again and then comes to a complex interchange with Interstate with the ramps within the median of Route just to the east of the Scudder Falls Bridge
Upon crossing the Delaware and Raritan Canal Route narrows down to a two lane undivided road called River Road It continues along the Delaware River next to the Delaware and Raritan Canal which runs between Route and the river The route intersects the northern terminus of Route Farther north Route enters Hopewell Township and continues into a more rural setting shaded with trees Route heads to Washington Crossing State Park where it intersects County Route which heads east on Washington Crossing Pennington Road and the approach to the Washington Crossing Bridge which continues into Pennsylvania as Pennsylvania Route Route continues north along the Delaware River through Titusville passing by Washington Crossing State Park
Route crosses into West Amwell Township in Hunterdon County It enters Lambertville where Route becomes a four lane divided highway At the intersection of South Main Street Route becomes concurrent with Route The route becomes an undivided highway again and meets the western terminus of County Route Brunswick Street It meets Route Bridge Street where Route ends and Route turns west for a one block wrong way concurrency with the two lane undivided Route lasting to the intersection of Main Street where Route turns north on Main Street
Route follows Main Street north through Lambertville crossing into Delaware Township It comes to an interchange with US Route just east of the New Hope Lambertville Toll Bridge with access to northbound US Route and from southbound US Route provided by way of Alexauken Creek Road Route continues along the Delaware River and enters Stockton The route intersects Bridge Street which crosses the Delaware River on the Centre Bridge Stockton Bridge and continues into Pennsylvania as Pennsylvania Route Shortly after that intersection Route intersects the southern terminus of County Route Stockton Flemington Road Route crosses back into Delaware Township where it meets the southern terminus of County Route Kingwood Stockton Road
Route makes a sharp left turn and heads west along the river as a rural road crossing into Kingwood Township where the name of the road changes from Main Street to Daniel Bray Highway Here it intersects with County Route Byram Kingwood Road The route bends to the north and continues along the Delaware River for several miles crossing into Frenchtown where the route becomes Trenton Road Upon entering Frenchtown an end shield for northbound Route is posted to mark the end of state maintenance which officially ends at the Washington Street intersection where maintenance is transferred to the county Despite this Route officially continues farther north along Trenton Road to its northern terminus at Route Bridge Street Race Street a short distance east of Route s western terminus at the Uhlerstown Frenchtown Bridge The southern terminus of County Route is located a block north of the northern terminus of Route along Route
The current route was originally legislated in as part of the Delaware River Drive a named state highway that was proposed to run from along the Delaware River from Trenton to the New York border in Montague Township Route was originally defined in to run from Trenton to Newark The original route ran from downtown Trenton along State Street and Sanhican Drive From there it followed its current alignment to Lambertville where it followed present day Route to Ringoes to present day County Route which it followed to Woods Tavern The route turned north on US Route also designated Route and followed that route to Somerville where it followed US Route to Newark The current alignment of Route from Lambertville to Route in Frenchtown was designated Route A in
The alignment of Route between Ringoes and Somerville was eventually shifted to follow present day US Route which was also Route now Route between Ringoes and Flemington and Route between Flemington and Somerville In Route B was planned as an extension of Route A from Frenchtown to Route now Route in Alpha While this road was never built much of the alignment north of Milford is served by County Route In a spur route Route S was created running along US Route Bridge Street in Lambertville to the New Hope Lambertville Bridge In the New Jersey state highway renumbering Route was redefined to continue north from Lambertville to Frenchtown on Route A and the Route designation between Lambertville and Newark was removed in favor of US Route between Lambertville and Somerville and US Route between Somerville and Newark The section of former Route between Route A and Route S became Route
Plans for a limited access route along the Route corridor go back to when a parkway was proposed along the Delaware River between Trenton and Lambertville this proposal never materialized Plans for a freeway were resurrected in the early s to construct a road the John Fitch Parkway that was to run from Hamilton Township to Interstate in Ewing Township This road was built between and from South Warren Street in Trenton to present day Interstate in Ewing Township Construction of this portion John Fitch Parkway took up much of Trenton s available waterfront along the Delaware River The former alignment of Route in the northern part of Trenton and in Ewing Township became Route
Between and the Route freeway was built between the Interstate Interstate interchange and Route in Hamilton Township A two lane street Lamberton Road connected the two freeway sections Plans were then made to fill the gap between the two freeway sections in Trenton Construction began in on the Route freeway between Route and the Morrisville Trenton Railroad Bridge The road was to include two traffic lights at Cass Street and South Warren Street and a tunnel which was to be built as a covered roadway on the bank of the Delaware River The tunnel was originally scheduled to be complete by but was delayed after the Army Corps of Engineers discovered many environmental violations that occurred with construction of the tunnel The roof was put in place in October and the tunnel officially opened to traffic on March A restriction to trucks over tons was put in place and made permanent in November
By the s the state gave the part of Route South Main Street between Route and Route in Lambertville to the city and Route was rerouted to use all of Route and one block of Route Prior to this South Main Street had been turned one way southbound Route which is only signed on overhead street signs still exists though it is fully concurrent with Route
The first Mongol invasions of Burma Myanmar Burmese were a series of military conflicts between Kublai Khan s Yuan dynasty division of the Mongol Empire and the Pagan Empire that took place between and The invasions toppled the year old Pagan Empire and the Mongol army seized Pagan territories in present day Dehong Yunnan and northern Burma to Tagaung The invasions ushered in years of political fragmentation in Burma and the rise of Tai Shan states throughout mainland Southeast Asia
The Mongols first demanded tribute from Pagan in as part of their drive to encircle the Song dynasty of China When King Narathihapate refused Emperor Kublai Khan himself sent another mission in again demanding tribute It too was rejected In the emperor ordered the Yunnan government to secure the borderlands in order to block an escape path for the Song and permitted a limited border war if Pagan contested Pagan did contest but its army was driven back at the frontier by the Mongol Army in After a brief lull Kublai Khan in turned his attention to Southeast Asia demanding tribute from Pagan the Khmer Empire i Vit and Champa When the Burmese king again refused the emperor ordered an invasion of northern Burma Two dry season campaigns later the Mongols had occupied down to Tagaung and Hanlin forcing the Burmese king to flee to Lower Burma The Mongols organized northern Burma as the province of Zhengmian
Ceasefire negotiations began in and ended with Narathihapate finally agreeing to submit in June The Burmese embassy received by the emperor in Beijing in January agreed to a treaty that acknowledged the suzerainty of the Yuan dynasty or the Mongol Empire over the Pagan Empire and annual payments in taxes to the Yunnan government in exchange for the evacuation of Mongol troops from northern Burma But the treaty never really took effect as Narathihapate was assassinated in July and no authority who could honor the treaty emerged The Mongol command at Yunnan now deemed the imperial order to withdraw void and ordered an invasion of central Burma They may not have reached Pagan and even if they did after having suffered heavy casualties they returned to Tagaung
The Pagan Empire disintegrated and anarchy ensued The Mongols who probably preferred the situation did nothing to restore order in the next ten years In March they accepted the voluntary submission of King Kyawswa of Pagan although he controlled little beyond the capital city of Pagan Bagan But Kyawswa was overthrown nine months later and the Mongols were forced to intervene leading to their second invasion in
Marco Polo reported the first invasions in his travelogue Il Milione The Burmese referred to the invaders as the Taruk after the central Asian Turkic troops that largely made up the Mongol invasion army today the term Taruk refers to the Han Chinese instead King Narathihapate is unkindly remembered in Burmese history as Taruk Pye Min the King who Fled from the Taruk
In the th century the Pagan Empire along with the Khmer Empire was one of the two main empires in mainland Southeast Asia For much of its history Pagan s neighbor to the northeast was not China but the independent Dali Kingdom and its predecessor Nanzhao both with Dali as their capital city Dali based kingdoms were a power in their own right at times allying themselves with the Tibetan Empire to their west and at other times with China s Tang and Song dynasties Indeed Nanzhao s mounted armies ventured deep into what is today Burma and may have been behind the founding of the medieval city of Pagan and the Pagan Dynasty itself
Between the newly conquered Mongol territory and Pagan were a wide swath of borderlands stretching from present day Dehong Baoshan and Lincang prefectures in Yunnan as well as the Wa and Palaung regions presumably in present day northern Shan State which Pagan and Dali had both claimed and exercised overlapping spheres of influence Then as now the borderlands mostly consist of forbidding terrains of high mountain ranges
The Mongol Empire first arrived at the doorstep of the Pagan Empire in by invading the Dali Kingdom in its attempt to outflank Song China The Mongol armies captured the capital Dali on January and went on to pacify much of the kingdom by
The arrival of the Mongols did not initially upset the existing order at the borderlands as the Mongols were intent on finishing off the Song For the next dozen years they consolidated their hold over the newly conquered land which not only provided them with a base from which to attack the Song from the rear but also was strategically located on the trade routes from China to Burma and India The Mongols set up military garrisons manned mostly by Turkic speaking Muslims from Central Asia in circuits of the former Dali Kingdom
By then the Pagan Empire despite outward appearances of calm had been in long and slow decline since the early th century The continuous growth of tax free religious wealth had greatly reduced the tax base of the kingdom The crown had lost resources needed to retain the loyalty of courtiers and military servicemen inviting a vicious circle of internal disorders and external challenges Although it was able to put down the first batch of serious rebellions in in South Arakan and Martaban Mottama the decline continued On the eve of the Mongol invasions between one and two thirds of Upper Burma s cultivable land had been donated to religion The crown s ability to mobilize defenses was in serious jeopardy
The period of calm for Pagan ended in the early s By then the Song were on the ropes and Emperor Kublai Khan who officially founded the Yuan dynasty on December sought to cut off the retreat of Song refugees in all directions In Pagan s case he had ordered the Mongol governor of Dali to tighten control of the borderlands and in January to send a mission to Pagan to demand tribute The tribute he demanded was nominal Given his higher priority preoccupations elsewhere the emperor was not looking to replace the regime at Pagan At the border the ruler of the Wa and Palaung regions submitted to the Mongols
When the Mongol envoys led by Qidai Tuoyin showed up the Pagan court led by Chief Minister Ananda Pyissi was well aware of the military power of the Mongols and advised King Narathihapate to use diplomacy The king was furious at the demand and kept the Mongol envoys waiting for weeks The court finally devised a compromise the envoys were sent back without ever seeing the king Accompanying them was a Burmese envoy who carried a letter expressing friendly sentiments and the Burmese king s wish to one day worship a Buddha tooth at Beijing The king then promptly ordered an expedition which retook the rebellious borderland regions in April The rebel leader A Pi was brought back to Pagan Dali relayed the news to Beijing but did not carry out any military action
At Beijing Kublai Khan who was preparing an invasion of Japan decided against a war with Pagan for the time being On March he sent a member delegation led by an imperial ambassador the First Secretary to the Board Rites to Pagan The delegation carried a letter from the emperor The letter says
If you have finally decided to fulfill your duties towards the All Highest send one of your brothers or senior ministers to show men that all the world is linked with Us and enter into a perpetual alliance This will add to your reputation and be in your own interests for if it comes to war who will be the victor Ponder well O king Our words
This time the Burmese king received the imperial envoys but still refused to submit The Burmese chronicles say that the king was so insulted that he had the envoys executed But both Burmese inscriptional evidence and Yuan records indicate that the envoys were not executed At any rate the imperial envoys did not get back to Yunnan in due time The newly formed Yunnan government sent another delegation to investigate the whereabouts of the delegation but the delegation could not reach Pagan because of an ongoing rebellion en route
Meanwhile in the former Dali Kingdom was officially reorganized as the Province of Yunnan with Sayyid Ajjal Shams al Din Omar as governor In May the governor sent a report to the emperor stating that the embassy had not returned that the Burmese evidently had no intention of submitting and that war was the only way forward
But the emperor rejected an outright invasion Just coming off a disastrous Japanese campaign the emperor was unwilling to commit the central government troops to what he considered a low priority affair He was now focused on delivering the final blow against the Song the emperor ordered the Yunnan provincial army to secure the borderlands in order to block the escape path of the Song refugees He also sanctioned a limited border war if Pagan contested the takeover As planned the Yunnan army proceeded to consolidate the borderlands in Elsewhere the main Mongol armies had captured most of the Song territory by
By at least one Burmese vassal state named Gold Teeth modern Yingjiang had submitted to the Mongols Like in the Burmese government responded by sending an army to reclaim the rebellious state but unlike in the Mongols had posted a sizable garrison there Though it was ultimately under Mongol command many of the officers and most of the soldiers of the garrison were Turkic speaking peoples or people from the further west Turks from Samarkand Bukhara Merv and Nishapur but also captive soldiers from the Persian Khwarazmid empire the Kipchaks and even Bulgars from the lower Volga
What followed was a border war in It was reported mainly in the Yuan dynasty chronicle and the travelogue of Marco Polo Although the Burmese chronicles have no record of the border war a Burmese inscription mentions the army s defeat at Ngasaunggyan The Mongol accounts of the border war contain certain errors of location and numbers although the overall narrative is probably accurate
According to the Yuan dynasty chronicle and Marco Polo s accounts a Burmese army invaded the Mongol territory of Gold Teeth and was defeated by the Mongol army in April The battle took place either at the Vochang valley in present day Baoshan Prefecture or km southwest at Kanngai present day Yingjiang Dehong Prefecture which the Burmese called Ngasaunggyan
The Yuan Chronicle reports that only men defeated a Burmese army of to with horses and elephants It also reports only one Mongol was killed in trying to catch an elephant According to Marco Polo the Mongol army consisted of mounted archers and the Burmese army numbered men with elephants on each of which was set a tower of timber well framed and strong and carrying from to well armed fighting men Even then the to figures of the Burmese army strength were likely eye estimates and may still be too high the Mongols may have erred on the side of generosity not to diminish their glory in defeating superior numbers
According to Marco Polo s account in the early stages of the battle the Turkish and Mongol horsemen took such fright at the sight of the elephants that they would not be got to face the foe but always swerved and turned back while the Burmese forces pressed on But the Mongol commander Huthukh did not panic he ordered his troops to dismount and from the cover of the nearby treeline aim their bows directly at the advancing elephants The Mongol archers arrows threw the animals into such pain that they fled
The Mongol army pressed on after the monsoon season In the following dry season of c December a Mongol army of led by Nasr al Din son of Gov Sayyid Ajjal advanced to Kaungsin which defended the Bhamo Pass They occupied the fort and destroyed a large number of abandoned stockades But they found the heat excessive and returned
Despite the Mongol military success the control of the borderlands remained contested Pagan did not relinquish its claim to the frontier regions and the Burmese apparently taking advantage of Mongol preoccupations elsewhere rebuilt their forts at Kaungsin and Ngasaunggyan later in posting permanent garrisons commanded by Einda Pyissi But their control was short lived The Great Khan s attention turned to Southeast Asia once more in He had had mixed success his vaunted forces had finished off the last of the Song in but had again failed to take Japan in That year the Mongol emperor sent another mission to Pagan demanding tribute yet again The Burmese king was to send his ten senior ministers accompanied by one thousand cavalry officers to the emperor s court With Champa the emperor summoned the king of Champa himself to Beijing
At Pagan Narathihapate deliberated with his court for an appropriate response but ultimately refused to submit The Burmese court may have been counting on another limited border war but the emperor now ordered an invasion of northern Burma He also ordered an invasion of Champa whose king too had refused to submit The Burmese king s troubles did not go unnoticed elsewhere in the kingdom In the same year a usurper named Wareru seized the southern port city of Martaban Mottama by killing its Pagan appointed governor Although the king s three sons were viceroys of the nearby Lower Burma cities in Bassein Pathein Prome Pyay and Dala the king preoccupied with much more serious threat in the north did not or could not take any action on Martaban
Throughout the Mongol command made preparations for the upcoming invasions of Champa and northern Burma The objective of the Burma campaign was to take over northern Burma but no further the emperor did not sanction an attack on Pagan itself At least one army consisted of men of the erstwhile Persian Khwarezmid Empire under the command of Yalu Beg was sent to Yunnan to reinforce the Burma invasion force which again was made up of Turks and other central Asians On the Burmese side the king managed to raise an army although given his low standing with his vassals he probably could not have raised a large one By mid a Burmese army led by generals Ananda Pyissi and Yanda Pyissi was deployed at a fort at Ngasaunggyan
The invasion began on September Prince Sangqudar was the commander in chief of the invasion force his deputies were Vice Governor Taipn and commander Yagan Tegin The Mongol armies marched to the border in two columns One column advanced along the Taping River using over boats the other proceeded by land and joined the first column at the Burmese fort at Ngasaunggyan The Burmese chronicles report an overwhelming number of Mongol forces laying siege to the fort although their numbers are greatly exaggerated The chronicles say that the Burmese army numbered men while the Mongol army numbered million men and million horses The Burmese withstood the siege for over two months but the fort fell on December
The defeat at Ngasaunggyan broke the back of Burmese defenses The Burmese army lost several thousand men as well as senior commanders Kaungsin the next fort inline fell just six days later on December The Mongol sources say that the Burmese lost men at Kaungsin The Mongol armies pushed farther south into the Irrawaddy valley They took the ancient Burmese capital of Tagaung about km north of Pagan on February There the invaders paused their advance They found the heat of the searing Irrawaddy valley excessive and evacuated Tagaung allowing the Burmese to return to Tagaung on May But the Mongol army renewed their offensive in the following dry season They retook Tagaung and defeated another Burmese stand south of Tagaung probably near Hanlin on January opening the way to Pagan about km south After the defeat the king panicked and fled to Lower Burma The evacuation proved premature The Mongol forces did not advance on Pagan as it was not part of their invasion plan
The country fell into chaos In Lower Burma the king found himself isolated let alone plan a counterattack Although his sons ruled the key Lower Burma ports Prome Dala and Bassein the king did not trust any of them and he and his court settled at Hlegya west of Prome Without the full support of his sons the presence of the king and his small army impressed no one The governor of Pegu revolted that same year The king managed to send two small expeditions to Pegu but they both failed Now the entire eastern half of Lower Burma Pegu and Martaban was in open revolt
Given his precarious position Narathihapate decided to buy time and sue for peace with the Mongols In November December the king ordered his generals Ananda Pyissi and Maha Bo to enter into ceasefire negotiations The Mongol commanders at Hanlin who had organized northern Burma as a protectorate named Zhengmian Chinese Wade Giles Cheng Mien agreed to a ceasefire but insisted on a full submission They repeated their demand that the Burmese king send a formal delegation to the emperor The two sides had reached a tentative agreement by March which calls for a full submission of the Pagan Empire and central Burma to be organized as the province of Mianzhong Chinese Wade Giles Mien Chung After a long deliberation the king agreed to submit but wanted the Mongol troops to withdraw In June he sent an embassy led by Shin Ditha Pamauk a learned monk to the emperor s court
In January the embassy arrived at Beijing and was received by the Yuan emperor The Burmese delegation formally acknowledged Mongol suzerainty of their kingdom and agreed to pay annual tribute tied to the agricultural output of the country Indeed the tribute was no longer nominal In exchange the emperor agreed to withdraw his troops For the emperor the Burma campaign was the only bright spot his other Southeast Asian expeditions had gone badly He did not want to invest more troops pacify the rest of the kingdom He preferred a vassal ruler The Burmese embassy arrived back at Hlegya in May and reported the terms to the king
But the agreement broke down a month later In late June the defeated king and his small retinue left their temporary capital for Pagan But on July the king was captured en route and assassinated by his second son Thihathu the Viceroy of Prome Anarchy ensued Each region in the country which had not revolted broke away No successor to Narathihapate who could honor and enforce the terms of the treaty of Beijing emerged Indeed a king would not emerge until May
Given the chaos the governor of Yunnan ignored the imperial orders of evacuation The Mongol army commanded by Prince Ye sin Timour a grandson of the emperor marched south toward Pagan According to mainstream traditional British colonial era scholarship the Mongol army ignored the imperial orders to evacuate fought its way down to Pagan with the loss of men occupied the city and sent out detachments to receive homage one of which reached south of Prome But not all colonial period scholars agreed with the assessment as none of the contemporary Mongol Chinese records specifically mentioned the conquest of Pagan or the temporary completeness of the conquest
Recent research shows that the Mongol forces most probably never reached Pagan They were held at bay by the Burmese defenses led by commanders Athinkhaya Yazathingyan and Thihathu and probably never got closer than km north of Pagan An inscription dated February by the three brothers claimed that they defeated the Mongol army Even if the Mongols did reach Pagan the damage they inflicted was probably minimal At any rate the Mongol army suffered heavy casualties and retreated north to Tagaung They remained there as the treaty was now void
The disintegration of the Pagan Empire was now complete But the Mongols refused to fill in the power vacuum they had created They would send no more expeditions to restore order The emperor apparently had no interest in committing troops that would be required to pacify the fragmented country Indeed his real aim all along may have been to keep the entire region of Southeast Asia broken and fragmented It would be another two years until one of Narathihapate s sons Kyawswa emerged as king of Pagan in May But the new king controlled just a small area around the capital and had no real army The real power in central Burma now rested with the three commander brothers
The uneasy arrangement would persist until The Mongols continued to occupy northern Burma to Tagaung as the province of Zhengmian Cheng Mien but ended the fictional central Burma province of Mianzhong on August Meanwhile the power struggle in central Burma continued with the three brothers blatantly consolidating support To check their rising power Kyawswa submitted to the Mongols in January and was recognized by the Yuan emperor Temr Khan as King of Pagan on March The emperor also gave Chinese titles to the brothers as subordinates of Kyawswa The brothers resented the new arrangement as it directly reduced their power On December the three brothers overthrew Kyawswa and founded the Myinsaing Kingdom The dethronement forced the Mongol government to intervene again leading to the second Mongol invasion of Burma The invasion failed Two years later on April the Mongols abolished the province of Zhengmian Cheng Mien evacuated Tagaung and returned to Yunnan
The war was one of several near simultaneous wars waged by the Mongol Empire and the Yuan dynasty in the late th century Though it was never more than a minor frontier war to the Mongols the war set off a series of enduring developments in Burma The invasions ushered in a period of political fragmentation and the rise of Tai Shan states throughout mainland Southeast Asia
The immediate result of the war was the collapse of the Pagan Empire However the war merely accelerated the collapse but did not cause it Pagan s disintegration was in fact more prolonged and agonized The kingdom had been in long gradual decline since the early th century Had Pagan possessed a stronger central government the collapse could have been temporary and the country could have risen again But the dynasty could not recover and because the Mongols refused to fill the power vacuum no viable center emerged in the immediate aftermath As a result several minor states fought it out for supremacy for the better part of the th century It was only in the late th century that two relatively strong powers emerged in the Irrawaddy basin restoring some semblance of normalcy The vast region surrounding the Irrawaddy valley would continue to be made up of several small Tai Shan states well into the th century
Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the Mongol invasions was the emergence of Tai Shan states in mainland Southeast Asia The Tai Shan people who came down with the Mongol invasions stayed By the early th century several Tai Shan states had come to dominate a vast region from present day Assam to northern and eastern Myanmar to northern and central Thailand and Laos Their rise was encouraged by the Mongols who viewed the states as a useful buffer between Yunnan and the rest of Southeast Asia The Mongols who were still trying to incorporate Yunnan into the central administration were unwilling or unable to make necessary sustained investments to bring the vast regions south of Yunnan into the fold The integration of Yunnan itself into China Proper was to take several more centuries and continues to today As such from the newly formed Tai Shan states in western and central Southeast Asia to Dai Viet and Champa in eastern Southeast Asia the Mongols elected to receive nominal tribute Though the rulers of these states were technically governors of the Yuan government they were the native chieftains who would have ruled there in any case and they did as they pleased
The war also marked the arrival of China at the doorstep of Burma The old Dali Kingdom known to the Burmese as Gandalarit after Gandhara Raj was now a Mongol Chinese province The Burmese now called the new powers at Yunnan Taruk after the Turkic speaking soldiers of Yunnan Over the years the term Taruk came to be used to refer to the Han Chinese Today King Narathihapate is remembered as Taruk Pye Min the King who fled from the Taruk Chinese From a geopolitical standpoint the Mongol Chinese presence in Yunnan pushed the Shan migrations in the direction of Burma and parts of the Khmer Empire The raids by various Shan states into Upper Burma would continue until the mid th century
During the official visit by the President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj to Myanmar in November Aung San Suu Kyi the chairperson of National League for Democracy said this was the first ever Mongol mission since the Mongols came years earlier
The Battle of Edson s Ridge also known as the Battle of the Bloody Ridge Battle of Raiders Ridge and Battle of the Ridge was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Imperial Japanese Army and Allied mainly United States Marine Corps ground forces It took place from September on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and was the second of three separate major Japanese ground offensives during the Guadalcanal Campaign
In the battle US Marines under the overall command of US Major General Alexander Vandegrift repulsed an attack by the Japanese th Infantry Brigade under the command of Japanese Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi The Marines were defending the Lunga perimeter that guarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal which was captured from the Japanese by the Allies in landings on Guadalcanal on August Kawaguchi s unit was sent to Guadalcanal in response to the Allied landings with the mission of recapturing the airfield and driving the Allied forces from the island
Underestimating the strength of Allied forces on Guadalcanal about Kawaguchi s soldiers conducted several nighttime frontal assaults on the US defenses The main Japanese assault occurred around Lunga ridge south of Henderson Field manned by troops from several US Marine Corps units primarily troops from the st Raider and st Parachute Battalions under US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A Edson Although the Marine defenses were almost overrun Kawaguchi s attack was ultimately defeated with heavy losses for the Japanese
Because of the key participation by Edson s unit in defending the ridge the ridge was commonly referred to as Edson s ridge in historical accounts of the battle in Western sources After Edson s Ridge the Japanese continued to send troops to Guadalcanal for further attempts to retake Henderson Field affecting Japanese offensive operations in other areas of the South Pacific
On August Allied forces primarily US landed on Guadalcanal Tulagi and Florida Islands in the Solomon Islands The landings on the islands were meant to deny their use by the Japanese as bases for threatening the supply routes between the US and Australia They were also intended to secure the islands as starting points for a campaign to neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul and support the Allied New Guinea campaign The landings initiated the six month long Guadalcanal campaign
Taking the Japanese by surprise by nightfall on August the Allied landing forces had secured Tulagi and nearby small islands as well as an airfield under construction at Lunga Point S E on the north shore of the island of Guadalcanal east of the present day capital of Honiara Vandegrift placed his troops of the st Marine Division on Guadalcanal in a loose perimeter around the Lunga Point area
On August the airfield was named Henderson Field after Major Lofton Henderson a Marine aviator who had been killed at the Battle of Midway The Allied aircraft and pilots that subsequently operated out of Henderson Field were called the Cactus Air Force after the Allied code name for Guadalcanal
In response to the Allied landings on Guadalcanal the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters assigned the Imperial Japanese Army s th Army a corps sized command based at Rabaul S E and under the command of Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake with the task of retaking Guadalcanal from Allied forces The th Army heavily involved with the Japanese campaign in New Guinea had only a few units available to send to the southern Solomons area Of these units the th Infantry Brigade under Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi was at Palau the th Aoba Infantry Regiment was in the Philippines and the th Ichiki Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki was embarked on transport ships near Guam The different units began to move toward Guadalcanal immediately Ichiki s regiment the closest arrived first The First Element of Ichiki s unit consisting of about soldiers landed from destroyers at Taivu Point S E about mi km east of the Lunga perimeter on August
Underestimating the strength of Allied forces on Guadalcanal Ichiki s First Element conducted a nighttime frontal assault on Marine positions at Alligator Creek on the east side of the Lunga perimeter in the early morning hours of August Ichiki s assault was repulsed with devastating losses for the attackers in what became known as the Battle of the Tenaru all but of the men of the First Element including Ichiki himself were killed in the battle The survivors returned to Taivu Point notified th Army headquarters of their defeat in the battle and awaited further reinforcements and orders from Rabaul
By August Kawaguchi s unit had reached Truk and was loaded onto slow transport ships for the rest of the trip to Guadalcanal Because of the damage caused by Allied air attack to a separate troop convoy during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons the Japanese decided not to deliver Kawaguchi s troops to Guadalcanal by slow transport ship instead the ships carrying Kawaguchi s soldiers were sent to Rabaul From there the Japanese planned to deliver Kawaguchi s men to Guadalcanal by destroyers staging through a Japanese naval base in the Shortland Islands The Japanese destroyers were usually able to make the round trip down The Slot to Guadalcanal and back in a single night minimizing their exposure to Allied air attack However most of the soldiers heavy equipment and supplies such as heavy artillery vehicles and much food and ammunition could not be taken to Guadalcanal with them These high speed destroyer runs to Guadalcanal which occurred throughout the campaign were later called the Tokyo Express by Allied forces and Rat Transportation by the Japanese The Japanese controlled the seas around the Solomon Islands during the nighttime and were not challenged by the Allies However any Japanese ship remaining within the mi km range of the aircraft at Henderson Field in daylight was in great danger from air attacks This curious tactical situation held for several months
On August of Kawaguchi s troops were loaded onto the destroyers Asagiri Amagiri Yugiri and Shirakumo designated Destroyer Division DD Because of a shortage of fuel DD could not make the entire round trip to Guadalcanal at high speed in one night but had to start the trip earlier in the day so that they could complete the trip by the next morning at a slower speed which conserved fuel At that day US dive bombers from VMSB under the command of Lt Col Richard Mangrum flew from Henderson Field and located and attacked DD about mi km north of Guadalcanal sinking Asagiri and heavily damaging Yugiri and Shirakumo Amagiri took Shirakumo in tow and the three destroyers returned to the Shortlands without completing their mission The attack on DD killed of Kawaguchi s soldiers and crew members
Subsequent Express runs were more successful Between August and September various Japanese light cruisers destroyers and patrol boats were able to land almost troops at Taivu Point including all of the th Infantry Brigade one battalion of the Aoba Regiment and the rest of Ichiki s regiment General Kawaguchi who landed at Taivu Point on the August Express run was placed in command of all the Japanese troops on Guadalcanal On the night of September as three of the Express destroyers Ydachi Hatsuyuki and Murakumo prepared to shell Henderson Field after landing their troops they detected and sank two US ships in the vicinity the small old destroyer transports called APDs by the US Marines USS Little and Gregory that were used to shuttle Allied troops around the Guadalcanal Tulagi area
In spite of the successes of the destroyer runs Kawaguchi insisted that as many soldiers of his brigade as possible be delivered to Guadalcanal by slow barges Therefore a convoy carrying of Kawaguchi s troops and heavy equipment in barges mainly from the nd Battalion th Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Akinosuka Oka departed the northern coast of Santa Isabel Island on September On September aircraft from Henderson Field attacked the barge convoy killing about of the soldiers in the barges and destroying much of the unit s heavy equipment Most of the remaining troops were able to land near Kamimbo S E west of the Lunga perimeter over the next few days By September Kawaguchi had troops at Taivu Point and west of the Lunga perimeter Kawaguchi was confident enough that he could defeat the Allied forces facing him that he declined an offer from the th Army for delivery of one more infantry battalion to augment his forces Kawaguchi believed that there were only about US Marines on Guadalcanal
During this time Vandegrift continued to direct efforts to strengthen and improve the defenses of the Lunga perimeter Between August and September he relocated three Marine battalions including the st Raider Battalion under US Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A Edson Edson s Raiders and the st Parachute Battalion from Tulagi and Gavutu to Guadalcanal These units added about troops to Vandegrift s original men defending Henderson Field The st Parachute battalion which had suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu Tanambogo in August was placed under Edson s command
Kawaguchi set the date for his attack on the Lunga perimeter for September and began marching his forces west from Taivu towards Lunga Point on September He radioed th Army and requested that it carry out air strikes on Henderson Field beginning on September and that naval warships be stationed off Lunga Point on September to destroy any Americans who attempted to flee from the island On September Kawaguchi issued his attack plan to rout and annihilate the enemy in the vicinity of the Guadalcanal Island airfield Kawaguchi s plan called for his forces to split into three approach the Lunga perimeter inland and launch a surprise night attack Oka s force would attack the perimeter from the west while Ichiki s Second Echelon renamed the Kuma Battalion would attack from the east The main attack would be by Kawaguchi s Center Body numbering men in three battalions from the south of the Lunga perimeter By September most of Kawaguchi s troops had started marching from Taivu towards Lunga Point along the coastline About Japanese troops remained behind to guard the brigade s supply base at Taivu
Meanwhile native island scouts directed by British government official and officer in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defence Force Martin Clemens told the Marines of Japanese troops at Taivu near the village of Tasimboko about mi km east of Lunga Edson launched a raid against the Japanese troops at Taivu Destroyer transports USS McKean and Manley and two patrol boats took of Edson s men to Taivu in two trips Edson and his first wave of troops landed at Taivu at local time on September Supported by aircraft from Henderson Field and gunfire from the destroyer transports Edson s men advanced towards Tasimboko village but were slowed by Japanese resistance At the rest of Edson s men landed With this reinforcement and more support from the Henderson Field aircraft Edson s force pushed into the village The Japanese defenders believing a major landing was underway after observing the concurrent approach of an Allied supply ship convoy heading towards Lunga Point retreated into the jungle leaving behind dead Two Marines were killed
In Tasimboko Edson s troops discovered the supply base for Kawaguchi s forces including large stockpiles of food ammunition and medical supplies and a shortwave radio The Marines seized documents equipment and food supplies destroyed the rest and returned to the Lunga perimeter at The quantities of supplies and intelligence from the captured documents revealed that at least Japanese troops were on the island and apparently planning an attack
Edson and Colonel Gerald Thomas Vandegrift s operations officer believed that the Japanese attack would come at the Lunga Ridge a narrow grassy m yd long coral ridge S E parallel to the Lunga River just south of Henderson Field The ridge offered a natural avenue of approach to the airfield commanded the surrounding area and was almost undefended Edson and Thomas tried to persuade Vandegrift to move forces to defend the ridge but Vandegrift refused believing that the Japanese were more likely to attack along the coast Finally Thomas convinced Vandegrift that the ridge was a good location for Edson s Raiders to rest from their actions of the preceding month On September the men of Edson s unit including the st Raiders and the Paramarines deployed onto and around the ridge and prepared to defend it
Kawaguchi s Center Body of troops was planning to attack the Lunga perimeter at the ridge which they called the centipede mukade gata because of its shape On September Kawaguchi s troops left the coast at Koli Point Split into four columns they marched into the jungle towards their predesignated attack points south and southeast of the airfield Lack of good maps at least one faulty compass and thick almost impenetrable jungle caused the Japanese columns to proceed slowly and zigzag costing a lot of time At the same time Oka s troops approached the Lunga perimeter from the west Oka had some intelligence on the Marine defenses extracted from a US Army pilot captured on August
During the day of September Kawaguchi s troops struggled through the jungle toward their assembly points for that night s attacks Kawaguchi wanted his three Center Body battalions in place by but they did not reach their assembly areas until after Oka was also delayed in his advance towards the Marine lines in the west Only the Kuma battalion reported that they were in place on time Despite the problems in reaching the planned attack positions Kawaguchi was still confident in his attack plan because a captured US pilot disclosed that the ridge was the weakest part of the Marine defenses Japanese bombers attacked the ridge during daytime on September causing a few casualties including two killed
The Americans knew of the approach of the Japanese forces from reports from native scouts and their own patrols but did not know exactly where or when they would attack The ridge around which Edson deployed his men consisted of three distinct hillocks At the southern tip and surrounded on three sides by thick jungle was Hill so named because it rose ft m above sea level Six hundred yards north was Hill ft m high the dominant feature on the ridge The northernmost hillock was unnamed and about ft m high Edson placed the five companies from the Raider battalion on the west side of the ridge and the three Parachute battalion companies on the east side holding positions in depth from Hill back to Hill Two of the five Raider companies B and C held a line between the ridge a small swampy lagoon and the Lunga River Machine gun teams from E Company the heavy weapons company were scattered throughout the defenses Edson placed his command post on Hill
At on September the Japanese cruiser Sendai and three destroyers shelled the Lunga perimeter for minutes and illuminated the ridge with a searchlight Japanese artillery began shelling the Marine lines but did little damage At the same time scattered groups of Kawaguchi s troops began skirmishing with Marines around the ridge Kawaguchi s st Battalion led by Major Yukichi Kokusho attacked the Raider s C company between the lagoon and the Lunga River overrunning at least one platoon and forcing the Marine company to fall back to the ridge Kokusho s unit became entangled with troops from Kawaguchi s rd Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Kusukichi Watanabe who were still struggling to reach their attack positions and the resulting confusion effectively stopped the Japanese attack on the ridge that night Kawaguchi who was having trouble locating where he was in relation to the US Marine lines as well as coordinating his troops attacks later complained Due to the devilish jungle the brigade was scattered all over and was completely beyond my control In my whole life I have never felt so disappointed and helpless Twelve US Marines were killed Japanese casualties are unknown but perhaps somewhat greater Although both Oka in the west and the Kuma unit in the east tried to attack the Marine lines that night they failed to make contact and halted near the Marine lines at dawn
At first light on September Cactus Air Force aircraft and Marine artillery fired into the area just south of the ridge forcing any Japanese out in the open to seek cover in the nearby jungle The Japanese suffered several casualties including two officers from Watanabe s battalion At Kawaguchi decided to regroup his forces for another attack that night
Expecting the Japanese to attack again that night Edson directed his troops to improve their defenses on and around the ridge After a failed attempt by two companies to retake the ground on the Marine right flank lost to Kokusho the night before Edson repositioned his forces He pulled his front back about yd m to a line that stretched yd m starting at the Lunga River and crossing the ridge about yd m south of Hill Around and behind Hill he placed five companies Any Japanese attackers surmounting Hill would have to advance over yd m of open terrain to close with the Marine positions at Hill With only a few hours to prepare the Marines were only able to construct rudimentary and shallow fortifications They were low on ammunition with one or two grenades for each Marine Vandegrift ordered a reserve force consisting of the nd Battalion th Marine Regiment to move into a position just to the rear of Edson s troops In addition a battery of four mm howitzers from the th Marine Regiment moved to a location from where it could provide direct fire onto the ridge and a forward artillery observer was placed with Edson s front line units
Late in the afternoon Edson stepped onto a grenade box and addressed his exhausted troops saying
You men have done a great job and I have just one more thing to ask of you Hold out just one more night I know we ve been without sleep a long time But we expect another attack from them tonight and they may come through here I have every reason to believe that we will have reliefs here for all of us in the morning
Edson s speech raised the spirits of the Raiders and helped them prepare mentally for the night ahead
As the sun set on September Kawaguchi faced Edson s Marines with troops of his brigade plus an assortment of light artillery The night was pitch black with no moon At seven Japanese destroyers briefly bombarded the ridge Kawaguchi s attack began just after nightfall with Kokusho s battalion assaulting Raider Company B on the Marine right flank just to the west of the ridge The force of the assault caused Company B to fall back to Hill Under Marine artillery fire Kokusho reassembled his men and continued his attack Without pausing to try to roll up the other nearby Marine units whose flanks were now unprotected Kokusho s unit surged forward through the swampy lowlands between the ridge and the Lunga River heading for the airfield Kokusho s men came upon a pile of Marine supplies and rations Not having eaten adequately for a couple of days they paused to gorge themselves on the C and K rations Kokusho ordered his men to continue the attack At about he led them against the Marine units around the northern portion of the ridge just short of the airfield as well as Hill In the heavy fighting that followed Kokusho and around of his men were killed ending that attack
Meanwhile Kawaguchi s nd Battalion under Major Masao Tamura assembled for their planned assault against Hill from the jungle south of the ridge Marine observers spotted Tamura s preparations and called in artillery fire At about a barrage from twelve mm in guns hit Tamura s position In response two companies of Tamura s troops numbering about men charged up Hill with fixed bayonets behind their own barrage of mortar fire and grenades Tamura s attack hit Company B of the Marine Parachute battalion and also Raider Company B pushing the Parachutists off the east side of the ridge into a draw below the ridgeline To protect the exposed Raider Company B Edson immediately ordered them to pull back onto Hill
At the same time a Japanese company from Watanabe s battalion infiltrated through a gap between the east side of the ridge and Parachute Company C Deciding that their positions were now untenable Parachute Companies B and C climbed onto the ridge and retreated to a position behind Hill In the darkness and confusion of the battle the retreat quickly became confused and disorganized A few Marines began yelling that the Japanese were attacking with poison gas scaring other Marines who no longer possessed their gas masks After arriving behind Hill some of the Marines continued on towards the airfield repeating the word withdraw to anyone within earshot Other Marines began to follow them Just at the moment that it appeared that the Marines on the hill were about to break and head for the rear in a rout Edson Major Kenneth D Bailey from Edson s staff and other Marine officers appeared and with vivid language herded the Marines back into defensive positions around Hill
As the Marines formed into a horseshoe shaped line around Hill Tamura s battalion began a series of frontal assaults on the hill charging up the saddle from Hill and up from below the east side of the ridge Under the light of parachute flares dropped by at least one Japanese floatplane the Marines repulsed the first two attacks by Tamura s men Tamura s troops hoisted a mm in regimental gun to the top of Hill in an effort to fire it directly at the Marines This gun which could have turned the tide in favor of the Japanese however was disabled by a faulty firing pin At midnight during a short lull in the fighting Edson ordered Parachute Companies B and C to advance from behind Hill to strengthen his left flank With fixed bayonets the Paramarines swept forward killing Japanese soldiers who had overrun the Marine lines and were apparently preparing to roll up the Marine lines from the flank and took position on the east side of the hill Marines from other units as well as members of Edson s command staff including Major Bailey took ammunition and grenades under fire to the Marines around Hill who were running critically low Said Marine participant Captain William J McKennan The Japanese attack was almost constant like a rain that subsides for a moment and then pours the harder When one wave was mowed down and I mean mowed down another followed it into death
The Japanese hit Edson s left flank just after the Parachutists took position but were again stopped by Marine rifle machine gun mortar and grenade fire Marine mm and mm artillery was also taking a heavy toll on the attacking Japanese A captured Japanese soldier later said that his unit was annihilated by the Marine artillery fire which only of his company survived
By after withstanding several more assaults some of which resulted in hand to hand fighting and severe sniper fire from all sides Edson s men were joined by troops from the nd Battalion th Marine Regiment who helped repulse two more Japanese attacks before dawn Throughout the night as Kawaguchi s men came close to overrunning the Marine defenses Edson remained standing about yd m behind the Marine firing line on Hill exhorting his troops and directing their defensive efforts Said Marine Captain Tex Smith who was in position to observe Edson for most of the night I can say that if there is such a thing as one man holding a battalion together Edson did it that night He stood just behind the front lines stood when most of us hugged the ground
During the heavy fighting portions of three Japanese companies including two from Tamura s and one from Watanabe s battalions skirted the Marine defenses on the ridge while suffering heavy losses from Marine gunfire and reached the edge of Fighter One a secondary runway of Henderson Field A counterattack by the Marine engineers stopped one Japanese company s advances and forced it to retreat The other two companies waited at the edge of the jungle for reinforcements to arrive before attacking into the open area around the airfield When no reinforcements joined them both companies went back to their original positions south of the ridge after daybreak Most of the rest of Watanabe s battalion did not participate in the battle because they lost contact with their commander during the night
As the sun rose on September pockets of Japanese soldiers remained scattered along both sides of the ridge But with Tamura s battalion shattered after losing of its officers and men and with heavy casualties to his other attacking units as well Kawaguchi s assault on the ridge had effectively ended About Japanese soldiers still remained in the open on the south slope of Hill perhaps preparing for one more charge on Hill At first light three US Army aircraft from the th Fighter Squadron at Henderson Field acting on a request personally delivered by Bailey strafed the Japanese near Hill and killed most of them with the few survivors retreating back into the jungle
As the battle on the ridge took place Kawaguchi s Kuma and Oka units also attacked the Marine defenses on the east and west sides of the Lunga perimeter The Kuma battalion led by Major Takeshi Mizuno attacked the southeastern sector of the Lunga perimeter defended by Marines of the rd Battalion st Marine Regiment Mizuno s attack started around midnight with one company attacking through Marine artillery fire and engaging in hand to hand combat with the Marine defenders before being thrown back Mizuno was killed in the attack After daybreak the Marines believing that the rest of Mizuno s battalion was still in the area sent forward six light tanks without infantry support to sweep the area in front of the Marine lines four Japanese mm in anti tank guns destroyed or disabled three of them After abandoning their burning tanks several of the disabled tanks crewmembers were bayoneted and killed by the Japanese One tank tumbled down an embankment into the Tenaru River drowning its crew
At on September the remnants of the Kuma battalion conducted another attack on the same portion of the Marine lines but were repulsed A final weak attack by the Kuma unit on the evening of September was also defeated
Oka s unit of about men attacked the Marines at several locations on the west side of the Lunga perimeter At about on September two Japanese companies attacked positions held by the rd Battalion th Marine Regiment near the coast and were thrown back with heavy losses Another Japanese company captured a small ridge somewhat inland but was then pinned down by Marine artillery fire throughout the day and took heavy losses before withdrawing on the evening of September The rest of Oka s unit failed to find the Marine lines and did not participate in the attack
At on September Kawaguchi led the survivors of his shattered brigade away from the ridge and deeper into the jungle where they rested and tended to their wounded all the next day Kawaguchi s units were then ordered to withdraw west to the Matanikau River valley to join with Oka s unit a mi km march over difficult terrain Kawaguchi s troops began the march on the morning of September Almost every soldier able to walk had to help carry the wounded As the march progressed the exhausted and hungry soldiers who had eaten their last rations on the morning before their withdrawal began to discard their heavy equipment and then their rifles By the time most of them reached Oka s positions at Kokumbona five days later only half still carried their weapons The Kuma battalion s survivors attempting to follow Kawaguchi s Center Body forces became lost wandered for three weeks in the jungle and almost starved to death before finally reaching Kawaguchi s camp
In total Kawaguchi s forces lost about killed in the attack including in Tamura s battalion in Kokusho s battalion in Oka s force in the Kuma battalion and in Watanabe s battalion An unknown number of wounded also died during the withdrawal march to the Matanikau On and around the ridge the Marines counted Japanese dead including on the slopes of Hill The Marines suffered killed between and September
On September Vandegrift sent two companies from the st Battalion st Marine Regiment to pursue the retreating Japanese The Marines were ambushed by two Japanese companies acting as rear guards for the withdrawal and one Marine platoon was pinned down as the rest of the Marines retreated The Marine company commander requested permission to attempt to rescue his platoon but was denied by Vandegrift By nightfall the Japanese overran and nearly annihilated the platoon killing Marines with only a few wounded members of the platoon surviving On September a patrol from Edson s Raiders encountered stragglers from Kawaguchi s retreating column and called in artillery fire that killed of them
As the Japanese regrouped west of the Matanikau the US forces concentrated on shoring up and strengthening their Lunga defenses On September Vandegrift moved another battalion the rd Battalion nd Marine Regiment from Tulagi to Guadalcanal On September an Allied naval convoy delivered men from the rd Provisional Marine Brigade the US th Marine Regiment augmented by additional support units to Guadalcanal These reinforcements allowed Vandegrift beginning on September to establish an unbroken line of defense around the Lunga perimeter Vandegrift s forces next significant clashes with the Japanese occurred along the Matanikau River from September and October
On September General Hyakutake at Rabaul learned of Kawaguchi s defeat the Imperial Japanese Army s first defeat involving a unit of this size in the war The general forwarded the news to the Imperial General Headquarters in Japan In an emergency session the top Japanese army and navy command staffs concluded that Guadalcanal might develop into the decisive battle of the war The results of the battle began to have a telling strategic impact on Japanese operations in other areas of the Pacific Hyakutake realized that in order to send sufficient troops and materiel to defeat the Allied forces on Guadalcanal he could no longer support the major Japanese offensive on the Kokoda Track in New Guinea Hyakutake with the concurrence of the General Headquarters ordered his troops on New Guinea who were within mi km of their objective of Port Moresby to withdraw until the Guadalcanal matter was resolved The Japanese were never able to restart their drive towards Port Moresby the defeat at Edson s Ridge contributed not only to Japan s defeat in the Guadalcanal campaign but also to Japan s ultimate defeat throughout the South Pacific
After delivering more forces during the next month the Japanese mounted a major ground offensive on Guadalcanal led by Hyakutake in late October at the Battle for Henderson Field but it resulted in an even more decisive defeat for the Japanese Vandegrift later stated that Kawaguchi s assault on the ridge in September was the only time during the entire campaign he had doubts about the outcome and that had it succeeded we would have been in a pretty bad condition Historian Richard B Frank adds The Japanese never came closer to victory on the island itself than in September on a ridge thrusting up from the jungle just south of the critical airfield best known ever after as Bloody Ridge
Route is a state highway in the southern part of the US state of New Jersey It runs mi km from an intersection with US Route US and the Garden State Parkway in Upper Township Cape May County to an intersection with US and County Route CR in Egg Harbor City Atlantic County The route which is mostly a two lane undivided road passes through mostly rural areas of Atlantic and Cape May counties as well as the communities of Tuckahoe Corbin City Estell Manor and Mays Landing NJ intersects several roads including Route in Tuckahoe US in Mays Landing and US and the Atlantic City Expressway in Hamilton Township
The portion of current Route between Seaville and Petersburg received funding in to become a spur of the Ocean Highway In what is now Route was designated a part of pre Route a route that was to run from Cape May to Egg Harbor City Route was designated onto its current alignment in replacing this portion of pre Route In a freeway was proposed for Route running from the Garden State Parkway in Dennis Township to US in Mullica Township This proposal was canceled by the mid s due to financial and environmental concerns as well as lack of traffic The interchange between Route and the Atlantic City Expressway was reconstructed into a full interchange with completion in June
Route begins at an intersection with US in the Seaville section of Upper Township Cape May County heading to the north on a two lane undivided road From the southern terminus a ramp provides access to and from the southbound Garden State Parkway The road heads north through mostly rural wooded areas with some buildings It intersects CR in Greenfield before coming to a junction with CR Later Route Cedar Swamp Creek in an area of marshland At this crossing the road runs closely parallel to a Conrail Shared Assets Operations railroad line before entering Petersburg where it splits from the railroad tracks and comes to a crossroad with CR Upon leaving Petersburg Route turns to the north again and crosses over the Conrail Shared Assets Operations railroad line intersecting CR It continues to Tuckahoe and comes to CR Past this intersection the route meets CR and CR Route forms a concurrency with CR and the two routes head north and encounter the eastern terminus of Route before leaving Tuckahoe
Not far after Route the road crosses the Tuckahoe River into Corbin City Atlantic County In Corbin City it heads into residential areas with CR looping to the west of the route Route and CR continue northwest and intersect CR where the road turns north into more forested areas At the junction with CR the route turns to the northeast and enters Estell Manor becoming Broad Street CR splits from Route by heading northwest on Buena Tuckahoe Road and Route heads through some agricultural clearings concurrent with CR Truck passing to the west of the MacNamara Wildlife Area which is known as a breeding ground for several species of birds The route intersects CR turning to the northeast
After passing some homes and Stephen Lake the road turns to the north and passes to the west of Estell Manor County Park The route crosses the South River into Weymouth Township passing the residential community of Belcoville to the east and meeting CR It soon enters Hamilton Township where the name of the road becomes Mill Street and it comes to a junction with US Harding Highway CR Truck heads to the west on US at this point while Route heads east on US and CR continues north
US and NJ follow the Harding Highway a two lane undivided road turning to the northeast and crossing the Great Egg Harbor River Upon passing over the river enters Mays Landing and turns north encountering CR before passing over an abandoned railroad line and heading into the downtown area of Mays Landing Here the road crosses CR and US splits from NJ by turning east along that road Meanwhile Route continues north on Cape May Avenue passing through developed areas It leaves Mays Landing and heads into back into forests The route turns to the northeast passing near the Clover Leaf Lakes residential development before coming to an interchange with US Black Horse Pike
Past this interchange Route widens to a four lane divided highway and reaches a full interchange with the Atlantic City Expressway The route becomes a two lane undivided road again and continues through inhabited areas crossing into Galloway Township where there is an intersection with CR A short distance later the road crosses New Jersey Transit s Atlantic City Line near the Egg Harbor City Station and enters Egg Harbor City turning into Philadelphia Avenue A block after the railroad crossing Route ends at an intersection with US and CR White Horse Pike with CR continuing north on Philadelphia Avenue at this point
Route is an important route linking the Atlantic City Expressway with the Jersey Shore resorts in Cape May County serving as an alternate to more congested routes It also serves as evacuation route from Cape May County to inland areas in the event of a hurricane
The portion of current Route between Seaville and Petersburg received funding to become a spur of the Ocean Highway in The modern day alignment of Route was legislated as part of pre Route in a route that was to run from Cape May to Egg Harbor City In the New Jersey state highway renumbering the portion of pre Route between Seaville and Egg Harbor City was designated as Route the highest state route number assigned in the renumbering Route retained its current routing in the New Jersey state highway renumbering A freeway was proposed for Route around running from the Garden State Parkway in Dennis Township north to US in Mullica Township This proposed freeway was intended to provide economic development to the region as well as provide a better route to the Jersey Shore resorts of Cape May County for travelers from the Delaware Valley However this freeway was canceled by the mid s due to financial and environmental concerns as well as lack of traffic along Route On November construction began on making the interchange with the Atlantic City Expressway a full interchange as part of a series of improvements set for the Atlantic City Expressway This project was completed on June
Air Rhodesia Flight was a scheduled passenger flight that was shot down by the Zimbabwe People s Revolutionary Army ZIPRA on September during the Rhodesian Bush War The aircraft involved a Vickers Viscount named the Hunyani was flying the last leg of Air Rhodesia s regular scheduled service from Victoria Falls to the capital Salisbury via the resort town of Kariba
Soon after Flight took off a group of ZIPRA guerrillas scored a direct hit on its starboard wing with a Soviet made Strela surface to air infrared homing missile critically damaging the aircraft and forcing an emergency landing An attempted belly landing in a cotton field just west of Karoi was foiled by an unseen ditch which caused the plane to cartwheel and break up Of the passengers and four crew died in this crash the insurgents then approached the wreckage rounded up the survivors they could see and massacred them with automatic gunfire Three passengers survived by hiding in the surrounding bush while a further five lived because they had gone to look for water before the guerrillas arrived
ZIPRA leader Joshua Nkomo publicly claimed responsibility for shooting down the Hunyani in an interview with the BBC s Today programme the same evening saying the aircraft had been used for military purposes but denied that his men had killed survivors on the ground The majority of Rhodesians both black and white saw the attack as an act of terrorism A fierce white Rhodesian backlash followed against perceived enemies with many whites becoming violently resentful and suspicious of blacks in general even though few black Rhodesians supported attacks of this kind Reports viewing the attack negatively appeared in international journals such as Time magazine but there was almost no acknowledgement of it by overseas governments much to the Rhodesian government s indignation
Talks between Nkomo and Prime Minister Ian Smith which had been progressing promisingly were immediately suspended by the furious Rhodesians with Smith calling Nkomo a monster On September Smith announced the extension of martial law over selected areas The Rhodesian Security Forces launched several retaliatory strikes into Zambia and Mozambique over the following months attacking both ZIPRA and its rival the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army ZANLA The attack on ZIPRA in particular brought great controversy as many of those killed were refugees camping in and around guerrilla positions Five months later in February ZIPRA shot down Air Rhodesia Flight another civilian flight in an almost identical incident
A dispute over the terms for the granting of full sovereignty to the self governing colony of Rhodesia or Southern Rhodesia led the colonial government headed by Prime Minister Ian Smith to unilaterally declare independence from the United Kingdom on November The idea of no independence before majority rule had recently gained ground in Britain and elsewhere amid decolonisation and Rhodesia s government was dominated by the country s white minority so the unilateral declaration went unrecognised internationally Britain and the United Nations imposed economic sanctions on Rhodesia
Two rival communist backed black nationalist groups initiated military campaigns to overthrow the government and introduce majority rule the Chinese aligned Zimbabwe African National Union ZANU mostly comprising Shonas created the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army ZANLA and adopted aspects of Maoist doctrine while the Ndebele dominated Zimbabwe African People s Union ZAPU aligned with Soviet style Marxism Leninism and the Warsaw Pact mobilised the Zimbabwe People s Revolutionary Army ZIPRA These guerrilla armies proceeded to wage what they called the Second Chimurenga against the Rhodesian government and security forces The resulting conflict the Rhodesian Bush War began in earnest in December when ZANLA attacked Altena and Whistlefield Farms in north eastern Rhodesia
After the security forces mounted a successful counter insurgency campaign during and developments overseas caused the conflict s momentum to shift in the insurgents favour The leftist Carnation Revolution of April caused Portugal to withdraw its key economic support for Smith s administration and led to Mozambique s independence the following year as a communist state openly allied with ZANU Around the same time Rhodesia s other main backer South Africa adopted a dtente initiative that forced a ceasefire giving the guerrillas time to regroup Following the abortive Victoria Falls Conference of August Smith and the ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo held unsuccessful talks between December and March ZANU and ZAPU announced in October during the run up to the unsuccessful Geneva Conference in December that they would henceforth attend conferences as a joint Patriotic Front
In March Smith and non militant nationalist groups headed by Bishop Abel Muzorewa the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and Chief Jeremiah Chirau agreed what became the Internal Settlement This created a joint black white transitional government with the country due to be reconstituted as Zimbabwe Rhodesia in June pursuant to multiracial elections ZANU and ZAPU were invited to participate but refused Nkomo sardonically dubbed Smith s black colleagues the blacksmiths ZANU proclaimed to be The Year of the People as the war continued Officials from Muzorewa s United African National Council sent to the provinces to explain the Internal Settlement to rural blacks were killed by Marxist Leninist guerrillas Insurgents also began to target Christian missionaries climaxing in the killing of nine British missionaries and four children at Elim Mission near the Mozambican border on June
The transitional government was badly received abroad partly because the Internal Settlement kept control of law enforcement the military the judiciary and the civil service under white control No country recognised Rhodesia s interim administration Smith again worked to bring Nkomo into the government hoping this would lend it some credence domestically prompt diplomatic recognition overseas and help the security forces defeat ZANLA Starting on August he attended secret meetings with Nkomo in Lusaka Zambia where ZAPU was based doing so with the assistance of the mining corporation Lonrho Attempts were made to also involve the ZANU leader Robert Mugabe but Mugabe would have no part in the talks According to the South African military historian Jakkie Cilliers negotiations between Smith and Nkomo progressed well and seemed on the verge of success by the start of September On September Smith and Nkomo revealed publicly that the secret meetings had taken place
Rhodesian air traffic was not seriously threatened until about in the latter stages of the war before this time neither revolutionary force had the weapons to launch a viable attack against an aerial target The weapon that made such attacks feasible for ZIPRA was the Strela shoulder launched surface to air missile launcher supplied by the Soviet Union from the mid s as part of the Warsaw Pact s materiel support By September there had been reported attempts to shoot down Rhodesian military aircraft using these weapons none of which had been successful Some Rhodesian Air Force Dakotas had been hit but all had survived and landed safely No civilian aircraft had yet been targeted during the Bush War
Air Rhodesia was the country s national airline established by the government on September to succeed Central African Airways which was dissolved at the end of that year Based at Salisbury Airport Air Rhodesia s flight network during the late s comprised a domestic programme of passenger and cargo flights as well as international services to the South African cities of Johannesburg and Durban
The Flight aircraft was a Vickers Viscount D a British made turboprop aircraft with two engines on each wing It was named the Hunyani after the river of the same name which flowed between Lake Kariba and the Rhodesian capital Salisbury
The Hunyani was on the second and final leg of its regular scheduled journey between Victoria Falls and Salisbury stopping over in the resort town of Kariba Despite the occasional rocket and mortar attacks launched on Kariba by ZIPRA guerrillas on the northern side of the Zambezi in Zambia the resort had endured as one of Rhodesia s choice tourist destinations The flight on September Sunday afternoon from Kariba to Salisbury carried four crew members and passengers most of whom were holidaymakers from Salisbury returning home after a weekend at the lake The flight took off from Kariba Airport on schedule soon after Central Africa Time
Flight was piloted by year old Captain John Hood a native of Bulawayo who had gained his commercial pilot licence in He had flown Viscounts for Air Rhodesia since and had also served in the Rhodesian Air Force on a voluntary basis His first officer Garth Beaumont was years old and had lived in Rhodesia for most of his life having immigrated as a child from South Africa The two air stewardesses were Dulcie Esterhuizen years old and from Bulawayo and year old Louise Pearson from Salisbury
A group of ZIPRA guerrillas armed with a Strela launcher waited in the bush beneath Flight s flightpath and fired on the Hunyani about five minutes after it took off while the aircraft was still in the climb phase of its flight The heat seeking missile hit the plane s starboard wing and exploded causing the inner engine to also explode A fuel tank and hydraulic lines ruptured creating a fire that the passengers and crew could not put out The second starboard engine failed almost immediately leaving Hood with only his two port engines Heaving wildly the Hunyani began to descend rapidly
At Captain Hood sent a distress call to air traffic control informing them that he had lost the two starboard engines and was going to crash We re going in he radioed Telling his passengers to brace for an emergency landing he aimed for an open field of cotton in the Whamira Hills in the bush to the west of Karoi intending to belly land the craft The landing was relatively stable until the Hunyani hit a previously unseen ditch cartwheeled and exploded The remaining fuel tanks ruptured and caught fire setting the wrecked cabin ablaze
Of the people on board including Hood and Beaumont died in the crash Eighteen survived albeit with injuries and climbed out of the wreckage After briefly settling the others one of the passengers Dr Cecil MacLaren led four others young newlyweds Robert and Shannon Hargreaves Mrs Sharon Coles and her four year old daughter Tracey off in the direction of a nearby village in search of water The other remained close to the wreckage Meanwhile nine guerrillas made their way towards the crash site and reached it at about Three of the survivors remaining at the crash site hid on seeing figures approaching Rhodesian Army reservist Anthony Hill took cover in the surrounding bush while businessman Hans Hansen and his wife Diana did the same This left passengers in full view near the wreckage including four women and two girls aged and
The guerrillas who were armed with AK rifles presented themselves to the passengers as friendly saying they would summon help and bring water They spoke in English both to the survivors and among themselves They told the passengers to congregate around a point a few metres from the wreckage when the survivors said that some of them were too badly injured to walk the insurgents told the able bodied men to carry the others The passengers were assembled into an area of about square metres sq ft Standing roughly metres ft away the cadres now raised their weapons You have taken our land one of them said Please don t shoot us one of the passengers cried just before they were killed by a sustained burst of automatic gunfire
Having collected water from the nearby village MacLaren and his companions were almost back at the crash site when they heard the shots Thinking it was personal ammunition in the luggage exploding in the heat they continued on their way and called out to the other passengers who they thought were still alive This alerted the insurgents to the presence of more survivors one of the guerrillas told MacLaren s group to come here The insurgents then opened fire on their general location prompting MacLaren and the others to flee Hill and the Hansens also ran they revealed their positions to the fighters in their haste but successfully hid themselves behind a ridge After Hill and the others had hidden there for about two hours they saw the attackers return to the crash site at about The guerrillas looted the wrecked cabin and some of the suitcases strewn around the site filled their arms with various passengers belongings then left again
The survivors were found over the following days by the Rhodesian Army and police Hill and Mr and Mrs Hansen were taken to Kariba Hospital while MacLaren and his group were airlifted to Andrew Fleming Hospital in Salisbury
Nkomo claimed responsibility for the attack in an interview with the BBC s Today radio programme the next day laughing as he did so to the horror of most Rhodesian observers both black and white He said that he had received intelligence that the Hunyani was being used for military purposes Nkomo said he regretted the deaths as it was not his party s policy to kill civilians and denied that his men had killed any survivors on the ground by contrast he said that his men had helped them and had left them alive He also accused Air Rhodesia of surreptitiously hauling troops and war materiel for the government an allegation that Captain Pat Travers Air Rhodesia s general manager called a downright deliberate lie
According to Eliakim Sibanda a professor and human rights speaker who wrote a history of ZAPU Nkomo was implying that responsibility for the massacre actually lay with security force pseudo guerrillas more specifically the mixed race Selous Scouts unit which had often been accused of brutalising rural civilians with the goal of shifting public opinion Sibanda asserts that the massacre cannot be put beyond the Scouts and also supports Nkomo s claim that the Hunyani had been used militarily suggesting that ZIPRA might have believed there to be Rhodesian soldiers on board Rhodesian television before attacks on ZANLA in Mozambique had shown Viscounts ferrying paratroopers for the job he writes and ZIPRA intelligence knew there were paratroopers stationed at Victoria Falls
A report published in the American magazine Time a fortnight later described the incident as a genuine horror story calculated to make the most alarming of Rhodesian doomsday prophecies seem true Indeed the white community in Rhodesia heard the news with fury and many turned their minds to exacting retribution for what they and many others saw as an act of terrorism The prominent Indian Rhodesian Gulab family was particularly affected by the incident having lost eight members in the attack Though Rhodesian authorities did not immediately acknowledge the cause of the crash doing so only after four days investigation the truth was common knowledge in Salisbury within hours Smith wrote in his memoirs that the degree of anger was difficult to control White South Africans were similarly enraged particularly after reports appeared in the South African press that the killers had raped the female passengers before massacring them A Friends of Rhodesia Society in South Africa offered a reward of R to anybody who would either kill Nkomo or bring him to Salisbury to stand trial
Geoffrey Nyarota who was then one of the few black reporters at the Rhodesia Herald newspaper later wrote in his memoirs that many whites became resentful and wary towards blacks in general believing them all to be terrorist sympathisers Describing the Herald newsroom the night of the incident he relates a vile collective temper among the white sub editors They cursed until their voices became hoarse threatening dire consequences for all terrs and munts or kaffirs I sensed that some of the more derogatory remarks made in unnecessarily loud voices that evening were meant specifically for my ears
Several racially motivated incidents occurred over the following days According to the Time article a group of whites entered an unsegregated Salisbury bar fingering the triggers of rifles and forced blacks drinking there to leave Time also reported a rumour that two white youths on learning of the massacre shot the first black man they saw Smith says that several would be vigilante groups sought his permission to venture into the bush around the crash site to make the local people pay for their crime of harbouring and assisting the terrorists He instructed them not to according to his memoirs telling them that many rural blacks only assisted the guerrillas under extreme duress and that it would not do to attack them Many Rhodesians also resented the apparent lack of sympathy emanating from overseas governments especially considering the character of the attack and its civilian target
At a memorial service held on September for Flight s passengers and crew at Salisbury s Anglican Cathedral about people crowded inside with another standing outside on the steps and pavement many listening to the service inside on portable radio sets Prominent among those present in the cathedral were uniformed Air Rhodesia and South African Airways personnel as well as Rhodesian Special Air Service soldiers and senior officers from other military units Smith and several government ministers also attended including P K van der Byl the co Minister of Foreign Affairs
Dean John de Costa gave a sermon damning what he described as a deafening silence from overseas Nobody who holds sacred the dignity of human life can be anything but sickened at the events attending the Viscount he said But are we deafened with the voice of protest from nations who call themselves civilised We are not Like men in the story of the Good Samaritan they pass by on the other side The ghastliness of this ill fated flight from Kariba will be burnt upon our memories for years to come For others far from our borders it is an intellectual matter not one which affects them deeply Here is the tragedy
The talks between Smith and the ZAPU leader that had been progressing so promisingly were immediately halted by Salisbury Smith himself called Nkomo a monster Cilliers comments that the ending of the Smith Nkomo talks at this time was potentially the most serious result of the Viscount massacre as the talks had been progressing well before the incident He surmises that an agreement between the two at this critical stage might have helped the transitional Rhodesian government to secure international recognition
On September the Prime Minister announced to the nation that certain areas of the country would be placed under a variation of martial law which he said would be applied in particular regions as and when needed He declared Rhodesia s intent to liquidate the internal workings of those organisations associated with terrorism and warned neighbouring countries to prepare for any defensive strikes we might undertake against guerrilla bases in their respective territories He claimed that the war had escalated because Britain and the United States were supporting the Patriotic Front William Irvine the co Minister of Transport warned the guerrillas that Rhodesia w ould not let these innocents go unavenged
Because ZAPU and ZIPRA were based in Zambia many Rhodesians clamoured for a massive retaliatory strike against terrorist targets in that country but the first external target hit by the security forces following the Viscount shootdown was the prominent cluster of ZANLA bases around Chimoio in Mozambique The Rhodesian military had struck these bases extensively in November during Operation Dingo destroying much of the ZANLA presence there but the insurgents had since built a complex called New Chimoio slightly to the east the new camps were distributed across a far larger area than the originals In a combined airborne ground assault called Operation Snoopy the Rhodesian Air Force Rhodesian Light Infantry and Special Air Service wiped out much of New Chimoio on September Mozambique sent armour to ZANLA s aid in the form of nine Soviet made T tanks and four Russian BTR armoured personnel carriers but the former were routed and one of the latter destroyed by the Rhodesian security forces According to Rhodesian figures there were several hundred guerrillas killed while the security forces lost only two soldiers one of whom was accidentally killed by a friendly air strike
Rhodesia then attacked ZIPRA s bases in Zambia in what Group Captain Peter Petter Bowyer later described as payback time for Flight Operation Gatling launched on October was another joint force operation between the Air Force and the Army which contributed Special Air Service and Rhodesian Light Infantry paratroopers Gatling s primary target just kilometres miles north east of central Lusaka was the formerly white owned Westlands Farm which had been transformed into ZIPRA s main headquarters and training base under the name Freedom Camp ZIPRA presumed that Rhodesia would never dare to attack a site so close to Lusaka About guerrillas underwent training at Freedom Camp with senior ZIPRA staff also on site The Rhodesian operation s other targets were Chikumbi kilometres miles north of Lusaka and Mkushi Camp all three were to be attacked more or less simultaneously in a coordinated sweep across Zambia Assaulting targets deep inside Zambia was a first for the Rhodesian forces previously only guerrillas near the border had been attacked
Led by Squadron Leader Chris Dixon who identified himself to Lusaka Airport tower as Green Leader a Rhodesian Air Force group flew into Zambia at very low altitudes thereby avoiding Zambian radar and took control of the country s airspace for about a quarter of an hour during the initial assault on Westlands Farm informing Lusaka tower that the attack was against Rhodesian dissidents and not against Zambia and that Rhodesian Hawker Hunters were circling the Zambian airfields under orders to shoot down any fighter that attempted to take off The Zambians obeyed all of Green Leader s instructions made no attempt to resist and temporarily halted civil air traffic Using Rufunsa airstrip in eastern Zambia as a forward base the Rhodesian military suffered only minor casualties during the three day operation and afterwards claimed to have killed over ZIPRA personnel as well as some Cuban instructors
Historians Paul Moorcraft and Peter McLaughlin write that this exaggerated considerably the actual number of guerrillas killed as most of Nkomo s army then numbering about fighters had not been touched On the other hand unarmed refugees often camped in or around insurgent positions and hundreds of these had been killed in the Rhodesian raid Moorcraft and McLaughlin comment that for the Rhodesian airmen it would have been impossible to distinguish innocent refugees from young ZIPRA recruits Sibanda describes Freedom Camp as a refugee camp for boys and says boys and girls were killed He claims that the Red Cross and the UN Refugee Agency confirmed ZAPU s claim that Smith s forces struck at defenseless civilian trainees
The Rhodesian attacks on ZANLA and ZIPRA bases did much to restore white morale following the Viscount incident though they had not actually made much impact on the respective guerrilla campaigns Nkomo and the Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda all the same requested further military aid and better weapons from the Soviets and the British respectively Martial law was quickly extended across Rhodesia s rural areas and covered three quarters of the country by the end of Air Rhodesia meanwhile began developing anti Strela shielding for its Viscounts Before this work was completed ZIPRA shot down a second Viscount Air Rhodesia Flight on February This time there were no survivors
Following the second shootdown Air Rhodesia created a system whereby the underside of the Viscounts would be coated with low radiation paint with the exhaust pipes concurrently shrouded According to tests conducted by the Air Force a Viscount so treated could not be detected by the Strela s targeting system once it was over feet m There were no further Viscount shootdowns in Rhodesia
In the elections held the following year under the Internal Settlement terms boycotted by ZANU and ZAPU Muzorewa won a majority and became the first Prime Minister of the reconstituted majority ruled state of Zimbabwe Rhodesia on June This new order failed to win international acceptance however and in December the Lancaster House Agreement was agreed in London by Zimbabwe Rhodesia the UK government and the Patriotic Front returning the country to its former colonial status The UK government suspended the constitution and took direct control for an interim period Fresh elections were won by Mugabe who took power in April concurrently with the country s recognised independence as Zimbabwe
In modern Zimbabwe it is not the Viscount shootdowns but rather the retributory Rhodesian strikes against nationalist guerrilla camps that endure predominantly in the cultural memory State media in Zimbabwe prominently the Herald newspaper often claim that Rhodesian forces indiscriminately and deliberately slaughtered thousands of helpless refugees during such operations ZIPRA s downing of civilian planes is meanwhile portrayed as a legitimate act of war on the grounds that the guerrillas might have believed them to have military personnel or equipment on board The massacre of surviving Flight passengers at the crash site is often omitted or attributed to forces other than ZIPRA in his memoirs Nkomo repeated his claim that ZIPRA fighters had helped the survivors and wrote simply that I truly have no idea how the ten died
A monument to those killed in the Rhodesian attack on Chikumbi was built in Zambia in and dedicated jointly by the Zambian and Zimbabwean governments A memorial to the victims of the two Rhodesian Viscount incidents dubbed the Viscount Memorial was erected on the grounds of the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria South Africa in and inaugurated on September that year The names of the dead passengers and crew are engraved on two granite slabs that stand upright side by side the pair topped by an emblem symbolising an aircraft A pole beside the monument flies the Rhodesian flag
A British parliamentary motion put forward by Labour MP Kate Hoey in February to retrospectively condemn the Viscount attacks and memorialise the victims on the anniversary of the second shootdown prompted outcry in the Zimbabwean press with the Herald branding it a racist Rhodie motion intended to antagonise the Mugabe administration and its supporters Dumiso Dabengwa a former ZIPRA commander described the move as a provocation motivated by race that went against the spirit of the amnesty enacted at Lancaster House Christopher Mutsvangwa a diplomat and political analyst took a similar line calling Hoey s proposed commemoration a provocation that means they only regard the death of white people alone during the struggle There is no mention of what happened to our sons and daughters in and outside the country ZAPU s official response to Hoey s motion included the assertion that in all conflicts civilians get caught up in cross fires due to faulty intelligence reports and other communication errors and juxtaposed the civilians killed in the Viscount shootdowns with those killed at Chikumbi
Tikal tikl Tik al in modern Mayan orthography is the ruins of an ancient city found in a rainforest in Guatemala Ambrosio Tut a gum sapper reported the ruins to La Gaceta a Guatemalan newspaper which named the site Tikal After the Berlin Academy of Sciences magazine republished the report in archeologists and treasure hunters began visiting the forest Today tourism to the site may help protect the rainforest It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre Columbian Maya civilization It is located in the archaeological region of the Petn Basin in what is now northern Guatemala Situated in the department of El Petn the site is part of Guatemala s Tikal National Park and in it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the th century BC Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period c to AD During this time the city dominated much of the Maya region politically economically and militarily while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico There is evidence that Tikal was conquered by Teotihuacan in the th century AD Following the end of the Late Classic Period no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned These events were coupled with a gradual population decline culminating with the site s abandonment by the end of the th century
Tikal is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities with a long dynastic ruler list the discovery of the tombs of many of the rulers on this list and the investigation of their monuments temples and palaces
The name Tikal may be derived from ti ak al in the Yucatec Maya language it is said to be a relatively modern name meaning at the waterhole The name was apparently applied to one of the site s ancient reservoirs by hunters and travelers in the region It has alternatively been interpreted as meaning the place of the voices in the Itza Maya language Tikal however is not the ancient name for the site but rather the name adopted shortly after its discovery in the s Hieroglyphic inscriptions at the ruins refer to the ancient city as Yax Mutal or Yax Mutul meaning First Mutal Tikal may have come to have been called this because Dos Pilas also came to use the same emblem glyph the rulers of the city presumably wanted to distinguish themselves as the first city to bear the name The kingdom as a whole was simply called Mutul which is the reading of the hair bundle emblem glyph seen in the accompanying photo Its precise meaning remains obscure
The closest large modern settlements are Flores and Santa Elena approximately kilometres mi by road to the southwest Tikal is approximately kilometres mi north of Guatemala City It is kilometres mi south of the contemporary Maya city of Uaxactun and kilometres mi northwest of Yaxha The city was located kilometres mi southeast of its great Classic Period rival Calakmul and kilometres mi northwest of Calakmul s ally Caracol now in Belize
The city has been completely mapped and covered an area greater than square kilometres sq mi that included about structures The topography of the site consists of a series of parallel limestone ridges rising above swampy lowlands The major architecture of the site is clustered upon areas of higher ground and linked by raised causeways spanning the swamps The area around Tikal has been declared as the Tikal National Park and the preserved area covers square kilometres sq mi
The ruins lie among the tropical rainforests of northern Guatemala that formed the cradle of lowland Maya civilization The city itself was located among abundant fertile upland soils and may have dominated a natural east west trade route across the Yucatan Peninsula Conspicuous trees at the Tikal park include gigantic kapok Ceiba pentandra the sacred tree of the Maya tropical cedar Cedrela odorata and Honduras mahogany Swietenia macrophylla Regarding the fauna agouti white nosed coatis gray foxes Geoffroy s spider monkeys howler monkeys harpy eagles falcons ocellated turkeys guans toucans green parrots and leafcutter ants can be seen there regularly Jaguars jaguarundis and cougars are also said to roam in the park For centuries this city was completely covered under jungle The average annual rainfall at Tikal is millimetres in
One of the largest of the Classic Maya cities Tikal had no water other than what was collected from rainwater and stored in ten reservoirs Archaeologists working in Tikal during the th century refurbished one of these ancient reservoirs to store water for their own use
The Tikal National Park covers an area of square kilometres sq mi It was created on May under the auspices of the Instituto de Antropologa e Historia and was the first protected area in Guatemala
Population estimates for Tikal vary from to as high as inhabitants with the most likely figure being at the upper end of this range
The population of Tikal began a continuous curve of growth starting in the Preclassic Period approximately BC AD with a peak in the Late Classic with the population growing rapidly from AD through to followed by a sharp decline For the square kilometres sq mi area falling within the earthwork defenses of the hinterland the peak population is estimated at per square kilometer per square mile In an area within a kilometres mi radius of the site core peak population is estimated at population density is estimated at per square kilometer per square mile In a region within a kilometres mi radius of the site core and including some satellite sites peak population is estimated at with a density of per square kilometer per square mile These population figures are even more impressive because of the extensive swamplands that were unsuitable for habitation or agriculture However some archaeologists such as David Webster believe these figures to be far too high
The dynastic line of Tikal founded as early as the st century AD spanned years and included at least rulers
There are traces of early agriculture at the site dating as far back as BC in the Middle Preclassic A cache of Mamon ceramics dating from about BC were found in a sealed chultun a subterranean bottle shaped chamber
Major construction at Tikal was already taking place in the Late Preclassic period first appearing around BC including the building of major pyramids and platforms although the city was still dwarfed by sites further north such as El Mirador and Nakbe At this time Tikal participated in the widespread Chikanel culture that dominated the Central and Northern Maya areas at this time a region that included the entire Yucatan Peninsula including northern and eastern Guatemala and all of Belize
Two temples dating to Late Chikanel times had masonry walled superstructures that may have been corbel vaulted although this has not been proven One of these had elaborate paintings on the outer walls showing human figures against a scrollwork background painted in yellow black pink and red
In the st century AD rich burials first appeared and Tikal underwent a political and cultural florescence as its giant northern neighbors declined At the end of the Late Preclassic the Izapan style art and architecture from the Pacific Coast began to influence Tikal as demonstrated by a broken sculpture from the acropolis and early murals at the city
Dynastic rulership among the lowland Maya is most deeply rooted at Tikal According to later hieroglyphic records the dynasty was founded by Yax Moch Xoc perhaps in the rd century AD At the beginning of the Early Classic power in the Maya region was concentrated at Tikal and Calakmul in the core of the Maya heartland
Tikal may have benefited from the collapse of the large Preclassic states such as El Mirador In the Early Classic Tikal rapidly developed into the most dynamic city in the Maya region stimulating the development of other nearby Maya cities
The site however was often at war and inscriptions tell of alliances and conflict with other Maya states including Uaxactun Caracol Naranjo and Calakmul The site was defeated at the end of the Early Classic by Caracol which rose to take Tikal s place as the paramount center in the southern Maya lowlands The earlier part of the Early Classic saw hostilities between Tikal and its neighbor Uaxactun with Uaxactun recording the capture of prisoners from Tikal
There appears to have been a breakdown in the male succession by AD when Lady Unen Bahlam conducted a katun ending ceremony apparently as queen of the city
The fourteenth king of Tikal was Chak Tok Ich aak Great Jaguar Paw Chak Tok Ich aak built a palace that was preserved and developed by later rulers until it became the core of the Central Acropolis Little is known about Chak Tok Ich aak except that he was killed on January AD On the same day Siyah K ak Fire Is Born arrived from the west having passed through El Peru a site to the west of Tikal on January On Stela he is named as Lord of the West Siyah K ak was probably a foreign general serving a figure represented by a non Maya hieroglyph of a spearthrower combined with an owl a glyph that is well known from the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico Spearthrower Owl may even have been the ruler of Teotihuacan These recorded events strongly suggest that Siyah K ak led a Teotihuacan invasion that defeated the native Tikal king who was captured and immediately executed Siyah K ak appears to have been aided by a powerful political faction at Tikal itself roughly at the time of the conquest a group of Teotihuacan natives were apparently residing near the Lost World complex He also exerted control over other cities in the area including Uaxactun where he became king but did not take the throne of Tikal for himself Within a year the son of Spearthrower Owl by the name of Yax Nuun Ayiin I First Crocodile had been installed as the tenth king of Tikal while he was still a boy being enthroned on September He reigned for years as king of Tikal and remained a vassal of Siyah K ak for as long as the latter lived It seems likely that Yax Nuun Ayiin I took a wife from the preexisting defeated Tikal dynasty and thus legitimized the right to rule of his son Siyaj Chan K awiil II
Ro Azul a small site kilometres mi northeast of Tikal was conquered by the latter during the reign of Yax Nuun Ayiin I The site became an outpost of Tikal shielding it from hostile cities further north and also became a trade link to the Caribbean
Although the new rulers of Tikal were foreign their descendants were rapidly Mayanized Tikal became the key ally and trading partner of Teotihuacan in the Maya lowlands After being conquered by Teotihuacan Tikal rapidly dominated the northern and eastern Peten Uaxactun together with smaller towns in the region were absorbed into Tikal s kingdom Other sites such as Bejucal and Motul de San Jos near Lake Petn Itz became vassals of their more powerful neighbor to the north By the middle of the th century Tikal had a core territory of at least kilometres mi in every direction
Around the th century an impressive system of fortifications consisting of ditches and earthworks was built along the northern periphery of Tikal s hinterland joining up with the natural defenses provided by large areas of swampland lying to the east and west of the city Additional fortifications were probably also built to the south These defenses protected Tikal s core population and agricultural resources encircling an area of approximately square kilometres sq mi Recent research suggests that the earthworks served as a water collection system rather than a defensive purpose
In the th century the power of the city reached as far south as Copn whose founder K inich Yax K uk Mo was clearly connected with Tikal Copn itself was not in an ethnically Maya region and the founding of the Copn dynasty probably involved the direct intervention of Tikal K inich Yax K uk Mo arrived in Copn in December and bone analysis of his remains shows that he passed his childhood and youth at Tikal An individual known as Ajaw K uk Mo lord K uk Mo is referred to in an early text at Tikal and may well be the same person His tomb had Teotihuacan characteristics and he was depicted in later portraits dressed in the warrior garb of Teotihuacan Hieroglyphic texts refer to him as Lord of the West much like Siyah K ak At the same time in late Copn founded the nearby site of Quirigu possibly sponsored by Tikal itself The founding of these two centers may have been part of an effort to impose Tikal s authority upon the southeastern portion of the Maya region The interaction between these sites and Tikal was intense over the next three centuries
A long running rivalry between Tikal and Calakmul began in the th century with each of the two cities forming its own network of mutually hostile alliances arrayed against each other in what has been likened to a long running war between two Maya superpowers The kings of these two capitals adopted the title kaloomte a term that has not been precisely translated but that implies something akin to high king
The early th century saw another queen ruling the city known only as the Lady of Tikal who was very likely a daughter of Chak Tok Ich aak II She seems never to have ruled in her own right rather being partnered with male co rulers The first of these was Kaloomte B alam who seems to have had a long career as a general at Tikal before becoming co ruler and th in the dynastic sequence The Lady of Tikal herself seems not have been counted in the dynastic numbering It appears she was later paired with lord Bird Claw who is presumed to be the otherwise unknown th ruler
In the mid th century Caracol seems to have allied with Calakmul and defeated Tikal closing the Early Classic The Tikal hiatus refers to a period between the late th to late th century where there was a lapse in the writing of inscriptions and large scale construction at Tikal In the latter half of the th century AD a serious crisis befell the city with no new stelae being erected and with widespread deliberate mutilation of public sculpture This hiatus in activity at Tikal was long unexplained until later epigraphic decipherments identified that the period was prompted by Tikal s comprehensive defeat at the hands of Calakmul and the Caracol polity in AD a defeat that seems to have resulted in the capture and sacrifice of the king of Tikal The badly eroded Altar at Caracol described how Tikal suffered this disastrous defeat in a major war in April It seems that Caracol was an ally of Calakmul in the wider conflict between that city and Tikal with the defeat of Tikal having a lasting impact upon the city Tikal was not sacked but its power and influence were broken After its great victory Caracol grew rapidly and some of Tikal s population may have been forcibly relocated there During the hiatus period at least one ruler of Tikal took refuge with Janaab Pakal of Palenque another of Calakmul s victims Calakmul itself thrived during Tikal s long hiatus period
The beginning of the Tikal hiatus has served as a marker by which archaeologists commonly subdivide the Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology into the Early and Late Classic
In Tikal founded Dos Pilas some kilometres mi to the southwest as a military outpost in order to control trade along the course of the Pasin River B alaj Chan K awiil was installed on the throne of the new outpost at the age of four in and for many years served as a loyal vassal fighting for his brother the king of Tikal Roughly twenty years later Dos Pilas was attacked by Calakmul and was soundly defeated B alaj Chan K awiil was captured by the king of Calakmul but instead of being sacrificed he was re instated on his throne as a vassal of his former enemy and attacked Tikal in forcing Nuun Ujol Chaak the then king of Tikal to temporarily abandon the city The first two rulers of Dos Pilas continued to use the Mutal emblem glyph of Tikal and they probably felt that they had a legitimate claim to the throne of Tikal itself For some reason B alaj Chan K awiil was not installed as the new ruler of Tikal instead he stayed at Dos Pilas Tikal counterattacked against Dos Pilas in driving B alaj Chan K awiil into an exile that lasted five years Calakmul tried to encircle Tikal within an area dominated by its allies such as El Peru Dos Pilas and Caracol
In Jasaw Chan K awiil I erected the first dated monument at Tikal in years and claimed the title of kaloomte so ending the hiatus He initiated a programme of new construction and turned the tables on Calakmul when in he captured the enemy noble and threw the enemy state into a long decline from which it never fully recovered After this Calakmul never again erected a monument celebrating a military victory
By the th century there was no active Teotihuacan presence at any Maya site and the center of Teotihuacan had been razed by Even after this formal war attire illustrated on monuments was Teotihuacan style Jasaw Chan K awiil I and his heir Yik in Chan K awiil continued hostilities against Calakmul and its allies and imposed firm regional control over the area around Tikal extending as far as the territory around Lake Petn Itz These two rulers were responsible for much of the impressive architecture visible today
In Quirigu a vassal of Copn Tikal s key ally in the south switched allegiance to Calakmul defeated Copn and gained its own independence It appears that this was a conscious effort on the part of Calakmul to bring about the collapse of Tikal s southern allies This upset the balance of power in the southern Maya area and lead to a steady decline in the fortunes of Copn
In the th century the rulers of Tikal collected monuments from across the city and erected them in front of the North Acropolis By the late th century and early th century activity at Tikal slowed Impressive architecture was still built but few hieroglyphic inscriptions refer to later rulers
By the th century the crisis of the Classic Maya collapse was sweeping across the region with populations plummeting and city after city falling into silence Increasingly endemic warfare in the Maya region caused Tikal s supporting population to heavily concentrate close to the city itself accelerating the use of intensive agriculture and corresponding environmental decline Construction continued at the beginning of the century with the erection of Temple the last of the city s major pyramids and the erection of monuments to mark the th K atun in The beginning of the th Bak tun in passed uncelebrated and marks the beginning of a year hiatus probably resulting from the collapse of central control in the city During this hiatus satellite sites traditionally under Tikal s control began to erect their own monuments featuring local rulers and using the Mutal emblem glyph with Tikal apparently lacking the authority or the power to crush these bids for independence In Jewel K awiil is mentioned on a stela at Seibal as visiting that city as the Divine Lord of Tikal but he is not recorded elsewhere and Tikal s once great power was little more than a memory The sites of Ixlu and Jimbal had by now inherited the once exclusive Mutal emblem glyph
As Tikal and its hinterland reached peak population the area suffered deforestation erosion and nutrient loss followed by a rapid decline in population levels Tikal and its immediate surroundings seem to have lost the majority of its population during the period from to and central authority seems to have collapsed rapidly There is not much evidence from Tikal that the city was directly affected by the endemic warfare that afflicted parts of the Maya region during the Terminal Classic although an influx of refugees from the Petexbatn region may have exacerbated problems resulting from the already stretched environmental resources
In the latter half of the th century there was an attempt to revive royal power at the much diminished city of Tikal as evidenced by a stela erected in the Great Plaza by Jasaw Chan K awiil II in This was the last monument erected at Tikal before the city finally fell into silence The former satellites of Tikal such as Jimbal and Uaxactun did not last much longer erecting their final monuments in By the end of the th century the vast majority of Tikal s population had deserted the city its royal palaces were occupied by squatters and simple thatched dwellings were being erected in the city s ceremonial plazas The squatters blocked some doorways in the rooms they reoccupied in the monumental structures of the site and left rubbish that included a mixture of domestic refuse and non utilitarian items such as musical instruments These inhabitants reused the earlier monuments for their own ritual activities far removed from those of the royal dynasty that had erected them Some monuments were vandalized and some were moved to new locations Before its final abandonment all respect for the old rulers had disappeared with the tombs of the North Acropolis being explored for jade and the easier to find tombs being looted After Tikal was all but deserted although a remnant population may have survived in perishable huts interspersed among the ruins Even these final inhabitants abandoned the city in the th or th centuries and the rainforest claimed the ruins for the next thousand years Some of Tikal s population may have migrated to the Peten Lakes region which remained heavily populated in spite of a plunge in population levels in the first half of the th century
The most likely cause of collapse at Tikal is overpopulation and agrarian failure The fall of Tikal was a blow to the heart of Classic Maya civilization the city having been at the forefront of courtly life art and architecture for over a thousand years with an ancient ruling dynasty However new research regarding paleoenvironmental proxies from the Tikal reservoir system suggests that a meteorological drought may have led to the abandonment of Tikal
In the Spanish conquistador Hernn Corts passed within a few kilometres of the ruins of Tikal but did not mention them in his letters After Spanish friar Andrs de Avendao became lost in the Petn forests in early he described a ruin that may well have been Tikal
As is often the case with huge ancient ruins knowledge of the site was never completely lost in the region It seems that local people never forgot about Tikal and they guided Guatemalan expeditions to the ruins in the s Some second or third hand accounts of Tikal appeared in print starting in the th century continuing through the writings of John Lloyd Stephens in the early th century Stephens and his illustrator Frederick Catherwood heard rumors of a lost city with white building tops towering above the jungle during their travels in the region Because of the site s remoteness from modern towns however no explorers visited Tikal until Modesto Mndez and Ambrosio Tut respectively the commissioner and the governor of Petn visited it in Artist Eusebio Lara accompanied them and their account was published in Germany in Several other expeditions came to further investigate map and photograph Tikal in the th century including Alfred P Maudslay in and the early th century Pioneering archaeologists started to clear map and record the ruins in the s
In a small airstrip was built at the ruins which previously could only be reached by several days travel through the jungle on foot or mule In the Tikal project began to map the city on a scale not previously seen in the Maya area From through major archaeological excavations were carried out by the University of Pennsylvania Tikal Project They mapped much of the site and excavated and restored many of the structures Excavations directed by Edwin M Shook and later by William Coe of the university investigated the North Acropolis and the Central Plaza from to The Tikal Project recorded over monuments at the site In the Guatemalan government began a further archeological project at Tikal which continued through to
Filmmaker George Lucas used Tikal as a filming location for the first Star Wars film Episode IV A New Hope released in Temple I at Tikal was featured on the reverse of the centavo banknote
Tikal is now a major tourist attraction surrounded by its own national park A site museum has been built at Tikal it was completed in
Tikal has been partially restored by the University of Pennsylvania and the government of Guatemala It was one of the largest of the Classic period Maya cities and was one of the largest cities in the Americas The architecture of the ancient city is built from limestone and includes the remains of temples that tower over metres ft high large royal palaces in addition to a number of smaller pyramids palaces residences administrative buildings platforms and inscribed stone monuments There is even a building which seemed to have been a jail originally with wooden bars across the windows and doors There are also seven courts for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame including a set of in the Seven Temples Plaza a unique feature in Mesoamerica
The limestone used for construction was local and quarried on site The depressions formed by the extraction of stone for building were plastered to waterproof them and were used as reservoirs together with some waterproofed natural depressions The main plazas were surfaced with stucco and laid at a gradient that channelled rainfall into a system of canals that fed the reservoirs
The residential area of Tikal covers an estimated square kilometres sq mi much of which has not yet been cleared mapped or excavated A huge set of earthworks discovered by Dennis E Puleston and Donald Callender in the s rings Tikal with a metre ft wide trench behind a rampart The square kilometres sq mi area around the site core has been intensively mapped it may have enclosed an area of some square kilometres sq mi see below Population estimates place the demographic size of the site between and and possibly in the surrounding area Recently a project exploring the defensive earthworks has shown that the scale of the earthworks is highly variable and that in many places it is inconsequential as a defensive feature In addition some parts of the earthwork were integrated into a canal system The earthwork of Tikal varies significantly in coverage from what was originally proposed and it is much more complex and multifaceted than originally thought
By the Late Classic a network of sacbeob causeways linked various parts of the city running for several kilometres through its urban core These linked the Great Plaza with Temple located about metres ft to the west and the Temple of the Inscriptions about kilometre mi to the southeast These broad causeways were built of packed and plastered limestone and have been named after early explorers and archaeologists the Maler Maudslay Tozzer and Mndez causeways They assisted the passage everyday traffic during the rain season and also served as dams
The Maler Causeway runs north from behind Temple I to Group H A large bas relief is carved onto limestone bedrock upon the course of the causeway just south of Group H It depicts two bound captives and dates to the Late Classic
The Maudsley Causeway runs kilometres mi northeast from Temple IV to Group H
The Mendez Causeway runs southeast from the East Plaza to Temple VI a distance of about kilometres mi
The Tozzer Causeway runs west from the Great Plaza to Temple IV
The Great Plaza lies at the core of the site it is flanked on the east and west sides by two great temple pyramids On the north side it is bordered by the North Acropolis and on the south by the Central Acropolis
The Central Acropolis is a palace complex just south of the Great Plaza
The North Acropolis together with the Great Plaza immediately to the south is one of the most studied architectural groups in the Maya area the Tikal Project excavated a massive trench across the complex thoroughly investigating its construction history It is a complex group with construction beginning in the Preclassic Period around BC It developed into a funerary complex for the ruling dynasty of the Classic Period with each additional royal burial adding new temples on top of the older structures After AD a row of tall pyramids was added to the earlier Northern Platform which measured by metres by ft gradually hiding it from view Eight temple pyramids were built in the th century AD each of them had an elaborate roofcomb and a stairway flanked by masks of the gods By the th century AD stelae and altars had been erected in the North Acropolis of these monuments were carved with hieroglyphic texts and royal portraits The North Acropolis continued to receive burials into the Postclassic Period
The South Acropolis is found next to Temple V It was built upon a large basal platform that covers an area of more than square metres sq ft
The Plaza of the Seven Temples is to the west of the South Acropolis It is bordered on the east side by a row of nearly identical temples by palaces on the south and west sides and by an unusual triple ballcourt on the north side
The Mundo Perdido is to the west of the Plaza of the Seven Temples It is the largest ceremonial complex dating from the Preclassic period at Tikal The complex was organized as a large E Group consisting of a pyramid aligned with a platform to the east that supported three temples The Mundo Perdido complex was rebuilt many times over the course of its history By AD its architectural style was influenced by the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico including the use of the talud tablero form During the Early Classic period c the Mundo Perdido became one of the twin foci of the city the other being the North Acropolis From AD to it may have served as the royal necropolis The Mundo Perdido complex was given its name by the archaeologists of the University of Pennsylvania it is centered upon the Lost World Pyramid and a small platform to the west of it
Group G lies just south of the Mendez Causeway The complex dates to the Late Classic and consists of palace type structures and is one of the largest groups of its type at Tikal It has two stories but most of the rooms are on the lower floor a total of vaulted chambers The remains of two further chambers belong to the upper storey One of the entrances to the group was framed by a gigantic mask
Group H is centered on a large plaza to the north of the Great Plaza It is bordered by temples dating to the Late Classic
There are nine Twin Pyramid Complexes at Tikal one of which was completely dismantled in ancient times and some others were partly destroyed They vary in size but consist of two pyramids facing each other on an east west axis These pyramids are flat topped and have stairways on all four sides A row of plain stelae is placed immediately to the west of the eastern pyramid and to the north of the pyramids and lying roughly equidistant from them there is usually a sculpted stela and altar pair On the south side of these complexes there is a long vaulted building containing a single room with nine doorways The entire complex was built at once and these complexes were built at year or k atun intervals during the Late Classic The first twin pyramid complex was built in the early th century in the East Plaza It was once thought that these complexes were unique to Tikal but rare examples have now been found at other sites such as Yaxha and Ixlu and they may reflect the extent of Tikal s political dominance in the Late Classic
Group Q is a twin pyramid complex and is one of the largest at Tikal It was built by Yax Nuun Ayiin II in in order to mark the end of the th K atun Most of it has been restored and its monuments have been re erected
Group R is another twin pyramid complex dated to It is close to the Maler Causeway
There are thousands of ancient structures at Tikal and only a fraction of these have been excavated after decades of archaeological work The most prominent surviving buildings include six very large pyramids labelled Temples I VI each of which support a temple structure on their summits Some of these pyramids are over metres feet high They were numbered sequentially during the early survey of the site It is estimated that each of these major temples could have been built in as little as two years
Temple I also known as the Temple of Ah Cacao or Temple of the Great Jaguar is a funerary pyramid dedicated to Jasaw Chan K awil who was entombed in the structure in AD the pyramid was completed around The temple rises metres ft high The massive roofcomb that topped the temple was originally decorated with a giant sculpture of the enthroned king although little of this decoration survives The tomb of the king was discovered by Aubrey Trik of the University of Pennsylvania in Among items recovered from the Late Classic tomb were a large collection of inscribed human and animal bone tubes and strips with sophisticated scenes depicting deities and people finely carved and rubbed with vermilion as well as jade and shell ornaments and ceramic vessels filled with offerings of food and drink The shrine at the summit of the pyramid has three chambers each behind the next with the doorways spanned by wooden lintels fashioned from multiple beams The outermost lintel is plain but the two inner lintels were carved some of the beams were removed in the th century and their location is unknown while others were taken to museums in Europe
Temple II also known as the Temple of the Mask it was built around AD and stands metres ft high Like other major temples at Tikal the summit shrine had three consecutive chambers with the doorways spanned by wooden lintels only the middle of which was carved The temple was dedicated to the wife of Jasaw Chan K awil although no tomb was found The queen s portrait was carved into the lintel spanning the doorway of the summit shrine One of the beams from this lintel is now in the American Museum of Natural History in New York
Temple III also known as the Temple of the Jaguar Priest was the last of the great pyramids to be built at Tikal It stood metres ft tall and contained an elaborately sculpted but damaged roof lintel possibly showing Dark Sun engaged in a ritual dance around AD The temple shrine possesses two chambers
Temple IV is the tallest temple pyramid at Tikal measuring metres ft from the plaza floor level to the top of its roof comb Temple IV marks the reign of Yik in Chan Kawil Ruler B the son of Ruler A or Jasaw Chan K awiil I and two carved wooden lintels over the doorway that leads into the temple on the pyramid s summit record a long count date that corresponds to CE Sharer Temple IV is the largest pyramid built anywhere in the Maya region in the th century and as it currently stands is the tallest pre Columbian structure in the Americas although the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan may originally have been taller as may have been one of the structures at El Mirador
Temple V stands south of the Central Acropolis and is the mortuary pyramid of an as yet unidentified ruler The temple stands metres ft high making it the second tallest structure at Tikal only Temple IV is taller The temple has been dated to about AD in the Late Classic period via radiocarbon analysis and the dating of ceramics associated with the structure places its construction during the reign of Nun Bak Chak in the second half of the th century
Temple VI is also known as the Temple of the Inscriptions and was dedicated in AD It is notable for its metre ft high roof comb Panels of hieroglyphs cover the back and sides of the roof comb The temple faces onto a plaza to the west and its front is unrestored
Temple was a funerary pyramid erected over the tomb of Siyaj Chan K awiil I known as Burial in the North Acropolis It started life in the Early Classic as a wide basal platform decorated with large stucco masks that flanked the stairway Later in the Early Classic a new superstructure was added with its own masks and decorated panels During the Hiatus a third stage was built over the earlier constructions the stairway was demolished and another royal burial of an unidentified ruler was set into the structure Burial While the new pyramid was being built another high ranking tomb Burial was inserted into the rubble core of the building The pyramid was then completed standing metres ft tall The final version of Temple was completely dismantled by archaeologists in in order to arrive at the earlier stages of construction
Structure is a pyramid in the North Acropolis that was built by Siyaj Chan K awiil II over the tomb of his father Yax Nuun Ayiin I The pyramid was topped by a three chambered shrine the rooms situated one behind the other
Structure D is an unusual radial temple in the East Plaza built over a pre existing twin pyramid complex It is built into the end of the East Plaza Ballcourt and possessed four entry doorways and three stairways the fourth south side was too close to the Central Acropolis for a stairway on that side The building has a talud tablero platform profile modified from the original style found at Teotihuacan In fact it has been suggested that the style of the building has closer affinities with El Tajin and Xochicalco than with Teotihuacan itself The vertical tablero panels are set between sloping talud panels and are decorated with paired disc symbols Large flower symbols are set into the sloping talud panels related to the Venus and star symbols used at Teotihuacan The roof of the structure was decorated with friezes although only fragments now remain showing a monstrous face perhaps that of a jaguar with another head emerging from the mouth The second head possesses a bifurcated tongue but is probably not that of a snake The temple and its associated ballcourt probably date to the reign of Nuun Ujol Chaak or that of his son Jasaw Chan K awiil I in the later part of the th century
Structure C possesses a clear Teotihuacan linked architectural style it has balustrades an architectural feature that is very rare in the Maya region and a talud tablero faade it dates to the th century AD It is located near to the Lost World pyramid
Structure C is a small Teotihuacan style platform that dates to about AD It had stairways on all four sides and did not possess a superstructure
The Lost World Pyramid Structure C is the largest structure in the Mundo Perdido complex It lies in the southwest portion of Tikal s central core south of Temple III and west of Temple V It was decorated with stucco masks of the sun god and dates to the Late Preclassic this pyramid is part of an enclosed complex of structures that remained intact and un impacted by later building activity at Tikal By the end of the Late Preclassic this pyramid was one of the largest structures in the Maya region It attained its final form during the reign of Chak Tok Ich aak in the th century AD in the Early Classic standing more than metres ft high with stairways on all four sides and a flat top that possibly supported a superstructure built from perishable materials Although the plaza later suffered significant alteration the organization of a group of temples on the east side of this complex adheres to the layout that defines the so called E Groups identified as solar observatories
Structure D is the central temple on the east side of the Plaza of the Seven Temples It has been restored and its rear outer wall is decorated with skull and crossbones motifs
Group C is an elite residential complex that has been thoroughly excavated It lies a few hundred metres south of the Lost World Complex and the excavations have revealed elaborate stucco masks ballplayer murals relief sculptures and buildings with Teotihuacan characteristics
The Great Plaza Ballcourt is a small ballcourt that lies between Temple I and the Central Acropolis
The Bat Palace is also known as the Palace of Windows and lies to the west of Temple III It has two storeys with a double range of chambers on the lower storey and a single range in the upper storey which has been restored The palace has ancient graffiti and possesses low windows
Complex N lies to the west of the Bat Palace and Temple III The complex dates to AD
Altar is carved with two nobles one of whom is probably Jasaw Chan K awiil I They are performing a ritual using the bones of an important woman Altar was found in Complex N which lies to the west of Temple III
Altar is sculpted with a bound captive It was found within Complex P in Group H and is now in the Museo Nacional de Arqueologa y Etnologa in Guatemala City
Altar is associated with Stela and bears the sculpture of a bound captive It is located in front of Temple VI
Altar is carved with a captive tied to a scaffold It is in the northern enclosure of Group Q a twin pyramid complex and has suffered from erosion
Altar is a plain monument associated with Stela The stela altar pair is centrally located at the base of the stairway of Temple IV
At Tikal beams of sapodilla wood were placed as lintels spanning the inner doorways of temples These are the most elaborately carved wooden lintels to have survived anywhere in the Maya region
Lintel from Temple IV was taken to Basel in Switzerland in the th century It was in almost perfect condition and depicts Yik in Chan K awiil seated on a palanquin
Stelae are carved stone shafts often sculpted with figures and hieroglyphs A selection of the most notable stelae at Tikal follows
Stela dates to the th century and depicts the king Siyaj Chan K awiil II in a standing position
Stela is dated to AD during the reign of Yax Nuun Ayiin after the intrusion of Teotihuacan in the Maya area The stela displays a mix of Maya and Teotihuacan qualities and deities from both cultures It has a portrait of the king with the Underworld Jaguar God under one arm and the Mexican Tlaloc under the other His helmet is a simplified version of the Teotihuacan War Serpent Unusually for Maya sculpture but typically for Teotihuacan Yax Nuun Ayiin is depicted with a frontal face rather than in profile
Stela was dedicated in by Yik in Chan K awiil
Stela is a badly damaged monument dating to and bears the name of the Lady of Tikal who celebrated the end of the th K atun in that year
Stela is twinned with Stela but is badly damaged It described the accession of Kaloomte B alam in the early th century and earlier events in his career including the capture of a prisoner depicted on the monument
Stela was the last monument ever erected at Tikal it was dedicated in by Jasaw Chan K awiil II
Stela is linked to the queen known as the Lady of Tikal and king Kaloomte B alam The queen is described as performing the year ending rituals but the monument was dedicated in honor of the king
Stela was dedicated in during the reign of Jasaw Chan K awiil I The sculpture including a portrait of the king and a hieroglyphic text are limited to the front face of the monument It was found in Complex N west of Temple III
Stela was one of two stelae erected by Yax Nuun Ayiin I to celebrate the k atun ending of AD It was re erected at the base of Temple his funerary shrine
Stela was dedicated in by Yax Nuun Ayiin II
Stela was found in Complex P in Group H and was moved to the Museo Nacional de Arqueologa y Etnologa in Guatemala City
Stela was dedicated in by Yik in Chan K awiil Only the bottom of the stela is intact the rest having been mutilated in ancient times The surviving sculpture is of fine quality consisting of the feet of a figure and of accompanying hieroglyphic text The stela is associated with Altar and is located in front of Temple VI
Stela was dedicated in by Yax Nuun Ayiin II in the northern enclosure of Group Q a twin pyramid complex The face of the figure on the stela has been mutilated
Stela was broken in antiquity and was re erected in a residential complex The defaced portrait on the monument is that of the so called Lady of Tikal a daughter of Chak Tok Ich aak II who became queen at the age of six but never ruled in her own right being paired with male co rulers It dates to the early th century
Stela was erected at the foot of Temple in accompanied by Altar Both were broken into fragments in ancient times although the name of Dark Sun survives on three fragments
Stela was found in the summit shrine of Temple underneath a broken masonry altar The monument had originally been erected at the base of the temple during the Early Classic period and was later broken probably at the beginning of the Late Classic Its remains were then interred within the temple shrine
Stela bears a Long Count date equivalent to AD the earliest surviving Long Count date from the Maya lowlands The stela is also the earliest monument to bear the Tikal emblem glyph It bears a sculpture of the king facing to the right holding the head of an underworld jaguar god one of the patron deities of the city The stela was deliberately smashed during the th century or some time later the upper portion was dragged away and dumped in a rubbish tip close to Temple III to be uncovered by archaeologists in
Stela is the first surviving monument to be erected after the Hiatus Its style and iconography is similar to that of Caracol one of the more important of Tikal s enemies
Stela is the accession monument of Siyaj Chan K awiil II also bearing two portraits of his father Yax Nuun Ayiin as a youth dressed as a Teotihuacan warrior He carries a spearthrower in one hand and bears a shield decorated with the face of Tlaloc the Teotihuacan war god In ancient times the sculpture was broken and the upper portion was moved to the summit of Temple and ritually buried Stela has been described as the greatest Early Classic sculpture to survive at Tikal A long hieroglyphic text is carved onto the back of the monument the longest to survive from the Early Classic which describes the arrival of Siyah K ak at El Peru and Tikal in January It was also the first stela at Tikal to be carved on all four faces
Stela is a fragmented monument with a foreign Teotihuacan style sculpture apparently depicting the lord of that city with the attributes of the central Mexican storm god Tlaloc including his goggle eyes and tasselled headdress
Stela is a broken monument that was erected in the Lost World complex The upper portion of the stela is missing but the lower portion shows the lower body and legs of Chak Tok Ich aak holding a flint axe in his left hand He is trampling the figure of a bound richly dressed captive The monument is dated to AD The text on the back of the monument describes a bloodletting ritual to celebrate a Katun ending The stela also names Chak Tok Ich aak I s father as K inich Muwaan Jol
Stela bears a portrait of Kan Chitam and dates to AD
Stela is paired with Altar It is a plain monument at the base of the stairway of Temple IV
Burial is a tomb in the Lost World complex A fine ceramic bowl was recovered from the tomb with the handle formed from three dimensional head and neck of a bird emerging from the two dimensional body painted on the lid
Burial is the tomb of Yax Nuun Ayiin It is located beneath Structure in the North Acropolis The tomb contained a rich array of offerings including ceramic vessels and food and nine youths were sacrificed to accompany the dead king A dog was also entombed with the deceased king Pots in the tomb were stuccoed and painted and many demonstrated a blend of Maya and Teotihuacan styles Among the offerings was an incense burner in the shape of an elderly underworld god sitting on a stool made of human bones and holding a severed head in his hands The tomb was sealed with a corbel vault then the pyramid was built on top
Burial is generally accepted as the tomb of Siyaj Chan K awil It is located beneath Temple in the North Acropolis The chamber of the tomb was cut from the bedrock and contained the remains of the king himself together with those of two adolescents who had been sacrificed in order to accompany the deceased ruler The walls of the tomb were covered with white stucco painted with hieroglyphs that included the Long Count date equivalent to March probably the date of either the death or interment of the king The king s skeleton was missing its skull its femurs and one of its hands while the skeletons of the sacrificial victims were intact
Burial dates to the Late Preclassic and was enclosed by a platform with a primitive corbel vault The tomb contained a single male skeleton which lacked a skull and its thighbones The dynastic founder of Tikal Yax Ehb Xook has been linked to this tomb which lies deep in the heart of the North Acropolis The deceased had probably died in battle with his body being mutilated by his enemies before being recovered and interred by his followers The bones were wrapped carefully in textiles to form an upright bundle The missing head was replaced by a small greenstone mask with shell inlaid teeth and eyes and bearing a three pointed royal headband This head wears an emblem of rulership on its forehead and is a rare Preclassic lowland Maya portrait of a king Among the contents of the tomb were a stingray spine a spondylus shell and twenty six ceramic vessels
Burial is the tomb of Jasaw Chan K awiil I It is a large vaulted chamber deep within the pyramid below the level of the Great Plaza The tomb contained rich offerings of jadeite ceramics shell and works of art The body of the king was covered with large quantities of jade ornaments including an enormous necklace with especially large beads as depicted in sculpted portraits of the king One of the outstanding pieces recovered from the tomb was an ornate jade mosaic vessel with the lid bearing a sculpted portrait of the king himself
Burial was flooded with mud in antiquity This flood had covered wooden objects that had completely rotted away by the time the tomb was excavated leaving hollows in the dried mud Archaeologists filled these hollows with stucco and thus excavated four effigies of the god K awiil the wooden originals long gone
Burial is a Late Classic royal tomb that contained a jade mosaic vessel topped with the head of the Maize God
Tropical Storm Josephine was the tenth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season Josephine developed out of a strong tropical wave which moved off the African coast on August The wave quickly became organized and was declared Tropical Depression Ten while located mi km to the south southeast of the Cape Verde Islands on September The depression was quickly upgraded to Tropical Storm Josephine around noon the same day Over the next several days Josephine moved in a general west northwest direction and reached its peak intensity early on September Strong wind shear some due to the outflow of Hurricane Ike and dry air caused the storm to weaken On September the combination of wind shear dry air and cooling waters caused Josephine to weaken into a tropical depression Josephine deteriorated into a remnant low shortly after as convection continued to dissipate around the storm The low ultimately dissipated while located mi km east of Guadeloupe on September However the remnant moisture led to minor flooding on the island of St Croix
Tropical Storm Josephine formed as a tropical wave that emerged off the west coast of Africa near the end of August It tracked south of Cape Verde and slowly developed and on September the disturbance became Tropical Depression Ten while located south southeast of the Cape Verde islands As the depression became more organized an eye like feature developed in the upper levels of the system The depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Josephine six hours after forming Josephine was located in an area which was supportive for rapid intensification but was not forecast to intensify quickly
Josephine continued to intensify throughout the afternoon as the storm became more symmetrical However due to the location of the storm there was a lack of accurate wind speed readings and the National Hurricane Center was uncertain of its actual intensity Despite the lack of wind shear around the storm the center became slightly exposed and ceased further intensification The storm was also heading into an area where shear was forecasted to significantly increase due to an upper level trough diving southward Despite convection being partially removed from the center of Josephine the storm intensified slightly in the early morning hours on September as thunderstorm activity to the south of the center became more organized The intensification was forecast to be short in duration as the trough to the north was deepening causing the wind shear to the west to become stronger
Josephine reached its peak intensity of mph km h around am EDT as it continued to become more organized However there were indications that it had already begun to weaken Outflow towards the north was becoming restricted and arc clouds began emanating from the storm a sign that dry air was entering the system During the afternoon hours the structure of Josephine began to rapidly deteriorate as strong wind shear and dry air took their toll By the late night the center was almost completely exposed and only a band of convection persisted near the center
Despite continuing effects from the strong wind shear a large deep burst of convection formed in the northern semicircle of Josephine The center was found to have shifted towards the new convection leading to an increase in intensity The forecast showed a slight decrease in wind shear as Josephine continued westward and no change in intensity over the day forecast was predicted However the convection decreased once more and the low became completely exposed by the late morning hours and Josephine weakened again By the afternoon the center of Josephine was only a swirl of clouds devoid of convection During the overnight hours on September into the morning of September convection associated with Josephine began to redevelop somewhat mostly to the north of the circulation due to the strong southerly wind shear By mid morning Josephine re intensified slightly due to the redevelopment of some convection However the redevelopment was short lived and wind shear again took its toll on Josephine by late morning The convection around the system became dislocated from the center and Josephine weakened slightly
The weakening trend continued through the afternoon as the storm was being affected by strong southerly shear Josephine became almost fully devoid of any convection by mid afternoon and the storm weakened to mph km h barely holding on to tropical storm status Josephine regained a small amount of convection in the late night hours but not enough to still be classified a tropical storm Due to the lack of convection Josephine was downgraded to a Tropical Depression at pm EDT with winds of mph km h Since there was no convection around the system it would have normally been classified a remnant low but due to the possibility of the storm regenerating over the next several days it was considered a tropical depression The next morning Josephine was downgraded to a remnant low as strong wind shear and dry air caused the demise of the storm No redevelopment was expected with Josephine as it began to move over colder waters and remain under strong wind shear until it dissipated
However the remnant low associated with Josephine began to show signs of redevelopment during the afternoon on September Convection around the system increased significantly and the low was no longer exposed On September wind shear took over the system again Convection around the remnant low was torn away and the low was exposed once more The National Hurricane Center did not state the chance of regeneration once the low became exposed Finally on September wind shear and dry air led to the remnants of Josephine deteriorating into an open wave However on September the remnants of Josephine redeveloped and global models picked up on the reformed system Once more the chance of regeneration was possible as the remnants of Josephine headed towards the Bahamas However on September dry air and wind shear caused the remnants to dissipate entirely
As Josephine passed to the south of the Cape Verde islands on September outer rain bands produced minor rainfall totaling around inches mm There were no reports of damage or flooding from the rain and overall effects were minor
Several days after the low dissipated the remnant moisture from Josephine brought showers and thunderstorms to St Croix where up to in mm of rain fell The heavy rains led to minor street flooding and some urban flooding No known damage was caused by the flood
Mount Elbert is the highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the highest point in the US state of Colorado and the entire Mississippi River drainage basin The ultra prominent foot m fourteener is the highest peak in the Sawatch Range and the second highest summit in the contiguous United States after Mount Whitney Mount Elbert is located in San Isabel National Forest miles km southwest bearing of the City of Leadville in Lake County Colorado
The mountain was named in honor of Colorado statesman Samuel Hitt Elbert who was active in the formative period of the state and Governor of the Territory of Colorado from to Henry W Stuckle of the Hayden Survey was the first to record an ascent of the peak in The easiest and most popular climbing routes are categorized as Class to or A in mountaineering parlance Mount Elbert is therefore often referred to as the gentle giant that tops all others in the Rocky Mountains
Mount Elbert is visible to the southwest of Leadville often snow capped even in the summer Many other fourteeners surround Elbert in all directions and it is very close to central Colorado s Collegiate Peaks The neighboring Mount Massive to the north is the second highest peak in the Rocky Mountains and the third highest in the contiguous United States and La Plata Peak to the south is the fifth highest in the Rockies The community of Twin Lakes lies at the base of Mount Elbert Denver is about miles km to the east Vail is miles km to the north and Aspen is miles km to the west Leadville about miles km to the northeast is the nearest large town Elbert s parent peak is Mount Whitney in California Including Alaska and Hawaii Mount Elbert is the fourteenth highest mountain in the United States
Weather conditions often change rapidly and afternoon thunderstorms are common in the summertime hailstorms and snow are possible year round An electrical storm on the mountain s summit was considered remarkable enough to be reported in the July issue of Science
Mount Elbert is part of the Sawatch Range an uplift of the Laramide Orogeny which separated from the Mosquito Range to the east around million years ago The tops of this range were heavily glaciated leaving behind characteristic summit features and other such clues For example the base of Elbert on the eastern side exhibits large igneous and metamorphic rocks deposited when the glaciers receded which lie on a lateral moraine Further up the eastern side there is a large cirque with a small tarn There are also lakes to both the north and south Turquoise and Twin Lakes respectively the Twin Lakes are a result of the natural dam of end moraines and Turquoise Lake was created by the manmade Sugar Loaf Dam
Mount Elbert is composed largely of quartzite However the summit ridge consists of metamorphic basement rock which is Pre Cambrian in origin and about billion years old There are various igneous intrusions including pegmatite as well as bands of gneiss and schist Unlike mountains of similar altitude elsewhere Elbert lacks both a permanent snowpack and a prominent north facing cirque which can be attributed to its position amongst other mountains of similar height causing it to receive relatively small quantities of precipitation
Mount Elbert was named by miners in honor of Samuel Hitt Elbert the governor of the then Territory of Colorado because he brokered a treaty in September with the Ute tribe that opened up more than acres km of reservation land to mining and railroad activity The first recorded ascent of the peak was by HW Stuckle in who was surveying the mountain as part of the Hayden Survey
Originally measured as feet m in height Mount Elbert s elevation was later adjusted to feet m following a re evaluation of mapped elevations which sparked protests The actual change was made in as a result of the North American Vertical Datum of it seems the original measurement resulted from the Sea Level Datum of A matter of some contention arose after the Great Depression over the heights of Elbert and its neighbor Mount Massive which differ in elevation by only feet m This led to an ongoing dispute that came to a head with the Mount Massive supporters building large piles of stones on the summit to boost its height only to have the Mount Elbert proponents demolish them The effort was ultimately unsuccessful and Mount Elbert has remained the highest peak in Colorado The first motorized ascent of Elbert occurred in when a Jeep was driven to the summit apparently to judge suitability for skiing development
The summit of Mount Elbert is an alpine environment featuring plants such as Phacelia sericea sky pilot Hymenoxys grandiflora old man of the mountain and Geum rossii alpine avens Also noted are Carex atrata var pullata Salix desertorum Platanthera hyperborea Thalictrum fendleri Aquilegia canadensis Chenopodium album Gentiana detonsa var hallii and Bigelovia parryi Below treeline the mountain is heavily forested with the lower slopes covered with a mixture of lodgepole pine spruce aspen and fir
Some of the fauna reported on the climb to the summit include black bears marmots mule deer pikas and pocket gophers there are also many species of avifauna Elk grouse turkey and bighorn sheep are present in the area during the summer
There are three main routes which ascend the mountain all of which gain over feet m of elevation The standard route ascends the peak from the east starting from the Colorado Trail just north of Twin Lakes The miles km long North Main Elbert Trail begins close to the Elbert Creek Campground and gains about feet m The trail is open to equestrians mountain bikers and hunters during season An easier but longer route the South Elbert Trail is miles km long climbing feet m at a less punishing gradient than the North Elbert Trail approaching from the south and then climbing the eastern ridge
The most difficult of the main routes is the Black Cloud Trail a Class climb that takes ten to fourteen hours depending on pace gains feet m in elevation and also involves an ascent of the sub peak South Elbert at feet m Even healthy and experienced climbers report great difficulty on this route and despite the fact that there is a trail the route is extremely steep unstable and rocky in places The elevation gain is not evenly distributed over the mile ascent There are also routes approaching from the western face and southwestern ridge from South Halfmoon Creek Trailhead and Echo Canyon Trailhead respectively
Although strenuous and requiring physical fitness none of the conventional routes require specialist mountaineering skills or technical rock climbing The main dangers of the mountain are those common to all high mountains particularly altitude sickness This can affect anyone even those who are acclimatized In serious cases it can lead to high altitude pulmonary edema and cerebral edema which can lead to difficulties with breathing paralysis and death Climbers are advised to begin their ascent at or before am and to summit and descend before early afternoon to minimize exposure to possible afternoon thunderstorms while at high altitudes Although the most conventional form of ascent is by hiking Anna Elizabeth Dickinson the orator ascended the mountain on a mule borrowed from the US government
The Church of Scientology has been present in Germany since German authorities estimate that there are active Scientologists in Germany today the Church of Scientology gives a membership figure of around The Church of Scientology has encountered particular antagonism from the German press and government and occupies a precarious legal social and cultural position in Germany
German courts have so far not resolved whether Scientology should be accorded the legal status of a religious or worldview community and different courts have reached contradictory conclusions The German domestic intelligence service has monitored the organization s activities The German government does not recognize Scientology as a religion It views it as an abusive business masquerading as a religion and believes that it pursues political goals that conflict with the values enshrined in the German constitution This stance has been criticized most notably by the US government which recognizes Scientology as a religion and has raised concerns about the violation of individual rights posed by sect filters
Scientologists in Germany face specific political and economic restrictions They are barred from membership in some major political parties and businesses and other employers use so called sect filters to expose a prospective business partner s or employee s association with the organization German federal and state interior ministers started a process aimed at banning Scientology in late but abandoned the initiative a year later finding insufficient legal grounds Despite this polls suggest that most Germans favor banning Scientology altogether
Scientology founded in the early s in the United States by L Ron Hubbard and today claiming to be represented in countries has been a very controversial new religious movement Its stated utopian aim is to clear the planet to bring about an enlightened age in which every individual has overcome their psychological limitations Scientology teaches that the source of people s unhappiness lies in engrams psychological burdens acquired in the course of painful experiences which can be cleared through a type of counselling called auditing made available by the Church of Scientology
The fact that Scientologists have to pay large fees for auditing and other Scientology services has brought controversy to Scientology throughout much of its history with governments classing it as a profit making enterprise rather than as a religion Critics maintain that Scientology is a business driven psychologically manipulative totalitarian ideology with world dominating aspirations and that it tricks its members into parting with significant sums of money for Scientology courses Scientology has fought innumerable lawsuits to defend itself against such charges and to pursue legal recognition as a religion These efforts have been partly successful Scientology has gained recognition as a tax exempt religious group in a number of countries most notably in Australia in and the United States in and in won an important case at the European Court of Human Rights which censured Russia for failing to register Scientology as a religion
The German government has said that it does not consider Scientology a religion but a commercial enterprise with a history of taking advantage of vulnerable individuals and an extreme dislike of any criticism whose totalitarian structure and methods may pose a risk to Germany s democratic society Accordingly the German government has taken a very strong stance against the organization Germany is not alone in opposing Scientology in France the Church of Scientology was convicted of organized fraud in October after a court found that members had been manipulated into paying large sums for Scientology products and the Church only narrowly escaped being banned altogether Scientology is similarly controversial in Belgium Greece and the UK
On the subject of Scientology s status as a religion the German government has pointed to a decision by the Federal Labor Court of Germany That court noting Hubbard s instruction that Scientologists should make money make more money make other people produce so as to make more money came to the conclusion that Scientology purports to be a church merely as a cover to pursue its economic interests In the same decision the court also found that Scientology uses inhuman and totalitarian practices Given the lessons of Germany s th century history in which the country came to be dominated by a fascist movement that started from similarly small beginnings Germany is very wary of any ideological movement that might appear to be seeking a position of absolute power References in Scientology writings to the elimination of parasites and antisocial people who stand in the way of progress towards Scientology s utopian world without insanity without criminals and without war evoke uncomfortable parallels with Nazism and have led to Scientology being classified as an extremist political movement
To further justify its stance the German government has also pointed to the long history of US court cases involving Scientology including the conviction of top Scientologists in and for a conspiracy involving the infiltration of US government agencies wiretapping and the theft of government documents a US Supreme Court finding that Scientology practices took place in a coercive environment and Scientology s track record of pursuing its critics through malicious court cases and private investigators In examining the potential threat posed by Scientology the German government has noted that Scientology organizations are structured so as to make the individual psychologically and financially dependent on a Scientology system and that members often abandon contact with friends and family
Scientology first became active in Germany in By there were ten major centres Scientology Churches as well as fourteen minor centres Scientology Missions in Germany The German Scientology Churches are located in the big cities Munich Hamburg Berlin Dsseldorf Frankfurt am Main Hanover and Stuttgart Of the Scientology Missions nine are in Baden Wrttemberg and three in Bavaria Following German re unification Scientology proved unable to gain significant numbers of followers in the territories of the former German Democratic Republic most adherents are found in Baden Wrttemberg Bavaria and North Rhine Westphalia
Scientology is represented by a large number of independent associations or Vereine in Germany their umbrella organisation is the Scientology Kirche Deutschland eV Germany s domestic intelligence service the Bundesamt fr Verfassungsschutz BfV or Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution estimates that there are Scientologists in Germany down from earlier estimates of to The Church of Scientology reported around members from the mid s onwards this number remained stable for many years However more recently Scientology has said it has only members Discrepancies in Scientology membership numbers arise because the Church of Scientology applies more inclusive criteria in establishing its figures essentially including anyone who has purchased a book or participated in courses regardless of their subsequent involvement The number of contractually bound Scientology staff members working in German Scientology organizations is unlikely to exceed a few hundred
Scientology formulated a Clear Germany strategy in similar to equivalent strategies pursued by Scientology in other countries and regions of the world with the long term aim of transforming German society in line with the Scientological ideal a non pluralist society in which Scientology enjoys overriding influence The programme sought to address Scientology s image problems in Germany to identify weak points in Germany that could be exploited for political gain such as Germany s National Socialist history and to increase both membership figures and political influence in German society with a special emphasis on manoeuvring Scientologists into key positions in industry and government As most religions seek to widen their influence in society such a programme could of course also be defended as a missionary effort much like those many religions engage in However according to the BfV the strategy has not had any significant success By government officials had been suspected of being Scientologists and in cases the suspicions were confirmed but apart from some isolated cases most of the officials concerned had not used their positions to advertise Scientology According to Fifka Sydora it is unknown to what degree the Clear Germany programme is still being pursued
German public discourse does not regard Scientology as a religion but generally characterizes it as a Sekte cult or sect or as an exploitative profit making venture preying on vulnerable minds Public concerns about the potential dangers posed by cults date back to the early s when widespread debate took place about youth religions such as the Unification Church ISKCON Children of God and the Divine Light Mission The most prominent critics of these new religious movements were the sect commissioners Sektenbeauftragte of Germany s Protestant Churches who also actively promoted the establishment of private initiatives of parents and concerned persons Aktion Bildungsinformation Educational Information Campaign became an important organization dedicated to opposing Scientology taking an activist stance it warned people not to get involved with Scientology filed successful lawsuits against the Church of Scientology over its proselytizing in public places and published an influential book The Sect of Scientology and its Front Organizations In the organization s founder Ingo Heinemann became the director of Aktion fr geistige und psychische Freiheit Campaign for Intellectual and Psychic Freedom Germany s most prominent anti cult organization Warnings from sect experts about the influence of new religious movements gained media attention which put political pressure on the government to deal with the situation as the movements were not doing anything illegal the government resorted to issuing a range of leaflets and public statements giving general warnings about religious sects the earliest of these publications appearing in
Fueled by events such as the Waco Siege in the murders and suicides associated with the Order of the Solar Temple and the Aum Shinrikyo incidents in Japan German fears and concerns about new religious movements gained in intensity in the s with Scientology attracting particular attention Perceptions that Scientology had a totalitarian character were reinforced when Robert Vaughn Young an American ex Scientologist and former PR official in the Church of Scientology visited German officials in late and wrote an article in Der Spiegel a widely read weekly magazine describing Scientology as a totalitarian system operating a gulag the Rehabilitation Project Force for members of Scientology s Sea Org found guilty of transgressions From the mid s onward press articles reports and essays on Scientology appeared on an almost daily basis accompanied by books and television programmes that reached a mass audience
As noted by the religious scholar Hubert Seiwert Scientology came to be seen as a serious political danger that not only threatened to turn individuals into will less zombies but was also conspiring to overthrow the democratic constitution of the state This view of Scientology as a public enemy Seiwert adds became a matter of political correctness senior political figures became involved in launching campaigns against Scientology and being suspected of any association with it resulted in social ostracism Stephen A Kent writing in noted that officials at all levels of German government shared the insistence that Scientology should be suppressed Scientology was viewed as a totalitarian business driven organization guilty of significant human rights abuses Officials examining primary and secondary sources legal documents and the testimony of former members concluded that the organization was antithetical to a democratic state Federal ministries and state governments were asked to use all legal means at their disposal to check the activities of Scientology
Government publications on the dangers of sects increased between and and a significant number of them dealt with the Church of Scientology The German courts had approved such publications in seeing them as part of the government s responsibility to keep the public informed and finding that they did not interfere with religious freedom In the German parliament launched an Enquete Enquiry Commission to investigate sects and similar groups in large part because of public concerns about Scientology Its final report published in June concluded that Scientology alone among new religious movements required monitoring by Germany s domestic intelligence services
An area of widespread concern in the German media has been the alleged infiltration of businesses by Scientologists in line with Scientology s declared aim to penetrate society politics and business in preparation for world domination Attempts to infiltrate businesses have reportedly been most successful among small and medium size companies such as estate agents management consultants and management training companies Management consultancy firms led by Scientologists often conceal their association with Scientology once they have recruited members of their clients upper management these managers may send employees to Scientology trainers as part of company education and training programmes without informing them as to the origin of the training methods used An expensive commercial version of Scientology s Oxford Capacity Analysis usually offered free as part of Scientology proselytizing in public places temporarily entered some major German companies who were unaware of its provenance via such a management consultancy firm
In the mid s German sect experts expressed concerns that Scientologists were becoming active in the German after school tutoring market These concerns arose because customers of around after school tutoring centres operated by Scientologists in Frankfurt Hamburg Stuttgart and elsewhere might be unaware that their children were being taught by Scientologists using Scientology methods Brochures advertising the tutoring services would at most mention the name of L Ron Hubbard the founder of Scientology but not Scientology itself
In early Thomas Gandow Sect Commissioner of the German Lutheran Church in Berlin and Brandenburg and the historian Guido Knopp both likened the Scientologist Hollywood actor Tom Cruise to Goebbels the Nazi propaganda minister Gandow and Knopp cited a leaked Scientology video in which Cruise was seen asking the audience whether Scientologists should clean up the world the audience responding with enthusiastic cheers cheers which Gandow and Knopp felt were reminiscent of the audience s response to Goebbels famous question Do you want total war Gandow s and Knopp s comments found few critics in Germany Most Germans consider Scientology a subversive organization In Time reported that of Germans favoured banning Scientology a poll conducted in September by Der Spiegel found support for a ban
German scholars such as Brigitte Schn and Gerald Willms have commented that rhetoric dominates public discourse around Scientology in Germany in their view efforts to frame information in such a way as to shape opinion have long been more important than the underlying realities In Schn s words this includes both the efforts of German politicians to enhance their popularity with strong worded statements and Scientology s efforts to present itself as the victim of unjust persecution commenting on foreign reporting on Scientology in Germany she adds that the American press may prefer sensationalist news to boring investigation and may frame the issue according to American stereotypes Both Willms and Schn assert that the situation is compounded by the general paucity of scientific studies of Scientology Schn as well as Irving Hexham Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary in Canada have remarked in particular on the lack of academic studies by German scholars Hexham attributes this situation to the strong influence of the Christian churches in Germany which has made German academics wary of approaching the subject because they fear repercussions for their research funding and for their prospects of future employment if they involve themselves in the debate
In a German public broadcaster ARD showed the film Until Nothing Remains a dramatized account of the effect Scientology had on one German family Said to be based on a true story the film attracted widespread media attention and a viewership of million
While there have been calls for Scientology to be banned the Church of Scientology remains legal in Germany and is allowed to operate there Its precise legal status however is unresolved Two points are contested first whether or not the teachings of Scientology qualify as a religion or worldview Religion or Weltanschauung these are equal before German law and secondly whether or not these teachings are only used as a pretext for purely commercial activity if the latter were the case this would most likely imply that Scientology would not qualify for protection as a religious or worldview community Religions oder Weltanschauungsgemeinschaft under Article of the German constitution which guarantees the freedom of belief religion and worldview Status as a religious or worldview community also affects a broad range of other issues in Germany such as taxation and freedom of association
The Federal Court of Justice of Germany has not yet made an explicit decision on the matter but implicitly assumed in that Scientology represented a religious or worldview community The Upper Administrative Court in Hamburg explicitly asserted in that Scientology should be viewed as a worldview community In the Federal Labor Court of Germany decided that the Church of Scientology merely pursued commercial aims and did not represent a religious or worldview community entitled to protection under Article of the German Constitution although another decision by the same court left the question open again in In another decision the Administrative Court of Baden Wrttemberg in Mannheim said there were no indications that the teachings of Scientology merely served as a pretext for commercial activity In the Federal Administrative Court of Germany explicitly granted a Scientologist protection under Article of the German Constitution which declares the freedom of religion and worldview inviolate
Many courts have declined to assess the religious status of Scientology finding that the question was irrelevant to deciding the case at hand The Federal Administrative Court for example ruled in that the question whether or not Scientology was a religion was irrelevant and that its legal status should be judged by its business activities The German government does not consider the Church of Scientology to be a religious or worldview community and asserts that Scientology is a profit making enterprise rather than a religion Recent years have seen a number of court decisions in Scientology s favour despite the very widespread negative attitude to Scientology among politicians and the general public
Given the history of Nazism s rise to power in Germany in the s the present German state has committed itself to taking active steps to prevent the rise of any ideology that threatens the values enshrined in the German constitution The BfV domestic intelligence service Bundesamt fr Verfassungsschutz or Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution regards the aims of Scientology as running counter to Germany s free and democratic order and has been monitoring Scientology since as have the Offices for the Protection of the Constitution in a number of German Lnder Minister for Family Policy Claudia Nolte instituted the surveillance saying that the church had totalitarian tendencies and that she would oppose Scientology with all the means at her disposal
The German Church of Scientology has repeatedly challenged the legality of this surveillance in court In December the Administrative Court in Berlin ruled against the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution and ordered it to stop the recruitment and deployment of staff and members of the Church of Scientology Berlin as paid informants The court ruled that the use of informants was disproportionate In the same court ruled that it was illegal for the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution to include the activities of Scientology in its report given that the report did not document any activities that were opposed to the constitution
At the federal level Scientology lost a complaint against continued surveillance by the BfV in November The federal court based its opinion on its judgment that the aims of Scientology as outlined by L Ron Hubbard in his writings were incompatible with the German constitution Lawyers acting for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution pointed out that Hubbard had written that civil rights for example should be restricted to Scientologists and they asserted that the Scientology organization was taking systematic steps to infiltrate society and government institutions in order to prevent anti Scientology legislation Opposing counsel acting for the Church of Scientology had contended that Scientology was non political its aims were the liberation of the human being and that Hubbard s instructions were valid only within the Church of Scientology and were subject to interpretation and at any rate there was no effort to implement these instructions in Germany The court disagreed and ruled that many sources some of them not accessible to the general public indicated that the aims of the Church of Scientology did include the abrogation of the principle of equality and other essential human rights
In Saarland surveillance was stopped by a court as inappropriate in because there is no local branch of Scientology and few members As of May the Church of Scientology in Germany dropped the legal battle to prevent surveillance of its activities by the BfV after the North Rhine Westphalia Higher Administrative Court in Mnster refused to hear an appeal on the matter Being suspected of maintaining ambitions against the free democratic basic order the Scientology organization added a declaration on human rights and democracy to its bylaws
There is at least one example of surveillance of Scientology by the German intelligence services outside of Germany In the Swiss government detained an agent of the German government charging him with carrying out illegal business for a foreign state working for a political information service and falsifying identity documents The German government posted bail for the agent He was eventually given a day suspended jail sentence for spying on Scientology and the German government apologized to Switzerland for the incident
A sect filter also known as a protective declaration Schutzerklrung is a document that requires prospective business partners or employees to acknowledge any association with a sect or new religious movement before entering a business or employment contract Such sect filters primarily used to screen out Scientologists have been drafted by German government agencies for use by businesses Sect commissioner s offices exist in Germany as part of regional or local government
A work instruction introduced in requires government staff in the Arbeitsmter local employment agencies and social security offices operated by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to mark companies owned by Scientologists with the letter S Where companies are suspected of having Scientologist staff prospective employees are alerted to this fact by government staff Government officials have publicised the names of individual Scientologists and conducted media campaigns against their businesses some businesspeople have placed advertisements in the press saying they are not Scientologists in order to avoid the associated stigma
Due to concerns about possible government infiltration by Scientologists applicants for civil service positions in Bavaria are required to declare whether or not they are Scientologists and a similar policy has been instituted in Hesse Companies tendering for government contracts were likewise required to state they are not Scientologists in this requirement was changed and firms are now asked to sign a form stating that the technology of L Ron Hubbard will not be used in executing the contract When it became known that Microsoft s Windows operating system included a disk defragmenter developed by Executive Software International a company headed by a Scientologist this caused concern among German government officials and clergy over data security and the potential for espionage To assuage these concerns Microsoft Germany agreed to provide a means to disable the utility Following letters of complaint about discrimination from Scientology lawyers some American companies such as General Electric IBM and Ford Motor Company instructed their German subsidiaries to cease the use of protective declarations
The city state of Hamburg set up a full time office dedicated to opposing Scientology the Scientology Task Force for the Hamburg Interior Authority under the leadership of Ursula Caberta In in a case brought by a Scientologist the Federal Administrative Court of Germany ordered the city of Hamburg to cease recommending the use of protective declarations to its business community finding that the practice infringed religious freedom In June the Hamburg Administrative Court fined the city of Hamburg Euros for not complying with court instructions banning the use of sect filters Internet links to sample filters to be used by businesses had continued to remain available Eileen Barker a professor of sociology at the London School of Economics has noted that Germany has gone further than any other Western European country in restricting the civil rights of Scientologists The Hamburg task force was closed down in August as a result of budget cuts Caberta moved to a position within the Hamburg interior authority where she continues her work on Scientology
Scientologists have been banned from joining major political parties in Germany such as the Christian Democratic Union the Christian Social Union of Bavaria the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Free Democratic Party Existing Scientologist members of these parties have been purged according to Time Magazine Scientologists have been prevented from running employment and au pair agencies in Germany Scientologists who were running such agencies had their permits revoked In a sports scientist and former member of the German national fencing team was dismissed from his job at the German Olympic fencing centre after he stated in an interview that he had enjoyed reading books by L Ron Hubbard and had participated in a course run by a Scientologist management and communication consultancy firm Thomas Gottschalk a German TV presenter was falsely accused in of having taken part in Scientology courses Gottschalk responded by announcing that he had not and that he would henceforth cease all contact with a friend who had links to Scientology In Gnther Oettinger the Minister President of the German state of Baden Wrttemberg expressed concern that Scientologist John Travolta was to appear on Gottschalk s programme and asked the ZDF TV station to consider revoking the invitation the ZDF said that uninviting Travolta would cause greater damage and that Scientology was not going to be discussed in the programme
In the Bavarian Administrative Court ruled that a woman working in a children s daycare centre whose employment had been terminated when her ex husband identified her as a Scientologist should be reinstated The woman had demonstrated to the court s satisfaction that her Scientological beliefs were irrelevant to her work According to the agreement that concluded the case she promised not to use Scientology methods in her work and to inform the children s parents of her membership in Scientology
In March it was reported that German authorities were increasing their efforts to monitor Scientology in response to the opening of a new Scientology headquarters in Berlin On December German federal and state interior ministers expressed the opinion that the Scientology organization was continuing to pursue anti constitutional goals restricting essential basic and human rights like the dignity of man or the right to equal treatment and asked Germany s domestic intelligence agencies to collect and evaluate the information required for a possible judicial inquiry aimed at banning the organization
The move was criticized by German politicians from all sides of the political spectrum with legal experts and intelligence agencies expressing concern that an attempt to ban the organization would likely fail in the courts Sabine Weber president of the Church of Scientology in Berlin called the accusations unrealistic and absurd and said that the German interior ministers evaluation was based on a few sentences out of pages of Scientological literature She added I can also find hundreds of quotes in the Bible that are totalitarian but that doesn t mean I will demand the ban of Christianity
In November the government abandoned its attempts to ban Scientology after finding insufficient evidence of illegal or unconstitutional activity The report by the BfV cited knowledge gaps and noted several points that would make the success of any legal undertaking to ban Scientology doubtful First the BfV report stated there was no evidence that Scientology could be viewed as a foreign organization there were German churches and missions a German board German bylaws and no evidence that the organization was totally remote controlled from the United States A foreign organization would have been much easier to ban than a German one The second argument on which those proposing the ban had counted was Scientology s aggressive opposition to the constitution Here the report found that Scientology s behaviour gave no grounds to assume that Scientology aggressively sought to attack and overthrow Germany s free and democratic basic order Neither its bylaws nor any other utterances supported the conclusion that the organization had criminal aims The BfV also considered whether there were grounds to act against the Church of Scientology on the basis that they were practising medicine without a licence but expressed doubts that a court would accept this reasoning
Commenting on the decision to drop the ban attempt Ehrhart Krting Berlin s interior minister said This organization pursues goals through its writings its concept and its disrespect for minorities that we cannot tolerate and that we consider in violation of the constitution But they put very little of this into practice The appraisal of the Government at the moment is that Scientology is a lousy organization but it is not an organization that we have to take a hammer to The Church of Scientology expressed satisfaction with the decision describing it as the only one possible Monitoring of Scientology s activities by the German intelligence services continues
In February the Berlin Administrative Court ruled that a poster placed by local city authorities on an advertising column next to a bus stop in front of the Berlin Scientology headquarters warning passers by of the potential dangers Scientology activities posed to democracy and individual freedom should be removed The decision was upheld in July by the Upper Administrative Court of Berlin Brandenburg which ruled that the poster violated Scientologists basic religious rights
The United States media while generally reporting negatively on Scientology in domestic news has taken an at least partially supportive stance towards Scientology in relation to Germany Richard Cohen for example writing in the Washington Post said in Scientology might be one weird religion but the German reaction to it is weirder still not to mention disturbing Alan Cowell writing in the New York Times wrote in that the German response to Scientology motivated by officials fear that Scientology was a totalitarian movement growing like the Nazi party from inconsequential beginnings was itself redolent of the Nazi era s authoritarianism
The US Department of State has repeatedly claimed that Germany s actions constitute government and societal discrimination against minority religious groups and expressed its concerns over the violation of Scientologists individual rights posed by sect filters The US Department of State began to include the issue of Scientology in Germany in its annual human rights reports after the agreement between the Church of Scientology and the US Internal Revenue Service through which Scientology gained the status of a tax exempt religion in the United States That decision also marked the beginning of more intense lobbying efforts by the Church of Scientology in Washington using paid lobbyists The State Department s human rights report on Germany released in January warned that artists and businesses with Scientology connections may face boycotts and discrimination sometimes with government approval Past targets of such actions had included Scientologist actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta as well as jazz pianist Chick Corea
Also in January an open letter to then Chancellor Helmut Kohl appeared published as a newspaper advertisement in the International Herald Tribune drawing parallels between the organized oppression of Scientologists in Germany and Nazi policies espoused by Germany in the s The letter was conceived and paid for by Hollywood lawyer Bertram Fields whose clients have included Tom Cruise and John Travolta and was signed by prominent figures in the US entertainment industry including the top executives of MGM Warner Bros Paramount Universal and Sony Pictures Entertainment as well as actors Dustin Hoffman and Goldie Hawn director Oliver Stone writers Mario Puzo and Gore Vidal and talk show host Larry King It echoed similar parallels drawn by the Church of Scientology itself which until then had received scant notice and was followed by lobbying efforts of Scientology celebrities in Washington
US Department of State spokesman Nicholas Burns rejected the Nazi comparisons in the open letter as outrageous and distanced the US government from Nazi comparisons made by the Church of Scientology saying We have criticized the Germans on this but we aren t going to support the Scientologists terror tactics against the German government Chancellor Kohl commenting on the letter said that those who signed it don t know a thing about Germany and don t want to know German officials argued that the whole fuss was cranked up by the Scientologists to achieve what we won t give them tax exempt status as a religion This is intimidation pure and simple Officials explained that precisely because of Germany s Nazi past Germany took a determined stance against all radical cults and sects including right wing Nazi groups and not just against Scientology Kohl s Christian Democratic Union party denounced the letter as absurd and cited German court rulings stating that Scientology had primarily economic goals and could legitimately be referred to using phrases such as a contemptuous cartel of oppression
In February a United States immigration court judge granted asylum to a German Scientologist who claimed she would be subject to religious persecution in her homeland In April John Travolta met personally with US President Bill Clinton at a conference in Philadelphia Travolta later said Clinton assured him that he would really love to help with the issue over in Germany with Scientology According to Travolta Clinton recalled that he had a roommate years ago who was a Scientologist and had really liked him and respected his views on it stating that Scientologists were given an unfair hand in Germany and that he wanted to fix it In September John Travolta Chick Corea and fellow Scientologist Isaac Hayes were heard by the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe CSCE also known as the Helsinki Commission voicing their complaints about the treatment of Scientologists in Germany and had a briefing with United States National Security Advisor Sandy Berger whom Clinton had assigned to be the administration s Scientology point person The German ambassador responded with a letter to the CSCE stating that the German government had come to the conclusion that Scientology s pseudo scientific courses can seriously jeopardize individuals mental and physical health and that it exploits its members adding that membership can lead to psychological and physical dependency to financial ruin and even to suicide In addition there are indications that Scientology poses a threat to Germany s basic political principles
A United Nations report in April raised concerns about the violation of individual rights posed by sect filters However it rejected the comparison of the treatment of Scientologists with that of Jews during the Nazi era
In the German Stern magazine published the results of its investigation of the asylum case It asserted that several rejection letters which the woman had submitted as part of her asylum application ostensibly from potential employers who were rejecting her because she was a Scientologist had in fact been written by fellow Scientologists at her request and that of Scientology s Office of Special Affairs and that she was in personal financial trouble and about to go on trial for tax evasion at the time she applied for asylum On a visit to Clearwater Florida Ursula Caberta of the Scientology Task Force for the Hamburg Interior Authority likewise alleged that the asylum case had been part of an orchestrated effort by Scientology undertaken for political gain and a spectacular abuse of the US system German expatriate Scientologists resident in Clearwater in turn accused Caberta of stoking a hate campaign in Germany that had ruined the lives and fortunes of scores of Scientologists and maintained that Scientologists had not exaggerated their plight for political gain in the United States Mark Rathbun a former top Church of Scientology official said that although Scientology had not orchestrated the case there would have been nothing improper if it had
In Joachim Gntner writing in the Swiss Neue Zrcher Zeitung noted that Gerhard Besier a German Christian theologian director of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research into Totalitarianism in Dresden and recipient of an honorary doctorate from Lund University Sweden for his championing of religious freedom had been pressured to forego publication of his scientific study of Scientology after having found himself the subject of widespread criticism in the German media for advocating a more tolerant attitude towards Scientology Gntner concluded that alarmism had triumphed over science and noted an apparent lack of confidence in Germany s ability to engage in open public discourse on the matter
The US Department of State s report on religious freedom in Germany published in stated that The status of the Church of Scientology remains in limbo The Constitutional Court and various courts at the state level have not explicitly ruled that Scientology is a religion Government agencies at the federal and state level have rules and procedures that discriminate against Scientology as a group and against its members Four of the major political parties the Christian Democratic Union Christian Social Union Social Democratic Party and Free Democratic Party ban Scientologists from party membership Scientologists reported instances of governmental discrimination Although courts at the state and federal level condemned the improper use of so called sect filters to blacklist and boycott Scientologists they remained in use in the public sector Sect filters typically asked potential new employees to confirm in writing that they had no contact with Scientology did not participate in its training courses and rejected its doctrines Catholic and Protestant churches continued to oppose Scientology publically sic although press reporting and public reactions to Scientology decreased Several private organizations issued warnings about after school study programs run by Scientologists
Menschenrechtsbuerode Human Rights website of the German Church of Scientology German
Scientology Publications of German regional governments Website of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution German
Website of the Hamburg Scientology Task Force German
Asahi Asahi was a pre dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy IJN in the late s As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships itself the ship was designed and built in the United Kingdom Shortly after her arrival in Japan she became flagship of the Standing Fleet the IJN s primary combat fleet She participated in every major naval battle of the Russo Japanese War of and was lightly damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Battle of Tsushima Asahi saw no combat during World War I although the ship participated in the Siberian Intervention in
Reclassified as a coastal defence ship in Asahi was disarmed two years later to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty after which she served as a training and submarine depot ship She was modified into a submarine salvage and rescue ship before being placed in reserve in Asahi was recommissioned in late after the start of the Second Sino Japanese War and used to transport Japanese troops In she was converted into a repair ship and based first at Japanese occupied Shanghai China and then Cam Ranh Bay French Indochina from late to The ship was transferred to occupied Singapore in early to repair a damaged light cruiser and ordered to return home in May She was sunk en route by the American submarine USS Salmon although most of her crew survived
Combat experience in the First Sino Japanese War of convinced the Imperial Japanese Navy of weaknesses in the Jeune cole naval philosophy which emphasized torpedo boats and commerce raiding to offset expensive heavily armoured ships Therefore Japan promulgated a ten year naval build up in early to modernize and expand its fleet in preparation for further confrontations with the construction of six battleships and six armoured cruisers at its core These ships were paid for from the indemnity paid by China after losing the First Sino Japanese War As with the earlier Fuji and Shikishima classes Japan lacked the technology and capability to construct its own battleships and turned again to the United Kingdom for the four remaining battleships of the programme Asahi the fifth Japanese battleship to be built in Britain was ordered from the Clydebank Engineering Shipbuilding Company shipyard in Clydebank Scotland in the annual naval programme
Asahi s design was a modified version of the Formidable class battleships of the Royal Navy with two additional inch mm guns The ship had an overall length of feet inches m a beam of feet m and a normal draught of feet inches m She displaced long tons t at normal load Asahi had a complete double bottom with watertight compartments Her hull was also subdivided into watertight compartments She was fitted as a flagship and her crew numbered about officers and enlisted men including the admiral s staff
The ship was powered by two vertical triple expansion steam engines built by Humphrys Tennant each driving one propeller using steam generated by Belleville boilers at a working pressure of bar kPa psi The engines were rated at indicated horsepower kW using forced draught and designed to reach a top speed of knots km h mph although Asahi reached knots km h mph from indicated horsepower kW during her sea trials on March She carried a maximum of long tons t of coal which allowed her to steam for nautical miles km mi at a speed of knots km h mph The ship was fitted with three steam driven kilowatt hp dynamos
Asahi s main battery consisted of the same four Elswick Ordnance Company calibre twelve inch guns used in all of Japan s preceding battleships They were mounted in twin gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure The hydraulically powered mountings allowed the guns to be loaded at all angles of traverse at a fixed elevation of Each mount could traverse a total of degrees They fired pound kg projectiles at a muzzle velocity of ft s m s
The ship s secondary armament consisted of fourteen calibre inch mm quick firing QF guns mounted in casemates Eight of these guns were positioned on the main deck and the other six guns were placed above them in the superstructure They fired pound kg shells at a muzzle velocity of ft s m s Protection against torpedo boat attacks was provided by twenty QF pounder cwt guns The pounders fired inch mm pound kg projectiles at a muzzle velocity of ft s m s Lighter guns consisted of eight millimetre in three pounder Hotchkiss guns and four millimetre pounder Hotchkiss guns The former were mounted in the superstructure and the latter in the fighting tops The three pounder gun fired pound kg projectiles at a muzzle velocity of ft s m s while the pounder fired pound kg shells at a muzzle velocity of ft s m s The ship was also equipped with four submerged inch torpedo tubes two on each broadside
The waterline main belt of Asahi consisted of Harvey armour feet m high of which feet inches m was above the waterline at normal load and had a maximum thickness of inches mm for the middle feet m of the ship It was only inches mm thick at the ends of the ship and was surmounted by a six inch strake of armour that ran between the barbettes The barbettes were inches mm thick but only inches mm behind the upper armour strake The barbette hoods were protected by inches of armour on their face while their sides were inches thick and the roof was inches mm thick Diagonal bulkheads connecting the barbettes to the side armour were inches thick but only inches thick at the lower deck level The frontal armour of the casemates protecting the secondary armament was also inches thick with the rear protected by inch mm armour plates The flat portion of the deck armour was inches mm thick and inches mm thick where it sloped down to the sides of the ship The conning tower was protected by inches of armour
Asahi like all the other Japanese battleships of the time was fitted with four Barr and Stroud FA coincidence rangefinders that had an effective range of yards m The ships were also fitted with power magnification telescopic gunsights
Asahi meaning rising sun a poetic name for Japan from a stanza of waka poetry was laid down on August in Clydebank Scotland by the Clydebank Engineering Shipbuilding Co and completed by John Brown Company which purchased the firm before Asahi was completed She was launched on March and completed on July Her completion was delayed by about three months when her bottom plating required repairs after running aground off Southsea following sea trials The ship departed England after repairs in Portsmouth on the day of her completion and arrived at Yokosuka Japan on October Asahi became flagship of the Standing Fleet on May and was assigned to the st Battleship Division of the st Fleet when the Combined Fleet was re formed on December
At the start of the Russo Japanese War Asahi commanded by Captain Hikohachi Yamada was assigned to the st Division of the st Fleet She participated in the Battle of Port Arthur on February when Vice Admiral Tg Heihachir led the st Fleet in an attack on the Russian ships of the Pacific Squadron anchored just outside Port Arthur Tg had expected the surprise night attack by his destroyers to be much more successful than it was anticipating that the Russians would be badly disorganized and weakened but they had recovered from their surprise and were ready for his attack The Japanese ships were spotted by the protected cruiser Boyarin which was patrolling offshore and alerted the Russian defences Tg chose to attack the Russian coastal defences with his main armament and engage the ships with his secondary guns Splitting his fire proved to be a poor decision as the Japanese eight inch mm and six inch guns inflicted little damage on the Russian ships which concentrated all their fire on the Japanese ships with some effect Although many ships on both sides were hit Russian casualties numbered only while the Japanese suffered killed and wounded before Tg disengaged Asahi was not hit during the engagement
The ship participated in the action of April when Tg successfully lured out a portion of the Pacific Squadron including Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov s flagship the battleship Petropavlovsk When Makarov spotted the five battleships of the st Division he turned back for Port Arthur and Petropavlovsk struck a minefield laid by the Japanese the previous night The Russian battleship sank in less than two minutes after one of her magazines exploded and Makarov was one of the killed Emboldened by his success Tg resumed long range bombardment missions prompting the Russians to lay more minefields which sank two Japanese battleships the following month
During the Battle of the Yellow Sea on August Asahi now commanded by Captain Tsunaakira Nomoto was second in line of the column of Japanese battleships behind Mikasa and was one of the primary targets of the Russian ships She was only hit by a single inch shell that wounded two crewmen Both guns in her aft inch gun turret however were disabled by shells that detonated prematurely in their barrels In turn she concentrated most of her fire upon the battleships Poltava and Tsesarevich although both ships were only lightly damaged by the Japanese shells which generally failed to penetrate any armour and detonated on impact The ship made the critical hits of the battle however when two of her inch shells struck the bridge of Tsesarevich killing the Russian squadron commander Vice Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft two of his staff officers and the ship s quartermaster The ship s wheel was jammed to port by wreckage and then slowed to a halt which threw the rest of the Russian ships into total confusion The second in command Rear Admiral Prince Pavel Ukhtomsky eventually gained control of the remainder of the squadron and headed back to Port Arthur Slightly more than two months later on October Asahi struck a mine off Port Arthur while on blockade duty Severely damaged she was under repair at Sasebo Naval Arsenal from November to April Russian naval forces in the Far East had been destroyed or neutralized by this time and the Russians were forced to transfer ships from the Baltic Fleet that did not arrive until May
At the Battle of Tsushima on May Asahi again followed the battleship Mikasa into combat this time against the Second and Third Pacific Squadrons Mikasa opened fire at the battleship Knyaz Suvorov the Russian flagship at and was joined by Asahi and the armoured cruiser Azuma shortly afterwards Within an hour the Japanese ships had started a serious fire aboard the Russian ship badly wounded the fleet commander Vice Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky knocked out her rear inch gun turret and jammed Knyaz Suvorov s steering so that she fell out of formation The Russian ships were concentrating their fire on Mikasa during the early part of the battle and Asahi was not damaged during this time Tg was able to cross the T of the Russian squadrons Knyaz Suvorov s steering was later repaired but she blundered between the Japanese and Russian fleets several times later in the battle and was heavily damaged Asahi seems to have mostly engaged the battleships Borodino and Oryol in the late stages of the battle although Fuji fired the shots that caused the Borodino s magazines to explode and sink her Asahi fired more twelve inch shells than any other ship during the battle In total the ship was hit six times during the battle but none of them damaged her significantly While Asahi s casualties are not precisely known the Japanese only lost men killed and wounded to all causes during the battle The battle was a total Japanese victory with five Russian battleships captured and incorporated into the IJN
Captain W C Pakenham the Royal Navy s official military observer under the Anglo Japanese Alliance took notes of the battle s progress from a deck chair on Asahi s exposed quarterdeck His report confirmed the superiority of Japanese training and tactics and publicized the victory in the West
In Asahi was part of the Japanese fleet that escorted the American Great White Fleet through Japanese waters during its round the globe voyage The ship was assigned to the st Fleet in and Asahi became a gunnery training ship in and was re armed in with Japanese guns replacing her original British made guns The same year she was assigned to the th Division of the rd Fleet In Asahi became flagship of her division and participated in the Japanese intervention in the Russian Civil War She escorted troop convoys to the Russian Far East and was guard ship at Kamchatka from January to August Asahi was reclassified as a first class coastal defence ship on September and began disarmament in at Yokosuka in compliance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty She was reclassified as a training and submarine depot ship on April and her disarmament was completed in July of that same year Her displacement dropped to long tons t with the loss of her armour and guns and her speed was limited to knots km h mph
The navy decided to convert Asahi into a submarine salvage ship and she began the first stage of her conversion with the installation of specialized salvage equipment from February to August From to October the ship s Belleville boilers were replaced with four Kanpon Type RO boilers at Kure Naval Arsenal One of her two funnels was also removed and two large lifting frames were installed as part of the second stage of her conversion The ship conducted experiments in submarine rescue using the old German submarine ex U In May Asahi was fitted with a foot inch m compressed air aircraft catapult on her forecastle and successfully launched an EN Type seaplane After repeated accidents the catapult was replaced by one powered by gunpowder On the completion of testing in Asahi was placed in reserve
Reclassified as a repair ship on August Asahi was taken out of reserve in November after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident that started the Second Sino Japanese War and was used as a transport to land troops in an amphibious landing at Hangzhou Bay Afterwards she began conversion at Kure Japan into a repair ship this was completed on December Asahi was fitted with a dummy wooden main battery fore and aft to resemble an old battleship after her arrival in Shanghai on December In May she was modified to act as a torpedo depot ship and carried out patrols between May and November She was transferred to Camranh Bay French Indochina on November and later transported the th Base Unit from Kure to Camranh Bay November December
From March Asahi was stationed at Singapore and in April her crew performed repairs on the light cruiser Naka which had been torpedoed by the submarine USS Seawolf off Christmas Island Departing Singapore for Kure on May escorted by the subchaser CH Asahi was sighted by the submarine USS Salmon on the night of May miles km southeast of Cape Padaran Indochina Of Salmon s four torpedoes two hit the ship in her port central boiler room and aft spaces At moments after being hit Asahi sank at N E Sixteen men were killed in the attack the ship s captain and crewmen were rescued by CH
Training Day is the twentieth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the shows th episode overall It originally aired on NBC on April The episode was written by Daniel Chun and directed by Paul Lieberstein This episode marks the first appearance of Deangelo Vickers Will Ferrell in the series
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company In the episode Michael Scott s Steve Carell replacement appears in the office to start receiving training from Michael The new manager Deangelo Vickers Will Ferrell has everyone hoping to make good first impressions Andy Bernard Ed Helms finds himself awkwardly typecast while Jim Halpert John Krasinski and Pam Halpert Jenna Fischer worry that they ve come on too strong Only Dwight Schrute Rainn Wilson is apathetic about the new leader
Training Day received mixed reviews from television critics with many commenting on Ferrell s appearance The episode was also viewed by million viewers and received a percent rating among adults between the ages of and ranking first in its timeslot The episode ultimately ranked as the highest rated NBC series of the night
Michael is waiting in a hotel bar for his replacement Deangelo Vickers Will Ferrell to show up While waiting he meets a man at the bar and the two instantly hit it off When Michael calls Vickers to see where he is it is revealed that the man Michael has been talking to is actually Deangelo though it takes the two some time to actually realize this
Deangelo comes to the branch the next day and most of the staff is eager to make a good first impression Kevin wears his toupee Jim and Pam believe they have started off well by mentioning their baby and Deangelo designates Andy as the office funny guy when he reveals that he carries name tags around to avoid situations like the one Deangelo and Michael were in Meanwhile Dwight is not pleased that he was not selected to replace Michael believing that Michael put in a good recommendation for him Michael becomes disturbed however when Deangelo wants to make some changes such as how Erin answers the phone
While Deangelo gets annoyed with Jim and Pam he loves the antics of Andy who has resorted to physical comedy when his jokes fall flat getting to the point where he pours hot coffee on his pants and at Deangelo s urging eats soap Andy tells the camera with dazed sadness that this is my life now Deangelo s popularity with the employees causes Michael to get jealous to the point where he passes out peanut butter sandwiches despite Deangelo s peanut allergy Deangelo then assembles the staff in the multipurpose room including Dwight who learned from Gabe that Michael did not put in a recommendation and thus snubs Michael Jim quietly tells Michael that he chose to resign his job and needs to come to terms with both that choice and the fact that life is going to go on at the office Deangelo then steps out of his meeting and asks Michael for advice for how to run the meeting saying that he s a good manager and Dunder Mifflin won t be the same without him The two make up with a reverse hug Deangelo telling him that he should start enjoying his retirement Michael returns to his office while Deangelo conducts his meeting in the conference room
In another effort to impress Deangelo Jim and Pam bring in Cece to which Deangelo reacts positively While they celebrate getting back on his good side Deangelo reveals to the camera that he is in fact indifferent to Cece and was just being polite
The episode was written by co executive producer Daniel Chun his fourth writing credit of the series It was directed by then showrunner Paul Lieberstein his sixth directing credit of the series The episode marked the first appearance of Will Ferrell s four episode arc on the series and is also one of series star Carell s last episodes as a regular on the series Ferrell signed on to appear in Steve Carell s final three episodes and the first episode without Carell The Inner Circle to make Carell s transition easier Carell had decided to leave the series because I just think it s time I want to fulfill my contract When I first signed on I had a contract for seven seasons and this coming year is my seventh I just thought it was time for my character to go Ferrell initially called the producers and offered to appear in Carell s last season because he s a fan and wanted to commemorate Carell s swan song He had previously starred alongside Carell in the film Anchorman The Legend of Ron Burgundy
The Season Seven DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode The cut scenes include a sequence in which Michael and Deangelo discuss cancer jokes and the film Megamind an animated film that featured the voice of Ferrell while drinking vodka shots of Michael and Deangelo discussing their enjoyment for coffee and Dwight attempting to appease his new boss
In its original American broadcast Training Day was viewed by an estimated million viewers and received a rating share among adults between the ages of and This means that it was seen by of all to year olds and of all to year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast This marked a rise in the ratings from the previous episode Garage Sale which can be attributed to Ferrell s guest appearance The episode ranked first in its timeslot beating the Fox crime drama Bones which scored a percent relating in the demographic a rerun of the ABC medical drama Grey s Anatomy and a rerun of the CBS crime drama CSI Crime Scene Investigation
Training Day received mixed reviews from television critics IGN writer Cindy White wrote that Deangelo was not given a proper introduction and that he wasn t distinguished from Michael s character She also went on to criticize Jim Pam and Dwight s reaction to Deangelo as the new manager particular that of Jim and Pam writing that it s becoming painfully obvious that the longtime writers don t know what to do with them anymore However she concluded that the episode continued the seventh season s improvement over the sixth and that it showed potential for future episodes of the season She ultimately gave the episode a out of rating denoting a good episode The AV Club reviewer Myles McNutt praised Michael s reactions to the office easily ignoring him for Deangelo calling the final shot of him walking into his office alone quite effective and that Dwight s reaction to not being suggested to be Michael s replacement made it more meaningful Despite this he continued by saying that the series was not sophisticated enough to use this plotline effectively and criticized the writing for the cast which made them look stupid for cheap humor and a enormously shallow laughter He ultimately gave the episode a C Alan Sepinwall a columnist for HitFix complimented the chemistry between Ferrell and Carell but criticized the storyline which eventually came down to Michael being petulant about not being the center of attention every minute of every day negatively comparing it to Viewing Party Despite this he noted that Ferrell s presence did involve several funny moments
Bonnie Stiernberg for Paste was more positive writing that she preferred the use of comedy following the emotional episode Garage Sale She ultimately gave it an out of Will Ferrell s performance was especially noted by critics McNutt complimented Ferrell s nuanced performance but called his character uninteresting Stiernberg praised his dynamic with Carell comparing it to their previous roles in Anchorman His later appearances in the series also received similar mixed reviews For instance McNutt called Ferrell s scenes a momentum killer in Goodbye Michael whereas Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone called his performance in the same episode pure magic
John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham August January was the th Governor of Kentucky and a United States Senator from Kentucky He was the state s first popularly elected senator following passage of the Seventeenth Amendment
Descended from a prominent political family Beckham was chosen as Democrat William Goebel s running mate in the gubernatorial election of despite the fact that he was not yet of legal age to serve as governor if called to do so Goebel lost the election to Republican William S Taylor but the Kentucky General Assembly disputed the election results During the political wrangling that followed an unknown assassin shot Goebel A day later the General Assembly invalidated enough votes to give the election to Goebel who was sworn into office on his deathbed Taylor claimed the election had been stolen by the Democratic majority in the General Assembly and a legal fight ensued between him and Beckham over the governorship Beckham ultimately prevailed and Taylor fled the state
Following his term as governor Beckham made a bid to become a US Senator His stance in favor of prohibition cost him the votes of four legislators in his own party and the seat went to Republican William O Bradley Six years later Beckham secured the seat by popular election but he lost his re election bid largely because of his pro temperance views and his opposition to women s suffrage Though he continued to play an active role in state politics for another two decades he never returned to elected office failing in his gubernatorial bid in and his senatorial campaign in He died in Louisville on January
J C W Beckham was born at Wickland near Bardstown in Nelson County Kentucky son of William Netherton and Julia Tevis Wickliffe Beckham His maternal grandfather Charles A Wickliffe was governor of Kentucky from to and served as postmaster general in the administration of John Tyler His uncle Robert C Wickliffe served as governor of Louisiana
Beckham obtained his early education at Roseland Academy in Bardstown In he served as a page in the Kentucky House of Representatives at the age of Later he enrolled at Central University now Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond Kentucky but was forced to quit school at the age of to support his widowed mother Two years later he became principal of Bardstown public schools serving from to Concurrently he studied law at the University of Kentucky where he earned his law degree in He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Bardstown in He also served as president of the Young Democrats Club of Nelson County
Beckham s political career began in when he was elected without opposition to the Kentucky House of Representatives He served four consecutive terms and was Speaker of the House in his final year in the House He also served as a delegate to every Democratic National Convention from to
Democrat William Goebel chose Beckham as his running mate in the Kentucky gubernatorial election of Goebel was hesitant about the selection because he wanted someone who could deliver the vote of his home county in the general election and Beckham s native Nelson County was already committed to a rival candidate But friends of Goebel assured him that Beckham would be loyal to Goebel s reform agenda whereas the two other men Goebel was considering as running mates would stack the Senate committees against him Beckham was not yet the minimum age to serve as governor at the time of his selection
Goebel lost a close election to Republican William S Taylor When the General Assembly s session opened on January the election results were immediately challenged With Democrats in control of both houses of the Assembly the results seemed sure to be reversed The Assembly was still deliberating on January when Goebel was shot by an unknown assailant as he entered the state capitol building The following day as Goebel was being treated for his wounds at a local hotel the General Assembly invalidated enough votes to give him the election He was sworn into office from his bed the same day Three days later Goebel died never having risen from the bed
Legislative chaos ensued as Taylor refused to acknowledge the Assembly s decision and vacate the governorship The Republicans in the legislature obeyed Taylor s orders while the Democrats ignored Taylor and followed the orders of their leadership Finally on February Taylor and Beckham agreed to let the courts settle the matter The case first went before the Louisville Circuit Court which found in favor of Beckham Republicans appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals at that time the court of last resort in the state On April the Court of Appeals upheld the ruling of the lower court Taylor appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States which declined to hear the case on May Taylor s only supporter on the court was Kentuckian John Marshall Harlan
Following the Supreme Court ruling Taylor fled to Indianapolis Indiana fearing he would be implicated in Goebel s assassination Beckham became acting governor but because of the unusual circumstances surrounding the election a special election was held November to determine who would complete Goebel s unexpired term Beckham now of age won the election over Republican John W Yerkes by fewer than votes Shortly following the special election Beckham married Jean Raphael Fuqua of Owensboro The couple had two sons
As governor Beckham sought to unite his party and the state As part of this effort he supported changes to the blatantly partisan Goebel Election Law authored by his late running mate while the latter was a member of the General Assembly He stressed non controversial issues such as improvements to roads and the state s educational system He recommended passage of a law to set uniform school textbook prices a reform both he and Goebel had advocated during the gubernatorial campaign However his passive leadership ensured that the General Assembly did little to address his agenda The only major pieces of legislation passed during Beckham s term were a tax increase that added a half million dollars to the state s revenue and a child labor law that forbade children under to work without their parents consent
Although the Kentucky Constitution prohibited governors from serving consecutive terms Beckham announced he would seek a full term as governor in His candidacy was challenged in court but the court ruled Beckham had not served a full first term and was eligible to run Due to his record of reconciliation and supporting non controversial reforms he had no significant opposition in winning his party s nomination His record also deprived his Republican opponent Morris B Belknap of any significant campaign issue in the general election Beckham defeated Belknap and three minor candidates
In his message to the legislature in Beckham again raised the issue of a uniform school textbook law which had not passed during his first term The law was one of few significant reforms that passed during the session During the session funds were approved for building a new capitol building and a memorial to the late Governor Goebel
In March Beckham signed the Day Law mandating racial segregation of all schools in Kentucky Berea College a private college in eastern Kentucky that had been integrated since the s immediately filed suit to challenge the law The substance of the law was upheld in the circuit court and the Kentucky Court of Appeals Berea appealed to the Supreme Court and in the court handed down an decision against the college Only John Marshall Harlan dissented
Near the close of the session legislators approved the creation of Beckham County from parts of Carter Elliott and Lewis counties Olive Hill was made the county seat Soon the county s existence was challenged in court on grounds that it fell short of the square miles km required by the state constitution and that it reduced the counties it was carved from to less than square miles km Carter County joined the lawsuit claiming the border of Beckham County passed too close to Grayson the seat of Carter County and Vanceburg the seat of Lewis County The state constitution forbade county borders to pass within miles km of a county seat On April the Kentucky Court of Appeals found in favor of the plaintiffs and dissolved Beckham County
During the legislative session Beckham urged investigation and prosecution of corrupt insurance companies following the lead of New York attorney Charles Evans Hughes In particular he recommended reducing the practice of deferred dividends which allowed the insurance companies to keep large stores of cash on hand for illegal purposes He further advocated that insurance companies doing business in the state be required to invest a certain percentage of their earnings in Kentucky bolstering the its economy and providing policyholders some protection against fraud
Beckham refused to send troops into the western part of the state to quell the ongoing Black Patch Tobacco Wars He cited constitutional reasons for his refusal but more probably his reasons were political the Democrats were dominant in this region and he didn t want to challenge his own party By collecting some old Civil War debts from the federal government Beckham virtually eliminated the state s debt Encouraged by the state s improved finances the General Assembly voted to expand two of the state s normal schools Western State Teachers College in Bowling Green later Western Kentucky University and Eastern State Teachers College in Richmond later part of Eastern Kentucky University
With a successful legislative session behind him Beckham made a bold political move in June he orchestrated an effort to set the Democratic gubernatorial and senatorial primaries in November a full year before the gubernatorial election and two years before the senatorial election Beckham wanted the Senate seat and moving the primary up two years would allow him to secure his party s nomination while he was still governor It also allowed him to use his influence as governor to sway the party s choice of his potential successor as governor State Auditor Samuel Wilbur Hager was Beckham s choice for governor and easily won the early primary over challenger NB Hays Former governor James B McCreary challenged Beckham for the senatorial nomination but Beckham won by more than votes
Beckham s term as governor ended December In January he faced the legislature as the Democratic nominee for a seat in the US Senate by virtue of the primary held two years earlier The Republicans nominated former governor William O Bradley On the first ballot Beckham secured of the needed votes Bradley received votes Seven Democrats had not voted for Beckham Over the next six weeks more votes were taken with neither man securing a majority even though William Jennings Bryan the Democratic nominee for president campaigned for Beckham Some Democrats pressured Beckham to withdraw and allow a more palatable Democrat to run but he refused On the th ballot taken near the end of February Bradley finally secured a majority after four Democrats crossed party lines to vote for him
Beckham s ardent support of prohibition likely cost him the election His position put him at odds with Henry Watterson editor of the powerful Louisville Courier Journal As governor Beckham had crossed the liquor interests and the political machinery in Louisville When the Kentucky Court of Appeals invalidated the results of Louisville s municipal elections due to interference by the city s whiskey ring in May Beckham appointed Robert Worth Bingham a young lawyer and fellow prohibitionist as interim mayor until elections could be held in November Bingham eliminated grafting in the police department closed gambling houses and enforced blue laws closing saloons on Sunday Following this the whiskey ring announced Beckham had forfeited the support of Louisville s legislators In the senatorial election in three of the four Democrats who voted against Beckham were from Louisville Following his defeat Beckham returned to his law practice
Six years later Beckham again attempted to win the Senate seat Due to the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment the senator would not be elected by the legislature but by popular vote In the Democratic primary Beckham defeated Augustus O Stanley a year veteran congressman The Republican nominee was former governor Augustus E Willson Bolstered by his support of President Woodrow Wilson Beckham won the election by votes
Beckham served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Labor from to and on the Senate Committee on Military Affairs In the latter position he was influential in securing two large military training posts for Kentucky Camp Zachary Taylor and Fort Knox Though Camp Zachary Taylor was abandoned after World War I Fort Knox became the home of the United States Bullion Depository When the United States entered World War I Beckham continued to back President Wilson and supported the League of Nations
True to his prohibitionist stance Beckham supported passage of the Eighteenth Amendment forbidding the import and sale of alcohol in the United States The amendment was ratified and became effective in January Believing women should be protected from involvement in politics Beckham opposed the Nineteenth Amendment which granted women s suffrage The amendment failed on February but passed on June Beckham voted against it both times
The Democrats renominated Beckham without opposition in His opponent in the general election was Republican Richard P Ernst Prohibition had destroyed the distilling industry and the saloon business in the state and in areas where these industries were prominent Beckham received more than fewer votes than Democratic presidential nominee James M Cox He was also hurt by the women s vote and by his support of President Wilson who had lost popularity since Beckham s election in Ernst won the election by fewer than votes winning the race with percent of the vote to Beckham s percent During his single term in the Senate Beckham served alongside three other US Senators from Kentucky Ollie M James George B Martin and Augustus O Stanley
Following his term in the Senate Beckham resumed his legal practice in Louisville He sought another term as governor in This time he had the support of the Louisville Courier Journal which had been purchased by his ally Robert W Bingham He was opposed by a powerful political machine known as the Jockey Club whose main interest was securing legislation to allow parimutuel betting at the state s horse racetracks
The Jockey Club ran a candidate in both parties primary elections In the Democratic primary Beckham defeated the Club s relatively obscure candidate Robert T Crowe Flem D Sampson the Club s nominee in the Republican primary won his party s nomination In the general election Beckham could not secure the support of Democratic governor William J Fields who had been elected with the help of the Jockey Club Despite the Democrats winning every other contest on the ballot including the race for lieutenant governor Beckham lost to Sampson by more than votes It was estimated that the Club spent over to defeat him
Beckham was expected to be the Democrats nominee for governor in but the death of his son in late left him distraught and his wife opposed to another campaign The Democrats turned to A B Happy Chandler of Henderson who won the election Beckham supported Chandler s bid and in return Chandler appointed him to the Kentucky Public Service Commission in Beckham also served on the Department of Business Regulations Commission and chaired the State Government Reorganization Commission
Beckham attempted to return to the Senate in The head of the Jockey Club James B Brown had lost his fortune and influence when his banking empire crashed in In Beckham s ally Robert Bingham had been appointed ambassador to the Court of St James s increasing his prominence and influence Beckham also enjoyed the support of the United Mine Workers and Louisville mayor Neville Miller The race was complicated though by the entry of John Y Brown a Democrat who was a US Representative and former Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives He had agreed to support Chandler s bid for the governorship in exchange for Chandler s support in his run for the Senate However Chandler threw his support to Beckham and while Brown was not able to win the seat without the support of Bingham and Chandler he did garner votes most of them at Beckham s expense Democratic incumbent M M Logan retained the seat by votes
Beckham died in Louisville on January and was buried in Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort Kentucky Beckham County Oklahoma was named in his honor at the suggestion of a Kentuckian who was serving as a delegate to Oklahoma s constitutional convention in Wickland his birthplace was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February
The New Zealand Native football team was a New Zealand rugby union team that toured Britain Ireland Australia and New Zealand in and It mostly comprised players of Mori ancestry and also included some Pkeh white New Zealanders A wholly private endeavour the tour was not under the auspices of any official rugby authority it was organised by New Zealand international player Joseph Warbrick promoted by civil servant Thomas Eyton and managed by James Scott a publican The Natives were the first New Zealand team to perform a haka and also the first to wear all black They played rugby matches during the tour as well as a small number of Victorian Rules football and association football matches in Australia Having made a significant impact on the development of New Zealand rugby the Natives were inducted into the International Rugby Board Hall of Fame in
After a preliminary tour of New Zealand in the side travelled to England via Melbourne and Suez The Mori players initially provoked curiosity due to their race but the British press subsequently expressed some surprise that the side was not as Mori as they had expected Playing their first match on October against Surrey the team was subjected to a taxing match schedule and frequently played three matches per week Their early matches included a loss to Middlesex but their form improved in November when they won of their matches The team played its first international match on December against Ireland and won This was followed by a win over one of the strongest English county teams Yorkshire and a defeat against the Wales national team By January the Natives had played matches in less than three months winning of them they had spent most of their time in the north of England where the playing strength was strongest and the crowds largest and most profitable
In a return match on January Yorkshire fielded a stronger side than in the first match and inflicted one of the Natives heaviest losses a defeat The team then went undefeated until February when they faced England Officials of the strictly amateur Rugby Football Union RFU had become increasingly concerned at the behaviour of the New Zealanders regarding them as unsportsmanlike and tensions reached a nadir in the aftermath of the England international during which the RFU secretary George Rowland Hill refereeing the game awarded a number of controversial tries to England prompting three of the Natives to temporarily leave the field in protest England eventually won The Natives apologised afterwards for their behaviour but the damage was not repaired The New Zealanders left England without an official send off and travelled to Australia where they toured Victoria New South Wales and Queensland They then returned to New Zealand where they displayed a level of combination not seen in their home country before They went games undefeated before losing their final match on August to Auckland
The Natives final record in rugby matches was wins draws and losses They introduced a number of tactical innovations to New Zealand rugby on their return home and their tour contributed to the formation of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union in Seventeen of the team s players went on to play provincially in New Zealand and two Thomas Ellison and David Gage subsequently captained the New Zealand national rugby team
The idea for assembling a team of Mori footballers to tour Britain was conceived by Joseph Warbrick a rugby player who had toured with the first New Zealand national team in He initially proposed a team of Mori or part Mori to play the touring British side in this developed into a venture to have a Mori team tour Britain if a preliminary tour of New Zealand were successful Hearing of Warbrick s plans civil servant Thomas Eyton contacted him to offer help managing the tour which Warbrick accepted When James Scott a publican subsequently joined the partnership the three men decided that Warbrick would be the team s captain Scott its manager and Eyton its promoter
Warbrick started assembling a team for the tour in early He had difficulties assembling a squad due to player availability and failed to secure the talented Jack Taiaroa due to his university commitments Some Mori players who initially agreed to play later pulled out when the eligibility criteria were relaxed to allow squad members who were only part Mori Twenty Mori or part Mori players joined the squad five Pkeh white New Zealand players were added after the team lost to Auckland Due to the inclusion of these Pkeh players the team was renamed from the New Zealand Maori to the New Zealand Native Football Representatives The final squad comprised players including Warbrick of these at least five were full blooded Mori while fourteen had a Mori mother and a Pkeh father The parentage of some of the players is unknown
The team toured New Zealand before departing overseas playing against Hawke s Bay Auckland Nelson Wellington Canterbury South Canterbury and Otago The first game was contested against Hawke s Bay in Napier on June They played nine games in their preliminary tour of New Zealand and won seven of them Their last New Zealand match before departure against Otago played in Dunedin on July was won by one try to nil
The team sailed for Australia from Dunedin leaving on August In Melbourne Scott recruited Jack Lawlor to train the players in Victorian Rules football in Britain as preparation for possible Victorian Rules matches on their return to Australia The team played two rugby matches against the Melbourne Rugby Union team winning the first and drawing the second before continuing to Britain via Suez They arrived in London on September
The team were met in Britain by local rugby administrators including an official of England s Rugby Football Union RFU The first match of the tour was against Surrey where the team became the first New Zealand side to perform a haka and also the first to wear an all black uniform That the team was predominantly Mori provoked curiosity from the British press at the time most Britons had not seen non white people but there was some surprise that the team were not as Mori as had been expected They are not unlike Europeans a Scottish reporter wrote in November that is their resemblance is great when one remembers that they were a savage tribe no further back than a generation The Surrey match which was refereed by the RFU secretary George Rowland Hill was won by the Natives after they scored two tries
The Natives next defeated both Northamptonshire and Kent before defeats by Moseley and Burton on Trent Both defeats were unexpected and in the Moseley match injuries played a part the tourists played most of the match at least two men down as replacements were then not allowed The team recovered to win their next game against Midlands Counties in Birmingham Their next fixture was against Middlesex in a match not open to the public and hosted by the Earl of Sheffield at Sheffield Park Uckfield The Middlesex side contained a number of international players including Arthur Gould Middlesex won easily with the Natives play characterised by poor tackling The final score was with three tries conceded by the New Zealanders Prior to the match both sides had enjoyed lunch with wine an indulgence the Natives were not used to A report in the Auckland Star had this to say of the game
The New Zealanders expected to meet a mere exhibition of scratch players whereas Mr Rowland Hill had carefully collected the best possible team available Such passing as the Home men displayed the Maoris frankly admit they have never previously witnessed Said McCausland whilst we were on the platform waiting for the London train I think they would have just beaten us even if we had been in good form
Following the match against Middlesex the team travelled to the north where the strongest English rugby teams were based Yorkshire and Lancashire dominated the county championship until many of their respective member clubs split from the RFU in over the issue of broken time payments The New Zealanders lost to Hull defeated Dewsbury then lost to Wakefield After their first draw of the tour against Northumberland County they defeated Stockton on Tees and Tynemouth Joe Warbrick appeared in the match against Tynemouth but aggravated the foot injury that had kept him out of the side until that point These victories were followed by a defeat to Halifax on November The team then won seven matches in a row including one against Hawick RFC their only Scottish opposition of the tour The last two matches that month were a loss to Swinton and a victory over Liverpool and District The team had played thirteen fixtures during November and won ten of them By this point the team was beset by injuries of the fifteen players that played against Westmorland County on November five had injuries The squad comprised only players and the tourists were often struggling to field a side Nevertheless their heavy schedule continued on November they left for Dublin where a match had been organised against the Ireland national team
The Ireland fixture was played at Lansdowne Road Dublin on December Both teams had a number of leading players out injured the Irish were forced to make four changes to their original selection Ireland led at half time after scoring a converted try but the Natives improved considerably in the second half scoring four tries Patrick Keogh scored the first two tries and his play was praised by the local press The third try scored was by Thomas Ellison after a counter attack by George Williams The try was not converted but the strong finish from the New Zealanders gave the visitors a victory The Irish press were surprised by the loss and strongly criticised their team but Ireland did go on to defeat Wales two tries to nil in the Home Nations Championship Following their defeat of Ireland the Natives played Trinity College and then North of Ireland The match against Trinity College was drawn and despite Keogh not playing the Native side played much better than their previous fixture The team then travelled to Belfast where they defeated North of Ireland on December scoring two tries to nil
After returning to England the Natives faced Lancashire in Manchester where they lost Two days later they drew with Batley Bulldogs despite their opposition scoring five tries Their next match was against Yorkshire who were one of the strongest counties in the country and went on to win the inaugural County Championship that season Yorkshire fielded a weakened team and were subsequently defeated by the Natives who scored six tries After a further two victories the team travelled to Wales where they lost to Llanelli before facing Wales on December
At the start of the match the home crowd were fairly hostile towards the Welsh team due to fans of both Swansea and Llanelli feeling slighted by the lack of selection of their players Four teams dominated Welsh international selection at the time and out of the man team only William Towers and William Bowen of Swansea and Dan Griffiths of Llanelli had been selected The match was played in Swansea and the lack of local players may have contributed to a poor crowd with gate receipts of only recorded The crowd s hostility impacted on the players and debutant Norman Biggs was palpably nervous at the start of the match Biggs aged years and days became the youngest Welsh international player a record he held until the debut of Tom Prydie in Despite the heckles aimed primarily at Biggs Charlie Arthur and George Thomas the Welsh team produced an excellent effort especially from the forwards
Towers scored the first Welsh try which was converted by Jim Webb The Natives replied with a spirited run by Ellison but he failed to break through the Welsh defence The tourists trailed even further after George Thomas scored a breakaway try frrm the half way line which went some way to silence the heckles from the crowd Webb playing in out of position at full back missed the conversion and then failed at a long distance goal from a mark The Natives continued to push with Elliot coming within five yards of the try line and when Ellison did manage to cross the line he was carried back into the yard line before he could touch down In the second half Wales continued to push their advantage when Alexander Bland dribbled the ball into the Natives this was collected by Sydney Nicholls who managed to get the ball across the try line allowing Jim Hannan to score Warbrick for the Natives and Stadden for Wales both subsequently came close to scoring tries but there were no further scores in the game
The match was also of historical importance because of the Welsh tactics employed In the Home Nations Championship Wales had trialled the four three quarter system wherein the team would play with eight forwards rather than nine and instead employ an extra centre three quarter The system was deemed a failure and was particularly unpopular with star Welsh player Arthur Gould whose formidable ability as a back allowed his club team Newport to retain the additional forward With Gould working in the West Indies Wales again tried the four three quarter system against the Natives and its success saw the team permanently adopt the system Within six years the other three Home Countries had adopted four three quarter style of play
Before they left Wales the Natives played Swansea and two other local clubs Newport and Cardiff They defeated Swansea for their first win in Wales and followed this up with a victory over Newport in front of spectators They finished their Welsh matches and the year with a loss to Cardiff in front of a partisan crowd
The side entered having played matches for wins and three draws The Natives play had improved throughout November and December following poorer form in their October matches positive press reports reflected this improvement The team would go on to play a further matches before their February international against England January started with a loss to Bradford during which police officers were required to keep many of the spectators many of them non paying in order This was followed by victories over Leeds Parish Church Kirkstall Brighouse Rangers and Huddersfield Following further matches against Stockport Castleford and Warrington where the team drew lost then won the side faced Yorkshire for a second time
Yorkshire had been criticised in the press for fielding a weakened line up against the Natives when the sides first met in December After the unexpected loss Yorkshire were determined to make amends and a strong side was selected for the county including Fred Bonsor Richard Lockwood and John Willie Sutcliffe all of whom would appear for England against the Natives later that season Described as knocked about and stale the Natives struggled to compete against such strong opposition and Yorkshire scored three converted tries before a try to Ellison left the scores at at half time The second half was little better for the Natives they conceded a further two tries as well as a drop goal The second of these tries was scored by Lockwood after he ran the ball from his own half Ellison scored a converted try late in the match but this didn t prevent the Natives suffering their largest defeat of the tour to the Yorkshiremen Ellison later described the match as without a murmur the biggest beating we received in our whole tour
After a victory over Spen Valley District the team travelled west to play Somersetshire Devonshire Taunton and Gloucestershire and won all five games The victory over Somerset was the New Zealanders largest of the tour they scored nine tries in a victory Half back Keogh played outstandingly for the Natives while the entire side demonstrated superior passing and combination to their opposition Devonshire and Tauton suffered heavy defeats by the New Zealanders before a strong Gloucestershire side was dismissed After defeating Midland Counties the Natives returned to London
The team had two further matches before their international against England The first was against one of the strongest clubs in England Blackheath Andrew Stoddart who had toured New Zealand and Australia with the British Isles side played for the club in their defeat to the Natives The New Zealanders won having scored four tries including two by Keogh Their next opposition was a United Services side mainly comprising Royal Navy players The Natives were again victorious this time The match against Oxford University was postponed due to heavy frost and so the team had a seven day break from playing their longest of the tour
The match against England was causing the Natives players and management problems before it had even begun The team manager Scott was in dispute with the RFU over where the match should be played the RFU were adamant that the match should take place at Blackheath s ground but Scott wanted the game to proceed at The Oval where a larger crowd and therefore higher gate receipts could be secured The strictly amateur RFU establishment were already suspicious of the profit making motives of the Natives and were unwilling to yield on the selection of venue The RFU was also in dispute with the other Home Unions over the formation of the International Rugby Football Board IRFB Following a disputed try in an England Scotland international match in the Scottish authorities had pushed for the establishment of an international body to oversee the game but the RFU insisted that they would only join if they held a deciding vote arguing that they deserved this as they were they asserted the senior body and had the most member clubs Ireland Wales and Scotland consequently refused to play against England until when following arbitration the RFU relented and joined the IRFB The absence of international matches was a factor in England agreeing to face the Natives on February
The line ups selected for the February match were both strong and close to full strength Though of the England side had not played internationally before all were experienced at domestic level The match was refereed by Rowland Hill who had also officiated the Natives first match in Britain against Surrey The opening of the first half was a scoreless affair with much tackling and scrummaging on the heavy ground Later in the half England scored two tries through Harry Bedford but both were disputed by the Natives who claimed that one of their players had grounded the ball in goal England took the two try advantage into the second half
Early in the second half a third disputed try was scored by the English The try and its aftermath caused controversy and a rift between the Natives and the RFU Ellison attempted to tackle the English player Stoddart and in the process ripped his shorts off The Natives quickly formed a circle around Stoddart to allow him to replace his clothing without being seen While this was happening one of the English players Frank Evershed picked up the ball and scored a try The New Zealanders protested believing that play had stopped after claiming Stoddart had called dead ball but Hill awarded the try prompting three of the Native players Dick Taiaroa Williams and Sherry Wynyard to leave the field in protest The aggrieved players were eventually persuaded to return but not before Hill had restarted play Ellison was very critical of Hill particularly because he was also Secretary of the RFU Ellison wrote after the tour that gross as these errors were they were insignificant when compared with another that Mr Hill committed at the outset of the game viz refereeing at all in that game The disputed try was followed by a final try for the English who ultimately won
The RFU at Hill s instigation promptly demanded an apology from the Natives captain of the day Edward McCausland who had led the team as Joe Warbrick was injured The English authorities of the time believed that the decision of a referee was above question and that protesting a decision as the New Zealanders had done was unsportsmanlike The RFU threatened to bar any of their affiliated players in other words the entire rugby playing population of England from facing the Natives if they did not apologise McCausland swiftly sent an apology by telegram but this was deemed inadequate he therefore sent another four days after the game
The London establishment that governed the game were disturbed by the New Zealanders approach to the game reports of rough and over aggressive play by the Natives had steadily increased in frequency since their arrival in Britain In the north of England criticism of the visitors sportsmanship was rarer the tourists were accepted as playing the game in the same spirit as their local opponents which in the north was a more working class sport than in the south Some of the Natives including Joe Warbrick accused the RFU and the English press of hypocrisy claiming that they were quick to criticise the New Zealanders for rough play yet tolerant of similar behaviour from their own players
The Natives remained in London following the England international They defeated London Welsh on February before losing first to Cambridge then Oxford University From there they travelled north and won two matches before losing to Leigh After a win over Runcorn there was a defeat to Oldham played on a ground Eyton said was so frozen it was dangerous After reversing their previous loss to Halifax with a win the Natives suffered a loss to Barrow and District on March The New Zealanders then had a run of seven straight wins before a draw with Hull Widnes were then defeated for the second time in two weeks in the tourists last match in northern England
The team struggled to find an opponent for their final match in Britain They eventually played Southern Counties and beat them This was their th match in the British Isles and their th victory The authorities and press in London continued to view the team negatively and the Natives boarded ship without a formal farewell This perceived affront from the RFU provoked some criticism from the press outside London as well as from the team manager Scott who felt that with the team s official apology after the England match the controversy should have put to rest
The majority of the Natives left Plymouth on March Eyton and Pie Wynyard followed a week later They arrived in Melbourne in May where the team played mostly Victorian Rules football hoping to make more money that way Although the side had employed Jack Lawlor to coach them in Victorian Rules during their tour of the British Isles the heavy schedule and high injury count had left little time and energy for such training As a result the Victorian Rules matches were a failure the players unfamiliarity with the rules combined with the fact that most of the Natives were rugby forwards and therefore less suited to the more open Victorian Rules ensured that they failed to perform well on the field and struggled to attract large crowds The side played nine Victorian Rules matches in total including one in New South Wales but won only three of them all against relatively weak opposition
The side s success in their rugby matches contrasted to their failure in Victorian Rules the New Zealanders played three rugby matches while in Victoria against Melbourne a Navy selection and Victoria The matches were all won with their game against Victoria a victory After this they left for Sydney for further rugby matches and defeated New South Wales After two further victories the side again faced New South Wales and won the match Another two victories followed before the team played their only association football matches of the tour both defeats
The team travelled north to Queensland where as in New South Wales rugby was the dominant code of football Consequently the team exclusively played rugby while in the region The Natives faced Queensland at the Association Ground in Brisbane The spectators witnessed the New Zealanders overwhelm the Queenslanders to win the Natives did not exert themselves in the win and the score did not reflect their dominance After a further two matches against Toowoomba and Ipswich both of whom were comfortably defeated the team returned to Brisbane for a rematch with Queensland In contrast to their first meeting the first half was a close affair and the two sides were tied at the conclusion of the half Billy Warbrick suffered a kick to the head and had to retire early in the second half Following the loss of Warbrick the play of the Natives improved and they recovered to win Not long after the game concluded rumours circulated that some of the players had been offered by bookmakers to throw the game Eyton later said
It was on the occasion of this match that four of our players were thought in racing parlance to be playing stiff and that they had been got by some bookies at all events when accused of it at half time and cautioned they played a different game in the second half
The response from the team s management was to suspend four players The team travelled to Toowoomba where they defeated the locals The Natives included a replacement player for only the second time Charles Speakman after the suspensions reduced the playing strength of the side The team then travelled back to New Zealand and arrived in Invercargill on August
Two days after their return the Natives faced Southland who they defeated in front of a crowd of The side suffered further injury to Harry Lee and recruited Southlander W Hirst for their match against Mataura District on August Despite playing the match two players down the Natives comfortably defeated Mataura Following the side s return to New Zealand the Otago Rugby Football Union demanded that the team s management explain the accusations levelled at them in Queensland Eyton responded by insisting that the players had only been suspended while an investigation was conducted and that the management was confident no wrongdoing had occurred The Northern Rugby Union since renamed Queensland Rugby Union summarised the incident and aftermath in the Queensland Rugby Union Annual
it was apparent to a judge of the game that something was wrong with the Maori as they were not showing their usual dash and combination Four members of the team were suspended a charge being made against them of attempting the sell the match The matter was bought before the Otago Union who passed the following resolution That having heard all available evidence regarding the charges against certain members of the Native Team and having received an explicit denial of charges from the accused members and a satisfactory explanation from the management we are of opinion that there are no facts before us justifying the allegations
It is unlikely given the attitude of the Otago Rugby Union to the Natives before their departure that they would have dismissed the allegations if incriminating evidence had existed The side was back to full strength following the return of their suspended players when the side faced Otago in Dunedin The Natives outscored their opponents five tries to two and won The side s star player and half back Keogh stayed in Dunedin when the team departed for Christchurch The side faced Hawke s Bay who were touring in Christchurch and handily defeated them The Natives play was praised by The Press the wearers of the black passed with remarkable accuracy and quickness between their legs over their shoulders under their arms and with their feet The side then faced Canterbury on August who they thrashed The report published in The Press said of the Natives performance
The play showed on Saturday afternoon was a fine exhibition of what several months of combination and practice will do it must be admitted they were far and away too good for our local men In the loose in the scrum dribbling passing collaring or running they were very much indeed Canterbury s superior Such runs as were made by Warbrick at full back by Madigan Gage and W Wynyard the passing of H Wynyard F Warbrick and all the backs as well as several forwards the rushes of Alf Warbrick Maynard Taare Taiaroa and Rene and the dodging and fending powers of nearly every one nonplussed their opponents
The side left Christchurch and travelled north where they played Wairarapa in Masterton The match was won and the next day they faced Wellington who they also defeated The fixture against Wellington was nearly abandoned because Scott and the Wellington Rugby Union could not agree on a venue the match went ahead only when the Wellington officials agreed to cede the Natives all profit from the match After this the Natives travelled to Auckland where they played their last match against the province on August The match was lost after each team scored two tries each but the Aucklanders kicked a drop goal and a conversion The loss ended a remarkable run of matches the Natives had a game unbeaten streak in rugby matches that started with their victory over Widnes on March the side won and drew one match between the defeats
The tour had a significant impact on the development of rugby within New Zealand It was the first tour of the British Isles by a team from the Southern Hemisphere and the longest in the history of the sport By the time the Natives returned to New Zealand they had developed into a side superior to any in the country and introduced a number of tactical innovations Seventeen of the players went on to play provincially in New Zealand and two Ellison and David Gage subsequently captained New Zealand
The tour also prompted the eventual formation of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union NZRFU later renamed New Zealand Rugby Union in one reason for its formation was to ensure greater control over any future touring New Zealand sides The NZRFU sent an officially sanctioned New Zealand team captained by Ellison to tour Australia in The Natives are also the forefathers of the Mori All Blacks a representative team organised by the NZRFU that first played in The Native team along with Joe Warbrick was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame in the seventh inductee
The squad consisted of players The exact names of several of the players is unknown The number of matches played is a minimum number only the line ups for a number of matches in Britain and Australia are either incomplete or unknown
Ireland T Edwards DC Woods A Walpole MJ Bulger J Stevenson RG Warren capt HW Andrews EG Forrest JH O Conor JG Moffatt JN Lytle J Waites R Stevenson JC Jameson FO Stoker
New Zealand Natives William Warbrick David Gage Edward McCausland Frederick Warbrick Patrick Keogh Tabby Wynyard Charles Madigan William Elliot George Williams Dick Taiaroa Thomas Ellison W Anderson Joe Warbrick Richard Maynard Charles Goldsmith
Wales Jim Webb Newport George Thomas Newport Dickie Garrett Penarth Charlie Arthur Cardiff Norman Biggs Cardiff Charlie Thomas Newport William Stadden Cardiff Frank Hill Cardiff capt Alexander Bland Cardiff Sydney Nicholls Cardiff Jim Hannan Newport Theo Harding Newport William Towers Swansea William Bowen Swansea Dan Griffiths Llanelli
New Zealand Natives William Warbrick Edward McCausland William Thomas Wynyard David Gage William Elliot Frederick Warbrick Patrick Keogh George Wynyard Alexander Webster Teo Rene George Williams Arthur Warbrick David Stewart Wi Karauria Thomas Ellison
England Arthur Artie V Royle John William JW Sutcliffe Andrew Stoddart Richard Dicky Evison Lockwood William Martin Scott Fernand Fred Bonsor capt Frank Evershed Donald Don Jowett Charles Anderton Harry James Wilkinson Harry Bedford William Yiend John W Cave Frederick Lowrie Arthur Robinson
New Zealand Natives William Warbrick Edward McCausland Tabby Wynyard Charles Madigan William Elliot David Gage Patrick Keogh George Wynyard Teo Rene Harry Lee Thomas Ellison George Williams W Anderson Dick Taiaroa Richard Maynard
va Gauthier September December was a Canadian American mezzo soprano and voice teacher She performed and popularised songs by contemporary composers throughout her career and sang in the American premieres of several works by Erik Satie Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky including the title role in the latter s Persphone
The niece of Lady Laurier and Sir Wilfrid Laurier who also were her patrons she initially trained and performed in Europe She then travelled to Java and for four years immersed herself in its native music which she introduced to North American audiences on her return She retired from performing in and opened a voice studio in New York where she became a founding member of the American Guild of Musical Artists and served on its board of governors Gauthier was praised for the many qualities her singing brought to music The citation from the Campion Society of San Francisco which she received in said her rare open mindedness and unorthodox enthusiasm having been initially responsible for the recognition of many vital and important modern composers
Born in Ottawa Ontario Gauthier received musical lessons as a child in harmony voice and piano The custom of the time dictated that North American musicians travel to Europe for training if they desired a reputable professional career and in July at the age of seventeen Gauthier set out for Europe financed by her aunt and uncle Lady Zo Laurier and Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Gauthier travelled to France where she received private voice lessons from Auguste Jean Dubulle of the Paris Conservatory Nodules on her vocal cords were problematic but they were removed surgically She later began training under Jacques Bouhy whom she would later credit for her vocal technique In Gauthier was retained by fellow Canadian singer Emma Albani to accompany her on a tour of England and her Canadian farewell tour Albani provided a degree of mentorship to Gauthier during the week tour of Canada
Lord Strathcona awarded Gauthier a scholarship in that allowed her to return to Europe and continue her vocal studies She returned there and continued both to study and give performances Her first operatic performance came in in Pavia Italy as Micala in Bizet s Carmen She landed a second operatic role as Mallika in Delibes Lakm which was being performed by the London Covent Garden opera company The opera opened in June Supposedly Luisa Tetrazzini the prima donna soprano of the company feared that Gauthier s voice would outshine her own and demanded that Gauthier be removed from the opera The company s director acquiesced to Tetrazzini s demands informing Gauthier on opening night that she would not be performing Gauthier reacted badly and quit opera entirely
Disappointed by her blocked entry into the operatic scene Gauthier departed Europe and travelled to Java There she met a Dutch importer and plantation manager named Frans Knoote Gauthier and Knoote married on May Gauthier studied the music of Java and began to include this in her repertoire Her accompanying pianist was Paul Seelig who had previously been the conductor for the Kraton of Surakarta which afforded Gauthier a number of opportunities On permission of the Javanese court she studied the gamelan probably being the first western woman with a classical music education to be afforded this opportunity While living in Java Gauthier travelled extensively giving performances in China Japan Singapore Malaya Australia and New Zealand She remained in Java for four years but with the outbreak of World War I she decided to travel back to North America arriving in New York City in the fall of
Arriving in New York Gauthier struggled to find a niche in an already crowded music scene She put on a performance in Vaudeville entitled Songmotion which combined Javan music with dancers New York was already home to many North American and European musical performers so Gauthier focused on her Javan musical repertoire which she combined with knowledge and skill in modernist western singing Gauthier began giving annual recitals at Aeolian Hall and in November her performance there caught the eye of many leading composers She developed her own reputation quickly known as a sensitive purveyor of interesting untried songs She gave renditions of three songs by Maurice Ravel Her performance then also included American premieres of Stravinsky s Three Japanese Lyrics and Griffes Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan The performance was a great success and she began to receive invitations to perform premieres of songs by contemporary composers Stravinsky arranged to have Gauthier to premiere all of his vocal pieces
Gauthier travelled to Paris in at the behest of the Music League of America Sent there to arrange a tour of North America by Maurice Ravel she struck up a friendship and professional correspondence not only with him but also with Erik Satie and Les six This led to more music being sent to her by various composers that she would premiere in concert She accepted and premiered almost all works sent to her the only exception being a refusal to perform Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg Through this Gauthier performed large amounts of contemporary French music across the United States She also included American music in all of her concerts Gauthier toured America frequently and returned to Europe in and again in She began to explore Jazz music in concert as well earning her negative reviews by many musical critics
Her annual performance at Aeolian Hall entitled Recital of Ancient and Modern Music for Voice became a historic occasion when she presented the works of George Gershwin the first time his works were performed by a classical singer in concert The first half of the programme presented works considered serious music at the time She performed both classical works by Vincenzo Bellini and Henry Purcell mixing them with modernist and neoclassical works by Arnold Schoenberg Darius Milhaud Bla Bartk and Paul Hindemith The second half of her performance would upset the musical establishment however She opened with Alexander s Ragtime Band by Irving Berlin then performed works by Jerome Kern and Walter Donaldson and finally finished with three works by George Gershwin I ll Build a Stairway to Paradise Innocent Ingnue Baby and Swanee Gershwin played the piano for these pieces Important figures in the audience included Ernestine Schumann Heink Virgil Thomson and Paul Whiteman Although some musical critics panned her decision to include Jazz music the performance was overall a huge success and provoked serious discussion among conservative audiences whether jazz music could be considered serious art
Gauthier continued to present music that was thought poorly of by conservative audiences On some occasions such as her performances of Gershwin in New York in and as well as in London in this was quite successful A critic in Vienna welcomed her musical selection as a reprieve from the usual fare of classical performances Schubert Brahms Wolf Richard Strauss while praising her skill with more classical choices Other performances suffered she was booed while performing works by Heitor Villa Lobos at the Festival of the International Society of Contemporary Music in Venice She became a celebrity and continued giving performances across the United States Europe and her native Canada On the sixtieth anniversary of Canadian Confederation in she gave a performance in Ottawa which was the first transcontinental radio broadcast in Canada Although she toured Canada from time to time and attended performances of Canadian music in New York she held a negative opinion of Canada s treatment of native musicians saying Canadians would rather listen to foreigners than their own people
Illness forced Gauthier to halt giving performances in the late s but she would return to the stage in giving a concert in Havana Cuba As time passed she began to engage more and more in teaching and less and less in stage performing Her income from teaching was substantially better than from touring She retired from performing entirely in and opened a music studio in New York There she became a founding member of the American Guild of Musical Artists serving on its board of governors She died on December
Gauthier was a controversial musician in her time Her choice of music for performance was often condemned and often praised The appropriateness of jazz music for a classically trained singer combined with the performances taking place in concert halls lead some critics to cheer her for promoting otherwise overlooked music and others to condemn her for taking lowbrow music into a highbrow venue
A May review by the New York Times praised her natural talent with some reservations about the unpolished quality of her voice Her ability to capture the spirit of the pieces was also praised her singing of songs by Frenchmen of today and the day before yesterday gave pleasure because of her understanding of them and the appropriate expression which she found for them
A November Time review of her performance of historic Italian songs as well as modern English French Austrian German and American numbers focused on her choice to include selections of contemporary jazz music The critic remarked Her voice was much too good for jazz Here she was praised as a serious scholarly artist whose performance was neat and expressive The audience received the concert very enthusiastically
Her performance in Fargo in resulted in a headline in the Fargo Forum the next day that was headed Eva Gauthier s Program Sets Whole Town Buzzing Many People Are of Two Minds Regarding Jazz Numbers Some Reluctantly Admit That They Like Them Others Keep Silent or Condemn Them The review divides the audience and critics into various camps those who openly enjoyed and applauded the performance those who openly disliked and condemned it those unsure how to react to a performance they liked but felt was inappropriate and those who liked the performance but would not show approval for fear of looking foolish or uncultured
va Gauthier papers Music Division The New York Public Library
The Battle of Sullivan s Island or the Battle of Fort Sullivan was fought on June during the American Revolutionary War It took place near Charleston South Carolina during the first British attempt to capture the city from American rebels It is also sometimes referred to as the First Siege of Charleston owing to a more successful British siege in
The British organized an expedition in early for operations in the rebellious southern colonies of North America Delayed by logistical concerns and bad weather the expedition reached the coast of North Carolina in May Finding conditions unsuitable for their operations General Henry Clinton and Admiral Sir Peter Parker decided instead to act against Charleston Arriving there in early June troops were landed on Long Island near Sullivan s Island where Colonel William Moultrie commanded a partially constructed fort in preparation for a naval bombardment and land assault General Charles Lee commanding the southern Continental theater of the war would provide supervision
The land assault was frustrated when the channel between the two islands was found to be too deep to wade and the American defenses prevented an amphibious landing The naval bombardment had little effect due to the sandy soil and the spongy nature of the fort s palmetto log construction Careful fire by the defenders wrought significant damage on the British fleet which withdrew after an entire day s bombardment The British withdrew their expedition force to New York and did not return to South Carolina until
When the American Revolutionary War broke out in the city of Charleston in the colony of South Carolina was a center of commerce in southern North America The city s citizens joined other colonists in opposing the British parliament s attempts to tax them and militia recruitment increased when word arrived of the April Battles of Lexington and Concord Throughout and into militia recruits arrived in the city from the colony s backcountry the city s manufacturers and tradesmen began producing war materiel and defensive fortifications began to take shape around the city
British army forces in North America were primarily tied up with the Siege of Boston in Seeking bases of operations where they had more control the British planned an expedition to the southern colonies Major General Henry Clinton then in Boston was to travel to Cape Fear North Carolina where he would join with largely Scottish Loyalists raised in the North Carolina backcountry and a force of men from Ireland under the command of Major General Charles Cornwallis
The plan was beset by difficulties from the start The Irish expedition originally supposed to depart at the beginning of December was delayed by logistical difficulties and its troops did not depart until February escorted by warships under the command of Admiral Sir Peter Parker Clinton left Boston on January with two companies of light infantry and first stopped at New York City to confer with William Tryon New York s royal governor Major General Charles Lee sent by Major General George Washington to see to the defense of New York coincidentally arrived there the same day as Clinton New York was at that time extremely tense Patriot forces were beginning to disarm and evict Loyalists and the British fleet anchored there was having difficulty acquiring provisions Despite this Clinton made no secret that his final target was in the south Lee observed that this was certainly a droll way of proceeding to communicate his full plan to the enemy is too novel to be credited This was not even the first notice of the expedition to the colonists a letter intercepted in December had already provided intelligence that the British were planning to go to the South
Clinton arrived at Cape Fear on March expecting to find the European convoy already there He met with the royal governors of North and South Carolina Josiah Martin and William Campbell and learned that the recruited Scottish Loyalists had been defeated at Moore s Creek Bridge two weeks earlier Clinton also received pleas for assistance from the royal governor of Georgia James Wright who had been arrested and then escaped to a navy ship
Parker s fleet had an extremely difficult crossing Battered by storms and high seas the first ships of the fleet did not arrive at Cape Fear until April and Cornwallis did not arrive until May After several weeks there in which the British troops raided Patriot properties Clinton Cornwallis and Parker concluded that Cape Fear was not a suitable base for further operations Parker had sent out some ships on scouting expeditions up and down the coast and reports on the partially finished condition of the Charleston defenses were sufficiently promising that the decision was made to go there
John Rutledge recently elected president of the General Assembly that remained as the backbone of South Carolina s revolutionary government organized a defense force under the command of year old Colonel William Moultrie a former militiaman and Indian fighter These forces comprised three infantry regiments two rifle regiments and a small artillery regiment they were augmented by three independent artillery companies and the total force numbered about These forces were further augmented by the arrival of Continental regiments from North Carolina and Virginia troops as well as militia numbering from Charleston and the surrounding backcountry
Moultrie saw Sullivan s Island a sandy spit of land at the entrance to Charleston Harbor extending north about miles km long and a few hundred yards wide as a place well suited to build a fort that could protect the entrance from intruding enemy warships A large vessel sailing into Charleston first had to cross Charleston Bar a series of submerged shoals lying about miles km southeast of the city and then pass by the southern end of Sullivan s Island as it entered the channel to the inner harbor Later it would also have to pass the northern end of James Island where Fort Johnson commanded the southeastern approach to the city Moultrie and his nd South Carolina Regiment arrived on Sullivan s Island in March and began construction of a fortress to defend the island and the channel into Charleston Harbor The construction moved slowly Captain Peter Horry of the Patriot naval detachment described the site as an immense pen feet long and feet wide filled with sand to stop the shot The gun platforms were made of planks two inches thick and fastened with wooden spikes
Congress had appointed General Lee to command the Continental Army troops in the southern colonies and his movements by land shadowed those of Clinton s fleet as it sailed south Lee wrote from Wilmington on June that the fleet had sailed but that he did not know whether it was sailing for Virginia or South Carolina He headed for Charleston saying I confess I know not whether I shall go to or from the enemy He arrived in Charleston shortly after the fleet anchored outside the harbor and took command of the city s defenses He immediately ran into a problem the South Carolina troops militia or the colonial regiments were not on the Continental line and thus not formally under his authority Some South Carolina troops resisted his instructions and Rutledge had to intervene by proclaiming Lee in command of all South Carolina forces
Square shaped Fort Sullivan consisted only of the completed seaward wall with walls made from palmetto logs feet m high and feet m wide The walls were filled with sand and rose feet m above the wooden platforms on which the artillery were mounted A hastily erected palisade of thick planks helped guard the powder magazine and unfinished northern walls An assortment of cannon ranging from and pounders to a few British pounders and French pounders dotted the front and rear walls General Lee when he had seen its unfinished state had recommended abandoning the fort calling it a slaughter pen President Rutledge refused and specifically ordered Colonel Moultrie to obey Lee in everything except in leaving Fort Sullivan Moultrie s delaying tactics so angered Lee that he decided on June that he would replace Moultrie the battle began the next day before he could do so Lee did make plans for an orderly retreat to Haddrell s Point
The British fleet weighed anchor at Cape Fear on May and arrived outside Charleston Harbor the next day Moultrie noticed a British scout boat apparently looking for possible landing points on nearby Long Island now known as the Isle of Palms just a few hundred yards from Sullivan s Island troops were consequently sent to occupy the northern end of Sullivan s By June most of the British fleet had crossed the bar and anchored in Five Fathom Hole an anchorage between the bar and the harbor entrance With the fort on Sullivan s Island only half complete Admiral Parker expressed confidence that his warships would easily breach its walls Optimistically believing he would not even need Clinton s land forces he wrote to Clinton that after the fort s guns were knocked out he would land seamen and marines which I have practiced for the purpose under the guns and that they could keep possession till you send as many troops as you think proper
The British fleet was composed of nine man of war ships the flagship gun Bristol as well as the gun Experiment and frigates Actaeon Active Solebay Siren Sphinx Friendship and the bomb vessel Thunder in total mounting nearly cannon The army forces in the expedition consisted of the th th rd th th and th Regiments of Foot and part of the th On June Clinton issued a proclamation calling on the rebel colonists to lay down their arms However the inexperienced defenders fired on the boat sent to deliver it which was flying a truce flag and it was not delivered until the next day That same day Clinton began landing troops on Long Island The intent was that these troops would wade across the channel now known as Breach Inlet between Long and Sullivan s which the British believed to be sufficiently shallow to do so while the fleet bombarded Fort Sullivan
General Lee responded to the British landing with several actions He began reinforcing positions on the mainland in case the British were intending to launch an attack directly on Charleston He also attempted to build a bridge of boats to provide an avenue of retreat for the fort s garrison but this failed because there were not enough boats to bridge the roughly one mile km channel separating the island from Charleston the unwillingness of Moultrie and Rutledge to support the effort may also have played a role The Americans also constructed an entrenchment at the northern end of Sullivan s Island which was manned by more than men and three small cannons and began to fortify a guard post at Haddrell s Point on the mainland opposite Fort Sullivan
General Clinton encountered the first major problem of the attack plan on June An attempt to wade the channel between the two islands established that part of the channel was at least shoulder deep too deep for troops to cross even without the prospect of enemy opposition He considered using boats to ferry the troops across but the Americans with timely advice from General Lee adopted a strong defensive position that was virtually impossible to bombard from ships or the Long Island position As a result the British and American forces faced each other across the channel engaging in occasional and largely inconsequential cannon fire at long range Clinton reported that this meant that Admiral Parker would have the glory of being defeated alone The attack was originally planned for June but bad weather and contrary wind conditions prompted Parker to call it off for several days
On the morning of June Fort Sullivan was defended by Colonel Moultrie commanding the nd South Carolina Regiment and a company of the th South Carolina Artillery numbering men At around am that morning a British ship fired a signal gun indicating all was ready for the attack Less than an hour later nine warships had sailed into positions facing the fort Thunder and Friendship anchored about miles km from the fort while Parker took Active Bristol Experiment and Solebay to a closer position about yards m from Sullivan s Island where they anchored facing broadside to the fort Each of these ships began to fire upon the fort when it reached its position and the defenders returned the fire Although many of Thunder s shots landed in or near the fort they had little effect according to Moultrie We had a morass in the middle that swallowed them up instantly and those that fell in the sand in and about the fort were immediately buried Thunder s role in the action was also relatively short lived she had anchored too far away from the fort and the overloading of her mortars with extra powder to increase their range eventually led to them breaking out of their mounts Owing to shortage of gunpowder Moultrie s men were deliberate in the pace of their gunfire and only a few officers actually aimed the cannons They also fired in small volleys four cannon at a time One British observer wrote Their fire was surprisingly well served and it was slow but decisive indeed they were very cool and took care not to fire except their guns were exceedingly well directed
General Clinton began movements to cross over to the northern end of Sullivan s Island Assisted by two sloops of war the flotilla of longboats carrying his troops came under fire from Colonel William Thomson s defenses Facing a withering barrage of grape shot and rifle fire Clinton abandoned the attempt
Around noon the frigates Sphinx Syren and Actaeon were sent on a roundabout route avoiding some shoals to take a position from which they could enfilade the fort s main firing platform and also cover one of the main escape routes from the fort However all three ships grounded on an uncharted sandbar and the riggings of Actaeon and Sphinx became entangled in the process The British managed to refloat Sphinx and Syren but Acteon remained grounded having moved too far onto the submerged sandbar Consequently none of these ships reached its intended position a piece of good fortune not lost on Colonel Moultrie Had these three ships effected their purpose they would have enfiladed us in such a manner as to have driven us from our guns
At the fort Moultrie ordered his men to concentrate their fire on the two large man of war ships Bristol and Experiment which took hit after hit from the fort s guns Chain shot fired at Bristol eventually destroyed much of her rigging and severely damaged both the main and mizzenmasts One round hit her quarterdeck slightly wounding Parker in the knee and thigh The shot also tore off part of his britches leaving his backside exposed By mid afternoon the defenders were running out of gunpowder and their fire was briefly suspended However Lee sent more ammunition and gunpowder over from the mainland and the defenders resumed firing at the British ships Lee even briefly visited the fort late in the day telling Colonel Moultrie I see you are doing very well here you have no occasion for me I will go up to the town again Admiral Parker eventually sought to destroy the fort s walls with persistent broadside cannonades This strategy failed due to the spongy nature of the palmetto wood used in its constructions the structure would quiver and it absorbed the cannonballs rather than splintering The exchange continued until around pm when darkness forced a cessation of hostilities and the fleet finally withdrew out of range
At one point during the battle the flag Moultrie had designed and raised over the fort was shot down Sergeant William Jasper reportedly ran to the battlement and raised the flag again holding it up and rallying the troops until a flag stand could be provided He was credited by Moultrie with reviving the troops spirits and later given commendations for bravery A painting of this event pictured above depicts Jasper s actions
Counting casualties Parker reported sailors killed and wounded aboard Bristol which was hit more than times with much damage to the hull yards and rigging Experiment was also badly damaged with sailors killed and wounded Active and Solebay reported casualties each The Americans reported their casualties at only killed and wounded The following morning the British unable to drag the grounded Acteon off the sandbar set fire to the ship to prevent her from falling into enemy hands Patriots in small boats sailed out to the burning ship fired some of its cannons at the British ships took what stores and loot they could and retreated shortly before the ship s powder magazine exploded
The British did not attempt to take the fort again Within days of the battle Charlestonians learned of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia The British troops were reembarked on their transports and on July the British fleet withdrew northward to help the main British army in its campaign against New York City To add insult to injury one of the British transports grounded off Long Island and was captured by Patriot forces
The British did not return to Charleston until when General Clinton successfully besieged the city and captured an entire army Until the South again became a focus of the war in late its states provided military supplies to the northern war effort and produced trade goods that brought in valuable hard currency to fund the war effort
Admiral Parker and General Clinton engaged in a war of words after the battle each seeking to cast the blame on the other for the expedition s failures Although Clinton was not blamed by the government popular opinion held him responsible and Parker was lauded for his personal bravery
Fort Sullivan was renamed Fort Moultrie shortly after the battle to honor Colonel William Moultrie for his successful defense of the fort and the city of Charleston Extensively modified in the years after the battle it was supplanted by Fort Sumter as the principal defense of Charleston prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War In to celebrate the centennial companies from Savannah Augusta Macon Columbia New York and Boston were invited to Charleston The site was turned over to the National Park Service in and is now part of Fort Sumter National Monument
A small monument to the Battle of Sullivan s Island has been placed at the northeastern tip of the island overlooking the inlet where General Clinton s soldiers had hoped to cross The monument includes historical markers describing the events surrounding the engagement
One iconic emblem of the battle was the flag designed by Colonel Moultrie Commissioned by the colonial government he designed a blue flag with a white crescent in the top left corner which was flown at the fort during the battle Despite being shot down during the siege it was seen as a symbol of this successful defense and famously raised during victory It came to be known as the Moultrie flag or Liberty Flag When Charleston lost to the British in the siege was reclaimed by American forces at the end of the war the flag was returned to the city by General Nathanael Greene
Hu Zhengyan Chinese c was a Chinese artist printmaker and publisher He worked in calligraphy traditional Chinese painting and seal carving but was primarily a publisher producing academic texts as well as records of his own work
Hu lived in Nanjing during the transition from the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty A Ming loyalist he was offered a position at the rump court of the Hongguang Emperor but declined the post and never held anything more than minor political office He did however design the Hongguang Emperor s personal seal and his loyalty to the dynasty was such that he largely retired from society after the emperor s capture and death in He owned and operated an academic publishing house called the Ten Bamboo Studio in which he practised various multi colour printing and embossing techniques and he employed several members of his family in this enterprise Hu s work at the Ten Bamboo Studio pioneered new techniques in colour printmaking leading to delicate gradations of colour which were not previously achievable in this art form
Hu is best known for his manual of painting entitled The Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy an artist s primer which remained in print for around years His studio also published seal catalogues academic and medical texts books on poetry and decorative writing papers Many of these were edited and prefaced by Hu and his brothers
Hu was born in Xiuning County Anhui Province in or early Both his father and elder brother Zhengxin art name Wusuo were physicians and after he turned he travelled with them while they practised medicine in the areas around Lu an and Huoshan It is commonly stated that Zhengyan himself was also a doctor though the earliest sources attesting to this occur only in the second half of the th century
By Hu had moved to Nanjing where he lived with his wife Wu Their home on Jilongshan now also known as Beiji Ge a hill located just within the northern city wall served as a meeting house for like minded artists Hu named it the Ten Bamboo Studio Shizhuzhai after the ten bamboo plants that grew in front of the property It functioned as the headquarters for his printing business where he employed ten artisans including his two brothers Zhengxin and Zhengxing art name Zizhu and his sons Qipu and Qiyi courtesy name
During Hu s lifetime the Ming dynasty which had ruled China for over years was overthrown and replaced by China s last imperial dynasty the Qing Following the fall of the capital Beijing in remnants of the imperial family and a few ministers set up a Ming loyalist regime in Nanjing with Zhu Yousong on the throne as the Hongguang Emperor Hu who was noted for his seal carving and facility with seal script created a seal for the new Emperor The court offered him the position of Drafter for the Secretariat zhongshu sheren as a reward but he did not accept the role although he did accord himself the title of zhongshu sheren in some of his subsequent personal seals
According to Wen Ruilin s Lost History of the South Nanjiang Yishi prior to the Qing invasion of Nanjing Hu studied at the National University there and whilst a student was employed by the Ministry of Rites to record official proclamations he produced the Imperial Promotion of Minor Learning Qin Ban Xiaoxue and the Record of Displayed Loyalty Biaozhong Ji as part of this work As a result he was promoted to the Ministry of Personnel and gained admittance to the Hanlin Academy but before he could take up this appointment Beijing had fallen to the Manchu rebellion Since contemporaneous biographies Wen s work was not published until make no mention of these events it has been suggested that they were fabricated after Hu s death
Hu retired from public life and went into seclusion in after the end of the Ming dynasty Xiao Yuncong and L Liuliang recorded visiting him during his later years in and respectively He died in poverty at the age of sometime around late or early
Hu Zhengyan was a noted seal carver producing personal seals for numerous dignitaries His style was rooted in the classical seal script of the Han dynasty and he followed the Huizhou school of carving founded by his contemporary He Zhen Hu s calligraphy although balanced and with a clear compositional structure is somewhat more angular and rigid than the classical models he followed Huizhou seals attempt to impart an ancient weathered impression although unlike other Huizhou artists Hu did not make a regular practice of artificially aging his seals
Hu s work was known outside his local area Zhou Lianggong a poet who lived in Nanjing around the same time as Hu and was a noted art connoisseur stated in his Biography of Seal Carvers Yinren Zhuan that Hu creates miniature stone carvings with ancient seal inscriptions for travellers to fight over and treasure implying that his carvings were popular with visitors and travellers passing through Nanjing
In Hu took it upon himself to create a new Imperial seal for the Hongguang Emperor which he carved after a period of fasting and prayer He presented his creation with an essay the Great Exhortation of the Seal Dabao Zhen in which he bemoaned the loss of the Chongzhen Emperor s seal and begged Heaven s favour in restoring it Hu was concerned that his essay would be overlooked because he had not written it in the form of rhyming equally footed couplets pianti used in the Imperial examinations but his submission and the seal itself were nevertheless both accepted by the Southern Ming court
Despite his reputation as an artist and seal carver Hu was primarily a publisher His publishing house the Ten Bamboo Studio produced reference works on calligraphy poetry and art medical textbooks books on etymology and phonetics and copies of as well as commentaries on the Confucian Classics Unlike other publishers in the area the Ten Bamboo Studio did not publish works of narrative fiction such as plays or novels This bias towards academia was likely a consequence of the studio s location the mountain on which Hu took up residence was just to the north of the Nanjing Guozijian National Academy which provided a captive market for academic texts Between and the Ten Bamboo Studio produced over twenty printed books of this kind aimed at a wealthy literary audience The studio s earliest publications were medical textbooks the first of which Tested Prescriptions for Myriad Illnesses Wanbing Yanfang was published in and proved popular enough to be reissued ten years later Hu s brother Zhengxin was a medical practitioner and appears to have been the author of these books
During the s the Ten Bamboo Studio also produced political works extolling the rule of the Ming these included the Imperial Ming Record of Loyalty Huang Ming Biaozhong Ji a biography of loyal Ming officials and the Edicts of the Imperial Ming Huang Ming Zhaozhi a list of Imperial proclamations After the fall of the Ming Dynasty Hu renamed the studio the Hall Rooted in the Past Digutang as a sign of his affiliation with the previous dynasty although the Ten Bamboo imprint continued to be used Despite Hu s withdrawal from society after the studio continued to publish well into the Qing dynasty for the most part focussing on seal impression catalogues showcasing Hu s carving work
The Ming dynasty had seen considerable advancement in the process of colour printing in China At his studio Hu Zhengyan experimented with various forms of woodblock printing creating processes for producing multi coloured prints and embossed printed designs As a result he was able to produce some of China s first printed publications in colour using a block printing technique known as assorted block printing douban yinshua This system made use of multiple blocks each carved with a different part of the final image and each bearing a different colour It was a lengthy painstaking process requiring thirty to fifty engraved printing blocks and up to seventy inkings and impressions to create a single image Hu also employed a related form of multiple block printing called set block printing taoban yinshua which had existed since the Yuan period some years earlier but had only recently come into fashion again He refined these block printing techniques by developing a process for wiping some of the ink off the blocks before printing this enabled him to achieve gradation and modulation of shades which were not previously possible
In some images Hu employed a blind embossing technique known as embossed designs gonghua or embossed blocks gongban using an uninked imprinted block to stamp designs onto paper He used this to create white relief effects for clouds and for highlights on water or plants This was a relatively new process having been invented by Hu s contemporary Wu Faxiang who was also a Nanjing based publisher Wu had used this technique for the first time in his book Wisteria Studio Letter Paper Luoxuan Biangu Jianpu published in Both Hu and Wu used embossing to create decorative writing papers the sale of which provided a sideline income for the Ten Bamboo Studio
Hu s most notable work is the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy Shizhuzhai Shuhuapu an anthology of around prints by around thirty different artists including Hu himself published in It consists of eight sections covering calligraphy bamboo flowers rocks birds and animals plums orchids and fruit Some of these sections had been released previously as single volumes As well as a collection of artworks it was also intended as an artistic primer with instructions on correct brush position and technique and several pictures designed for beginners to copy Although these instructions only appear in the sections on orchids and bamboo the book still remains the first example of a categorical and analytical approach to Chinese painting In this book Hu used his multiple block printing methods to obtain gradations of colour in the images rather than obvious outlines or overlaps The manual is bound in the butterfly binding hudie zhuang style whereby whole folio illustrations are folded so that each occupies a double page spread This binding style allows the reader to lay the book flat in order to look at a particular image Cambridge University Library released a complete digital scan of the manual including all writings and illustrations in August Said Charles Aylmer Head of the Cambridge University Chinese Department The binding is so fragile and the manual so delicate that until it was digitized we have never been able to let anyone look through it or study it despite its undoubted importance to scholars
This volume went on to influence colour printing across China where it paved the way for the later but better known Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden Jieziyuan Huazhuan and also in Japan where it was reprinted and foreshadowed the development in ukiyo e of the colour woodblock printing process known as nishiki e The popularity of the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual was such that print runs continued to be produced all the way through to the late Qing dynasty
Hu also produced the work Ten Bamboo Studio Letter Paper Shizhuzhai Jianpu a collection of paper samples which made use of the gonghua stamped embossing technique to make the illustrations stand out in relief Whilst primarily a catalogue of decorative writing papers it also contained paintings of rocks people ritual vessels and other subjects The book was bound in the wrapped back baobei zhuang style in which the folio pages are folded stacked and sewn along the open edges Originally published in it was reissued in four volumes between and by Zheng Zhenduo and Lu Xun and revised and republished again in
Other works produced by Hu s studio included a reprint of Zhou Boqi s manual of seal script calligraphy The Six Styles of Calligraphy Correct and Erroneous Liushu Zheng e and the related Necessary Investigations into Calligraphy Shufa Bi Ji which discussed common errors in the formation of characters With his brother Zhengxin Hu edited a new introductory edition of the Confucian classics entitled The Standardised Text of the Four Books Identified and Corrected Sishu Dingben Bianzheng giving the correct formation and pronunciation of the text A similar approach was taken with the Essentials of the Thousand Character Classic in Six Scripts Qianwen Liushu Tongyao which Hu compiled with the aid of his calligraphy teacher Li Deng It was published after Li s death partly in homage to him
The three Hu brothers worked together to collate a student primer on poetry by their contemporary Ye Tingxiu which was called simply the Discussion of Poetry Shi Tan Other works on poetry from the studio included Helpful Principles to the Subtle Workings of Selected Tang Poems Leixuan Tang Shi Zhudao Weiji which was a compilation of several works on poetry and included colophons by Hu Zhengyan himself
Among the studio s more obscure publications was a text on Chinese dominoes entitled Paitong Fuyu written under a pseudonym but with a preface by Hu Zhengyan
Images from the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy
The Raid on Manila of January was a Royal Navy false flag military operation during the French Revolutionary Wars intended to scout the strength of the defences of Manila capital of the Spanish Philippines capture a Manila galleon and assess the condition of the Spanish Navy squadron maintained in the port Spain had transformed from an ally of Great Britain in the War of the First Coalition into an enemy in Thus the presence of a powerful Spanish squadron at Manila posed a threat to the China Fleet an annual convoy of East Indiaman merchant ships from Macau in Qing Dynasty China to Britain which was of vital economic importance to Britain So severe was this threat that a major invasion of the Spanish Philippines had been planned from British India during but had been called off following the Treaty of Campo Formio in Europe and the possibility of a major war in India between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore
To ensure the safety of the merchant ships gathering at Macau in the winter of the British commander in the East Indies Rear Admiral Peter Rainier sent a convoy to China escorted by the frigates HMS Sybille and HMS Fox and commanded by Captain Edward Cooke After completing his mission Cooke decided to investigate the state of readiness of Spanish forces in Manila himself He was also intrigued by reports that a ship carrying treasure was due to sail from Manila which would make a valuable prize Sailing in Sybille and accompanied by Captain Pulteney Malcolm in Fox Cooke reached the Spanish capital on January
Anchored in Manila Bay Cooke pretended that his ships were French vessels and successfully lured successive boatloads of Spanish officials aboard taking them prisoner in turn Once he had determined from his captives the state of defences in Manila that the treasure ship had been unloaded at Cavite and that the Spanish squadron was undergoing extensive repairs and thus unavailable for operations he sent a raiding party against a squadron of gunboats in the mouth of the Pasig River Capturing the gunboats in a bloodless attack Cooke then released his prisoners and sailed southwards unsuccessfully assaulting Zamboanga before returning to Macau
In after three years of the French Revolutionary Wars Spain and the French Republic signed the Treaty of San Ildefonso The secret terms of this treaty required Spain to renounce its alliance with Great Britain and subsequently to declare war on its former ally In the East Indies this shift of political allegiance meant that the dominant British forces in the region were faced with the threat of attack from the Spanish Philippines to the east Britain dominated the East Indies in controlling the trade routes through the Indian Ocean from the ports of Bombay Madras and Calcutta Dutch Ceylon the Dutch Cape Colony and parts of the Dutch East Indies had been captured in and the French presence in the region had been confined to le de France and a few subsidiary islands in the Western Indian Ocean
Some of the most important trade routes began at Canton and Macau in Qing Dynasty China Early in each year a large convoy known as the China Fleet composed of large East Indiaman merchant ships in the employ of the British East India Company sailed westwards to Europe from Macau laden with tea and other commercial cargo This convoy was economically significant to Britain one convoy in was valued at over million the equivalent of as of In January the convoy had been attacked by the French squadron in the East Indies comprising six frigates commanded by Contre amiral Pierre Csar Charles de Sercey In the ensuing Bali Strait Incident the commander deceived Sercey into believing that the unescorted convoy contained disguised ships of the line and the French admiral retreated only learning of his error on his return to le de France There was considerable concern in India that Sercey might try again in or that the Spanish who maintained a powerful squadron at Cavite might make an attempt of their own
Rainier s initial impulse on learning in November of the impending declaration of war between Britain and Spain was to draw up plans for a major invasion of the Philippines centred on Manila in repetition of the successful British capture of Manila in Co operating with the Governor General of India Sir John Shore and Colonel Arthur Welleley among others a substantial naval and military forces were earmarked for the operation which was in the advance planning stages when unexpected news arrived in India in August announcing the Treaty of Campo Formio which brought the War of the First Coalition to an end Britain now faced France and Spain alone while emissaries from the Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore an old opponent of Britain in Southern India were seeking French assistance with a renewed outbreak of hostilities The resources planned for the operation against Manila were therefore retained in India and the operation cancelled but the protection of the China Fleet was still essential and Rainier diverted some of his squadron eastwards to China
A number of merchant ships had gathered at Bombay in the spring of in preparation for the trip to Macau to load trade goods and join the China Fleet To escort this force Rainier provided the gun frigate HMS Sybille captured from the French at the Battle of Mykonos in and the gun HMS Centurion which sailed with the convoy in July taking passage through the Straits of Malacca joined there by the ships of the line HMS Victorious and HMS Trident and the gun frigate HMS Fox under Captain Pulteney Malcolm for the final voyage to Macau The convoy arrived without incident on December although the crews had been substantially weakened by tropical illnesses
With his convoy safely at anchor in Macau and the China Fleet several weeks from sailing Cooke decided to reconnoitre Manila and make observations on the port and the Spanish squadron based there As an added motivation rumours in Macau suggested that the annual Manila galleon was due to arrive This ship brought up to two million Spanish silver dollars from Acapulco across the Pacific Ocean stopping at Guam on its way to Manila Depositing its dollars in the Philippines the ship then loaded trade goods from the East Indies for the return journey to New Spain This round trip was essential to the maintenance of the Spanish Empire in the East Indies which operated at an enormous financial loss only mitigated by the substantial subsidy from New Spain Spanish dollars were the accepted currency across most of the East Indies and disruption of this financial system could have profound effects on regional trade but British sailors had nevertheless been attacking the Manila galleons since Thomas Cavendish in
Leaving the heavier warships at Macau Cooke sailed on January only with Sybille and Fox the latter carrying a Mr Bernard an experienced linguist Passing Luzon Cooke s ships encountered a small Spanish merchant vessel which was lured towards the frigates which were flying French tricolors Seizing the Spanish vessel Cooke closely questioned the captain and learned that most of the Spanish squadron in Manila were undergoing extensive repairs at Cavite and were unfit to sail Cooke rewarded the captain by releasing his vessel with its cargo intact although he did remove silver dollars The Spanish squadron had suffered badly in a typhoon in April and much of the damage had still not been repaired by the time Cooke s small squadron arrived off Manila Cooke had taken precautions to disguise his ships as French vessels modelling Sybille on the powerful gun Forte and Fox on the smaller Prudente
Late in the afternoon of January Sybille and Fox arrived in Manila Bay slipping unchallenged past the fortress of Corregidor and then sailing across the bay on the morning of January anchoring between Manila and Cavite From his vantage point Cooke could see the Spanish squadron dismasted and under repair in Cavite the ships of the line San Pedro Europa and Montas and the frigates Maria de la Cabeya and Luisa in dock and unfit for action To Cooke s disappointment he could also see the Manila galleon Marquesetta being unloaded at the Cavite docks and another valuable merchant ship Rey Carlos aground in the harbour The Spanish had learned only shortly before Cooke s arrival that the British frigate HMS Resistance under Captain Edward Pakenham was in Philippine waters and had decided to remove the valuable cargo from the treasure ship rather than risk an attack
Fox was the first British ship into the anchorage and was consequently approached by the guardboat whose crew came aboard Malcolm like Cooke spoke French fluently and with Bernard translating was able to persuade the officer in charge that the new arrivals were Forte and Prudente seeking supplies and Spanish reinforcements for commerce raiding operations The officer offered supplies but cautioned that none of the Spanish ships would be in a position to sail until March at the earliest Cooke then joined the party on the deck of Fox claiming to be Commodore Latour a French officer who unknown to the Spanish had been killed in the Action of September off Sumatra The Spanish officer was now completely convinced by the ruse which had been augmented by fake French uniforms Inviting the visitor below decks Cooke then passed wine around and together they drank a series of toasts including the downfall of England
For an hour the officers drank Malcolm and Cooke learning detailed information about the state of the defences and squadron in the Philippines until a second boat pulled alongside Fox containing more officers keen to greet the French arrivals This vessel was the personal barge of the Spanish commander at Cavite Rear Admiral Don Ignacio Mara de lava who was not aboard but who sent a message via an aide in a third boat Each time the officers were escorted below to join the festivities whereupon their crews were seized at gunpoint and taken below decks as prisoners of war In Malcolm s cabin the captured officers were informed of their situation promised release before the British frigates sailed and offered more wine The crew of Fox meanwhile forced the captured Spanish sailors to strip and donned their clothing Climbing into the Spanish boats this party rowed for the mouth of the nearby Pasig River where they had learned that three heavy gunboats were moored Taking the crews by surprise the British boarding parties drove off the Spanish without a fight and brought all three boats alongside Fox These vessels normally carried crews of thirty and were well armed one with a pounder long gun and two with pounder long guns each supplemented by four swivel guns
The harbour captain reached Fox shortly afterwards furious at the seizure of the gunboats and demanding they be returned Malcolm received him with a tirade of near incomprehensible French and brought him to join the other captured officers in his cabin while the boat s crew were imprisoned below decks Shortly afterwards at Cooke and Malcolm hosted a large dinner for their officer captives and sent food and grog to the crew the total number of Spanish sailors on Fox now numbering approximately Once the meal was finished Cooke allowed all of the captives to return to their boats and row for shore without the conditions of parole although he retained the captured gunboats
Cooke led his small squadron past Corregidor on January and turned south Four days later in a storm one of the gunboats broke its tow line and was never seen again lost with its twelve crew The frigates subsequently scouted Mindanao before reaching Zamboanga on January There Cooke raised Spanish colours in an attempt to deceive the authorities into supplying food and water to his squadron but Sybille grounded on a sandbank at the entrance to the port which raised the suspicions of a guardboat sent by the governor of Zamboanga Raymundo Espaol The captain of the Spanish boat asked the British ships the names of their captains and on receiving no answer but a volley of rifle fire he put the town on alert With the defenders forewarned Cooke abandoned his ruse and after refloating Sybille the following morning ordered a bombardment of the fort protecting the harbour This had little effect though later the Spanish recovered at least cannonballs from different calibers and Malcolm then attempted an amphibious landing in order to storm the landward side of the fort The boats came under heavy fire one smashed by a cannonball killing two and wounding four Another boat grounded on a sandbar and became stuck so with his force in disarray as villagers armed with lances ambushed and drove the British from the beach Malcolm called off the operation After exchanging shot for an hour both frigates cut their anchor cables and retreated out of range with two dead and one wounded on Sybille and eight wounded on Fox in addition to those lost in the boats The defenders lost a single man killed and wounded
With his frigates now requiring repairs Cooke withdraw half a league from Zamboanga and spent three days refitting the masts and rigging of the ships Then he sailed north scuttling the two remaining gunboats as he did not believe they would survive the return journey to Canton Four days later on January the squadron halted at a village named Pullock in the north of the Sultanate of Maguindanao to collect fresh water On the beach a boat party from Sybille was set upon by Lumad tribesmen Two were killed and nine others taken captive and dragged into the forest before rescuers could arrive Cooke complained to Sultan Kibab Sahriyal at Kuta Wato and the captured sailors were eventually recovered although not before Sybille and Fox had sailed for China to escort the merchant convoy back to India
Cooke s opportunistic diversion had determined that the Spanish forces in the Philippines posed no immediate threat although the mission had cost lives Admiral Rainier later expressed his satisfaction with the outcome in a letter to the Admiralty More might have been achieved with reinforcements Historian C Northcote Parkinson suggests that had Cooke s squadron united with Resistance together they may have been able to destroy the disarmed Spanish warships at Cavite He also notes however that in this scenario Pakenham would have been commanding officer a man with considerably less imagination and guile than Cooke Historian Richard Woodman was critical of the mission considering the operation to have no glorious outcome and citing the failure to capture the treasure ships as its greatest short coming
The China Fleet sailed without further incident During the ensuing year Resistance was destroyed by an accidental explosion in July in the Bangka Strait and the majority of Rainier s forces were focused on disrupting the French occupation of Suez in the Red Sea This diversion of British resources created gaps in the coverage in merchant shipping and Sercey was able to send the frigate Preneuse and corvette Brle Gueule to Manila late in the year to join the repaired Spanish squadron At the beginning of February this combined force sailed to Macau taking the British defences by surprise The British commander Captain William Hargood counterattacked advancing on the Franco Spanish force which retreated during the day and disappeared under cover of darkness that evening in the Wanshan Archipelago The combined squadron then dispersed and the China Fleet was not attacked again until the Battle of Pulo Aura in at which a French squadron was again driven off in confusion The frigates Cooke had mimicked Forte and Prudente were sent to operate independently against British trade in the Indian Ocean in early Prudente was captured by HMS Daedalus at the Action of February near Southern Africa and Forte was intercepted by HMS Sybille under Cooke on February near Balasore in Bengal In the ensuing battle Forte was captured but Cooke mortally wounded dying on May
B of the Bang was a sculpture by Thomas Heatherwick next to the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester England which was commissioned to mark the Commonwealth Games it was one of the tallest structures in Manchester and the tallest sculpture in the UK until the completion of Aspire in It was taller and leaned at a greater angle than the Leaning Tower of Pisa The sculpture took its name from a quotation of British sprinter Linford Christie in which he said that he started his races not merely at the bang of the starting pistol but at the B of the Bang
The sculpture was commissioned in construction overran and the official unveiling was delayed until January Six days before the launch the sculpture suffered the first of three visible structural problems as the tip of one of the spikes detached and fell to the ground Legal action started a year later resulting in an out of court settlement totalling million
In February Manchester City Council announced that the sculpture would be dismantled and placed in storage Despite the promise of storage and potential reassembly the core and legs of the sculpture were cut apart during removal The core was sold for scrap in July while the spikes remain in storage
B of the Bang originally stood metres ft tall with hollow tapered steel columns or spikes radiating from a central core It was angled at degrees and supported by five m ft long tapered steel legs which connected to the spikes m ft above the ground The sculpture weighed tonnes with the concrete in the foundations weighing over tonnes including a m sq ft reinforced concrete slab The foundations are m ft deep
The sculpture was made from the same weathering steel also known as Cor Ten as the Angel of the North sculpture which gradually develops a tightly adhering oxide layer as it is exposed to the elements This layer inhibits further corrosion by reducing its permeability to water As part of the design the spikes swayed slightly in the wind in order to withstand gusts in excess of mph km h At the time of construction a time capsule was placed in one of the spikes of the sculpture containing children s poems and paintings due to be opened circa The location of the time capsule after dismantling is currently unknown
B of the Bang was located next to the City of Manchester Stadium at Sportcity in Beswick at the corner of Alan Turing Way and Ashton New Road It took its name from a quotation of British sprinter Linford Christie in which he said that he started his races not merely at the bang of the starting pistol but at The B of the Bang The artwork had been nicknamed KerPlunk by the locals after the popular children s game from the s
Prior to the construction of Aspire at the University of Nottingham B of the Bang was Britain s tallest sculpture at well over twice the height of the Angel of the North which stands at feet m It was designed to look like an exploding firework and was taller and leaned at a greater angle than the Leaning Tower of Pisa It was commissioned by New East Manchester Limited to commemorate the Commonwealth Games The design was selected by a panel consisting of both local residents and art experts via a competition in and was designed by Thomas Heatherwick
The sculpture was constructed in Sheffield by Thomas Heatherwick Studio Packman Lucas Flint and Neill and Westbury Structures It was approved at the start of with the central core arriving in Manchester on June This was the largest load that could be transferred via road from the factory and required a police escort This central core was lifted into place in August after which the spikes could begin being attached Early estimates had given an optimistic completion date of July which contributed to the sculpture gaining the nickname G of the Bang
The official unveiling by Linford Christie took place on January
In total the sculpture cost million to design and construct twice the original estimate as the initial costing had neglected to include installation costs Funding was sourced from a European Regional Development Fund contribution of the North West Development Agency contributing and Manchester City Council providing
The tip of one of the m ft spikes detached and fell from the sculpture on January only six days before the official unveiling After inspection the event went ahead as planned
Four months later in May a second spike had to be cut off by firefighters after it was discovered hanging loose At that time the sculpture was closed off to the public and the junction and pathway near the sculpture were temporarily closed As a result some of the joints were re welded with equipment put in place to prevent excessive movement This consisted of retrofitting tip weights to of the spikes weights
Despite these modifications B of the Bang remained fenced off prompting a local newspaper campaign to Get It Sorted In May a total of nine spikes were removed from the sculpture and taken away for metallurgical analysis to discover the stresses being placed on the steel
It was announced in October that Manchester City Council were taking legal action against the makers of the sculpture with the aim of completing the necessary repairs to the sculpture In November this culminated in an out of court settlement being reached between Manchester City Council the project s designers Thomas Heatherwick Studio Ltd and the engineering and construction subcontractors Packman Lucas Ltd Flint and Neill Partnership and Westbury Structures Ltd The agreement was to pay the council m in damages for breach of contract and negligence
Acting on a report in January the city council recommended that B of the Bang should be dismantled and placed in storage until funds could be raised for its safe reinstatement The report recognised the sculpture s aesthetic value for Manchester and Manchester City Council committed itself to working with the artist to reach a long term solution One possibility involved the replacement of the steel spikes with alternatives made from carbon fibre although the report underlined the necessity for extensive testing
In January Antony Gormley creator of the Angel of the North to which B of the Bang is often compared spoke out in support of the sculpture stating that It is a great tribute to Manchester that this ground breaking work was commissioned To allow it to disappear would be a loss not just of an inspirational artwork but also of the council s nerve
Despite Gormley s plea removal of B of the Bang began in April More substantial hoarding was erected around the site and demolition firm Connell Brothers Limited began removing the spikes with oxyacetylene cutting equipment
Although the council had promised to store the complex central core and legs these too were cut apart during removal casting doubt on future prospects for the landmark sculpture s return and in early July the core was sold as scrap for
The Battle of the Hongorai River took place during the Second World War and involved Australian New Zealand and Japanese forces Part of the wider Bougainville Campaign of the Pacific theatre the battle was fought in the southern sector of Bougainville Island Coming after the Battle of Slater s Knoll in which a strong Japanese counterattack was defeated the battle occurred in two distinct periods between April and May as elements of the Australian th Brigade advanced south along the Buin Road
The initial phase saw the Australians advance towards the Hongorai River Following the end of the early fighting the Australian advance towards the main Japanese concentration at Buin continued as they struck out towards the Hari and Mivo Rivers This continued until torrential rain and flooding brought the advance to a halt short of the objective washing away many bridges and roads upon which the Australians relied for supplies As the Australian advance stalled the Japanese began harassing the Australian line of communications and as the rain stopped and the flooding subsided in late July and into August the Australians began making preparations to resume the advance towards Buin again Ultimately though the war came to an end before the final Australian advance began bringing the campaign to an end
Japanese forces had landed on Bougainville in early capturing it from the small force of Australians garrisoning the island They had subsequently developed several airbases on the island using it to conduct operations in the northern Solomon Islands and to attack the Allied lines of communication between the United States Australia and the Southwest Pacific Area These bases also helped protect Rabaul the major Japanese garrison and naval base in Papua New Guinea and throughout Allied planners determined that Bougainville was vital for neutralising the Japanese base around Rabaul
US Marines conducted an amphibious landing at Cape Torokina on the western coast of the island north of Empress Augusta Bay in November After an initial counter attack the US Marines had been replaced by a garrison of US Army troops who began consolidating their position around Torokina establishing a strong perimeter In March the Japanese launched a heavy counter attack which was turned back with heavy casualties After this the situation on Bougainville became largely static as the Japanese focused primarily on subsistence and the US forces chose to adopt a mainly defensive posture focused on maintaining the perimeter around Torokina
In late as part of plans to free US troops up for the Philippines campaign the Australian II Corps consisting of mainly Militia troops under the command of Lieutenant General Stanley Savige took over responsibility for Allied operations on Bougainville from the American XIV Corps Australian forces began arriving on the island between November and December initially establishing themselves around the US base at Torokina Due to inaccurate intelligence Savige mistakenly believed that the Japanese forces on the island numbered just men and he consequently decided that the Australians would pursue an aggressive campaign to clear the Japanese from Bougainville in order to free their troops for subsequent operations elsewhere rather than maintaining the defensive posture the US forces had adopted However Allied estimates of Japanese strength were later found to be grossly inaccurate and after the war it was found that the number of Japanese on the island at this time was closer to
The campaign that Australian planners developed entailed three separate drives in the north it was planned that Japanese forces would be forced into the narrow Bonis Peninsula and contained in the centre the seizure of Pearl Ridge would give the Australians control of the east west avenues of approach as well as affording them protection against further counter attacks while also opening the way for a drive to the east coast and the main campaign in the south where the bulk of the Japanese forces were concentrated around Buin
Following the capture of Pearl Ridge in December the Australian th Brigade had been moved south and allocated to the drive towards Buin In late March and early April they had fought the Battle of Slater s Knoll after which a brief lull followed as the Australians paused to shorten their supply lines Meanwhile the survivors of the Japanese force heavily demoralised by their defeat withdrew towards the Hongorai River The Australian rd Division was then ordered to resume its advance south being tasked with capturing the Hari River while the Hongorai was also included as an intermediate objective Japanese strength in the southern sector was estimated by the Australians at about men of which were believed to be directly opposing the rd Division The th Brigade was considered to be the most experienced of the Australian units on Bougainville at the time and was moved up to relieve the th Brigade which was in need of rest
Under the command of Brigadier Heathcote Hammer the th Brigade consisted of three infantry battalions as well as two troops of tanks from the th Armoured Regiment engineers from the th Field Company a battery of mm guns from U Heavy Battery field artillery from the nd Field Regiment and a number of smaller support units The th th Infantry Battalion took over responsibility for Slater s Knoll replacing the th Infantry Battalion while the th Infantry Battalion took up a position across the Buin Road The brigade s third battalion the th th Infantry Battalion did not join them until the beginning of May and so the th Brigade s th Infantry Battalion continued patrolling operations north of the Huio River in the Rumiki area until the th th could dispatch elements to relieve them Further inland the th Commando Squadron advanced in a wide arc to the south east defending the brigade s left or eastern flank
The Japanese forces opposing the Australians belonged to the th Division under the command of Lieutenant General Tsutomu Akinaga Akinaga had been ordered to delay the Australian advance between the Hongorai and the Hari for as long as possible and with these orders in mind he had installed a number of strong points along the Australian s expected line of advance The division s infantry had suffered heavily in the previous battle around Slater s Knoll and as a consequence several units had to be reorganized or amalgamated The front line positions were assigned to the th Field Artillery Regiment while the th Infantry Regiment was to hold five strongpoints to their rear along and astride the Buin Road designated A through to E The th Field and th Field Heavy Artillery Regiments both held strongpoints further back designated F and G The rd Infantry Regiment was placed in the rear where it was being reconstituted following losses suffered during the attack on Slater s Knoll
The th Brigade took over the forward positions from the th Brigade on April Initial dispositions had the th Infantry Battalion on the Buin Road around Kero Creek with the th th around Barara north east of Slater s Knoll and the th th when it arrived to relieve the th would be positioned further east astride a secondary parallel track known to the Australians as the Commando Road Two days later Hammer received the order to commence the advance towards the Hongorai from Savige who offered him the support of the th Brigade as a mobile reserve in case of sudden counter attack In a change to the tactics that the Australians had previously employed prior to the fighting around Slater s Knoll from early May they advanced on a two battalion front instead of one The th Infantry Battalion was in the van moving along the Buin Road with the th th protecting its flank and rear while yd m further inland the th th Infantry Battalion commencing on May advanced along the Commando Road from Rumiki after taking over from the th Infantry Battalion
Moving forward under a creeping barrage as they moved beyond Tokinotu the th Infantry Battalion was the first to contact the Japanese carrying out an attack against Japanese positions around Dawe s Creek on April Supported by a troop of Matilda tanks from the th Armoured Regiment an artillery barrage which fired over shells two infantry companies C and D from the th attacked the position while another A Company carried out a flanking manoeuvre to cut another track further north towards Kindara and Hatai The left forward company D Company reached its objective without trouble however C Company on the right along with the troop of tanks came up against stiff Japanese resistance and became bogged down A Company also became embroiled in heavy fighting along the Hatai track In support of A Company Matilidas came forward and raked the jungle hacking through the undergrowth to reveal several Japanese pillboxes which were destroyed by the Australian armour As night fell C Company dug in before resuming the attack the next morning Engineers were brought forward as was a bulldozer and the gap was bridged Amidst heavy fighting the Australians forced their way across the creek By the time that the position had been taken in the afternoon and the infantry had advanced to the line of exploitation yd m beyond the creek Japanese had been killed for the loss of seven Australians killed and wounded After this the Australians continued their advance towards Sindou Creek which was a further mi km to the southeast In response the Japanese launched a number of determined counterattacks over the course of the following week although these were turned back During this time the Australians sent a number of patrols out in front of their forward elements one of which managed to slip through the Japanese defensive positions either side of the Buin Road and carried out a reconnaissance of the Hongorai River about yd m south of the main crossing Further patrols were carried out as well as a number of ambushes before the advance was resumed on April
Resuming their advance the Australians were supported by three squadrons of Corsairs from the Royal New Zealand Air Force Nos and Squadrons which bombed and strafed the ground in front of the advancing infantry as well as a creeping barrage of artillery and mortar fire With such strong support the Japanese offered little resistance and over the course of two days the th Infantry Battalion covered almost a third of the distance to the Hongorai for just one man wounded Further progress was made over the next week but on May the advance was slowed when they encountered a roadblock defended by a field gun along with a machine gun mines and other improvised explosive devices After this the th Brigade s engineer support were called upon to regularly carry out route clearance and proving operations as the Japanese became increasingly desperate to destroy the Australian armour to the extent that they were prepared to sacrifice an artillery piece in order to lure the Australian tanks into a trap where they could be destroyed by mines The Japanese began to adapt their tactics in other ways also To negate the effectiveness of the Australian tanks the Japanese began to position themselves off the roads forcing the infantry to fight without their armoured support Additionally the Japanese began to concentrate their artillery with increasing accuracy upon the advancing infantry which they kept under constant observation and fire
Meanwhile the previous day May the th th Infantry Battalion had begun operating along the parallel Commando Road to the north Here they had a number of encounters and suffered casualties due to their inexperience in patrolling which resulted in them being ambushed They also kept up a steady advance and eventually beat the main force in reaching and crossing the river arriving there on May On May along the Buin Road the th Infantry Battalion had pressed forward again Advancing with a tank troop in support they came up against a concealed field gun defended by approximately Japanese After the lead Matilda s machine gun jammed the field gun opened fire on it damaging it and wounding its crew Moving around the stricken tank the second Matilda armed with a howitzer opened fire and destroyed the field gun before sweeping the Japanese defenders from the position That night the Japanese artillery opened up on the Australian position with a heavy barrage and the following morning put in a company sized counter attack The fighting lasted for over two and a half hours but when it was over the Australians remained in possession of the position having repulsed the attack In doing so they suffered one killed and nine wounded while the attacking Japanese had suffered heavily losing men killed It was the biggest loss since the action at Slater s Knoll and it spelt the end of their attempt to defend the Hongorai
After this the Australians were able to resume their advance to the river on May without further opposition The previous three weeks in which they had advanced yd m to the Hongorai had been costly for them however with the Australian th Infantry Battalion losing killed and wounded Against this the Japanese had lost at least killed
Following the advance to the Hongorai there was a pause of about a week as the Australians had to wait for roads to be improved and supplies to be brought up before attempting to cross the Hongorai en masse This allowed Savige to re evaluate the situation and to issue new orders for the advance towards the Hari and Mivo Rivers As they waited for the advance to resume the Australians carried out reconnaissance patrols deep into Japanese held territory and there were a couple of significant engagements during this time As a part of these the th Infantry Battalion sent a company across the Hongorai and subsequently located a strong Japanese position on a feature that became known as Egan s Ridge which due to its location commanded the main Australian axis of advance
The main crossing was planned for May with the th th Infantry Battalion on the right tasked to cut the Buin Road and the Aitara Track to the east of the river while on the left the th th Infantry Battalion would divert the attention of the Japanese off the th Infantry Battalion which would make the main frontal assault from the centre of the Australian line crossing at the Pororei ford advancing straight up the Buin Road Preliminary moves began before this and on May a platoon from the th Infantry Battalion along with two tanks attempted to carry out an attack on Egan s Ridge After one of the tanks was held up and knocked out by a Japanese field gun they were forced to withdraw Meanwhile the RNZAF Corsair squadrons now reinforced by No Squadron began an eight day aerial campaign attacking along the length of the Buin and Commando Roads During this period the New Zealanders flew sorties while artillery and mortars fired thousands of rounds
Two days later on May the th th Infantry Battalion began its diversionary move on the left flank crossing the Hongorai inland and advancing along the Commando Road with Corsairs and two batteries of artillery in support Crossing yd m north of the ford the centre company carried out an attack along the far bank of the river without its armoured support which had been unable to negotiate the crossing Nevertheless shortly before noon they had secured the crossing and began to fan out carrying out further flanking moves before establishing a firm base to receive supplies and from where it began patrolling operations on May
In the centre the main attack along the Buin Road began at on May after minutes of strafing by New Zealand Corsairs had prepared the ground Advancing under a creeping barrage and with mortar and machine gun support the th Infantry Battalion moved forward with three companies up front and one held back in reserve along with two troops of Matilda tanks Mostly the forward companies reached their objectives but one of the companies was halted just short of their objective and was forced to dig in overnight after coming under heavy small arms and artillery fire and losing four killed and five wounded The attack was resumed the following day and the Australians were able to advance to the Pororei ford however they were prevented from moving any further as the Japanese were still concentrated in large numbers further to the west where an Australian patrol encountered Japanese and were forced to go to ground Finally a company from the th Infantry Battalion was able to move on to the high ground on Egan s Ridge which they found to be heavily mined and booby trapped Engineers and assault pioneers were called up to clear the feature
On the right flank the th th Infantry Battalion carried out a wide flanking move along a track that had been carved out of the west bank of the Hongorai by bulldozer Beginning their move two days earlier a number of patrols had had contacts with the Japanese Meanwhile using tractors to drag the tanks through the mud the Australian armour had crossed the river also and by on May the battalion had managed to establish itself in an assembly area to the east of the river unbeknown to the Japanese The following day the battalion left the line of departure and began to advance on its primary objective which it reached in the early afternoon despite being held up while the tanks attempted to affect a creek crossing and further delayed by stiff resistance Later after one of the battalion s patrols came under heavy fire the tanks moved up and attacked a Japanese gun position which the defenders quickly abandoned leaving behind a mm gun and a large amount of ammunition
By May although there were still a number of Japanese in the area which continued to harass and ambush their line of communications most of the Australian objectives had been secured and mopping up operations began The last remaining defensive location before the Hongorai was Egan s Ridge where the Japanese were sheltering in tunnels A heavy aerial and artillery bombardment devastated the position and forced them to abandon the ridge It was subsequently occupied by a company of Australian infantry Within a short period of time the Buin Road was subsequently opened providing the Australians with the means with which to bring up supplies for the next stage of the campaign being the advance to the Hari Mobiai and Mivo Rivers The final phase of the battle cost the Japanese killed while the Australians lost killed and wounded
During the course of the fighting around the Hongorai the Australians lost men killed and wounded while the Japanese lost at least men killed Following the battle the Australians continued their advance towards Buin at the southern end of the island Throughout the remainder of the month and into June the th Brigade advanced along the Buin Road crossing the Hari on June Beyond the river the Japanese resolved to hold the food growing areas in order to protect their precarious food supply and they consequently occupied a series of deep entrenchments These were steadily reduced with airstrikes and artillery and the th Brigade subsequently crossed Mobiai River before being relieved by Brigadier Noel Simpson s th Brigade in early July
As the th Brigade advanced toward the Mivo River torrential rain and flooding ultimately brought the advance to a halt The height of the river rose metres ft The Buin Road was reduced in the words of Gavin Long to a sea of mud and many of the bridges upon which the Australian supply system was dependent were washed away This rendered large scale offensive infantry operations impossible and as the situation worsened for a period of time the Australians even ceased patrolling operations across the Mivo meanwhile the Japanese continued to harass the Australians probing their positions and setting mines and traps targeting the Australian line of communications On July the th Infantry Battalion fought off a series of attacks around Siskatekori at the junction of the Mivo River and the Buin Road which included a heavy Japanese artillery bombardment Australian patrols were resumed in late July and continued into August These attacks proved very costly particularly amongst the Australian engineers that were tasked with rebuilding the bridges and roads that had been destroyed in the flooding
Fighting in the northern sector continued during this time also and although preparations in the south for the final advance towards Buin continued into August combat operations on the island ceased as the war came to an end before these were completed As a result the final Australian operations on Bougainville took place on the Ratsua front in the northern sector where the Australians had been conducting a holding action since the failed landing at Porton Plantation had forced them to abandon plans for an advance into the Bonis Peninsula By mid August however following the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan s subsequent unconditional surrender a cease fire was ordered on the island and although there were minor clashes following this it spelt an end to major combat operations
Following the end of the war the Australian Army awarded three battle honours for the fighting around the Hongorai River The th Armoured Regiment and the th th th th and th th Infantry Battalions received the battle honour Hongorai River A second battle honour Egan s Ridge Hongorai Ford was also awarded to the th Armoured Regiment and the th and th th Infantry Battalions for the second stage of the fighting while the th th Infantry Battalion received the separate battle honour of Commando Road for this period
Sonic the Hedgehog is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis console The game was first released in North America Europe and Australia in June and in Japan the following month The game features an anthropomorphic hedgehog named Sonic in a quest to defeat Dr Robotnik a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and stolen the magical Chaos Emeralds Sonic the Hedgehog s gameplay involves collecting rings as a form of health and a simple control scheme with jumping and attacking controlled by a single button
The game s development began in when Sega ordered its AM development team to create a game featuring a mascot for the company After considering a number of suggestions the developers decided on a blue hedgehog with spikes along his head and spine and renamed themselves Sonic Team to match their character Sonic the Hedgehog designed for fast gameplay was influenced by the games of Super Mario series creator Shigeru Miyamoto Sonic the Hedgehog uses a novel technique that allows Sonic s sprite to roll along curved scenery which originated in a tech demo created by the game s programmer Yuji Naka
The game was well received by critics who praised its visuals music and speed of gameplay The game was also commercially successful establishing the Genesis as a key player in the bit era and allowing it to compete with Nintendo and their Super NES console It has been ported a number of times and inspired several clones a successful franchise and adaptations by other media
In an attempt to steal the six Chaos Emeralds and harness their power the game s antagonist Dr Ivo Robotnik has trapped the animal inhabitants of South Island in aggressive robots and stationary metal capsules The player controls Sonic who aims to halt Robotnik s plans by freeing his animal friends and collecting the emeralds himself
If the player collects all the Chaos Emeralds and completes the game a reward ending sequence is shown If all the emeralds are not collected Robotnik taunts the player while juggling the Chaos Emeralds instead
Sonic the Hedgehog is a D side scrolling platformer whose gameplay centers around Sonic s ability to run at high speed through levels incorporating springs slopes high falls and loop the loops The levels contain hazards in the form of robots badniks in the Western game manuals inside of which Dr Robotnik has trapped animals Although destroying a robot frees the animal within this is not required to complete the game The player must avoid rows of sharp spikes falling into bottomless pits being crushed by moving walls or platforms and drowning which can be avoided by breathing air bubbles periodically released from vents Sonic s main attack is his spin where he curls into a ball and rotates rapidly damaging enemies and some obstacles This can be performed by jumping in the air or rolling on the ground
Scattered around each level map are gold rings and collecting rings rewards the player with an extra life Rings are a layer of protection against hazards if Sonic has at least one ring when he collides with an enemy or obstacle he will survive However all his rings will be scattered they will flicker and disappear in a few seconds if they are not picked up again If Sonic is hit without any rings he loses a life Although shields and temporary invincibility may be collected to provide additional protection certain hazards such as drowning being crushed falling down a bottomless pit or running out of time will cost Sonic a life regardless of rings or other protection
The game is divided into six zones Green Hill Marble Spring Yard Labyrinth Star Light and Scrap Brain each with its own visual style and enemies A player must navigate through each zone subdivided into three acts to progress At the end of each zone s third act the player confronts Dr Robotnik who pilots a different vehicle each time in a boss fight After the sixth zone the player continues directly to the Final Zone for a last encounter with Robotnik
The player begins with three lives power ups and rings add more which are lost when Sonic collides with hazardous enemies or objects without rings falls off screen or exceeds an act s ten minute time limit Lampposts acting as checkpoints allow Sonic to return to the most recently activated post when he loses a life If he loses a life as a result of time running out but has another life the timer will reset to when he returns to the checkpoint If all lives are lost at any point in the game the game over screen will appear when the player can return to the beginning of the act with three lives if they have any continues
When Sonic reaches the end of act one or act two of a zone with at least fifty rings a large ring appears through which he can jump to enter a Special Stage a Secret Zone in the original Genesis manual In each of six Special Stages Sonic bounces off the bumpers and walls of a rotating maze in spin attack Although the player earns a continue with each rings found their main goal is to obtain the Chaos Emerald at the end of the maze without colliding with a goal block which ends the level
In Sega ordered its in house development studio AM to develop a game featuring a mascot for the company This was a position already held by the character Alex Kidd but he was considered similar to Mario and deemed unsatisfactory Sega president Hayao Nakayama wanted a character as iconic as Mickey Mouse Sega had competition from Nintendo and its mascot Mario in mind Nintendo was dominant at the time particularly after the release of the successful Super Mario Bros and Sega wanted a foothold in the industry Although the company had some success with Genesis ports of its arcade titles it knew this would not be enough
AM developed ideas for characters an engine and gameplay mechanics Development emphasized speed so AM eliminated character designs not associated with fast animals as well as fast creatures like kangaroos and squirrels One idea a rabbit able to grasp objects with prehensile ears showed promise at first but was too complex for the available hardware The team narrowed its search to animals that can roll into a ball their idea for an attacking move Designers then realized that this would not seem aggressive enough so they focused on two animals with spikes armadillos and hedgehogs The hedgehog character first proposed by Naoto Ohshima prevailed although the armadillo would later become the basis for Mighty the Armadillo who first appeared in s SegaSonic the Hedgehog Ohshima has admitted since that he created Sonic s basic design by combining Felix the Cat s head with Mickey Mouse s body
Sonic was originally teal colored then a light shade of blue but he was changed to dark blue so he would stand out against certain backgrounds and to match the Sega logo His shoes were colored red through the inspiration of Michael Jackson s boots on the album cover for Bad and the outfit of Santa Claus whom Ohshima saw as the most famous character in the world Sonic s spikes were emphasized to make him look sleeker and he was given the ability to spin while jumping so attacking and jumping could be controlled with one button The new character was originally named Mr Needlemouse but the eight member AM changed his name to Sonic and their studios to Sonic Team Ideas proposed to flesh out the character included placing him in a rock band giving him vampire fangs and giving him a human girlfriend named Madonna but Sega of America scrapped these ideas to keep his identity simple Sega of America also expressed concerns that most Americans would not know what a hedgehog is and initially proposed a full scale recreation of the character but compromised with Sonic Team to simply make design changes The antagonist ended up being named Dr Eggman in Japan and Dr Robotnik in other regions as a result of a dispute between Sega s American and Japanese divisions
With a satisfying protagonist completed Sega turned to esteemed programmer Yuji Naka who had impressed them through his work on Phantasy Star and the Genesis port of Ghouls n Ghosts The gameplay originated with a tech demo by Naka who developed an algorithm allowing a sprite to move smoothly on a curve by determining its position with a dot matrix Naka s prototype was a platform game with a fast moving character rolling in a ball through a long winding tube and this concept was fleshed out with Ohshima s character designs and levels by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara Yasuhara originally intended to work on the game for three months due to the delay of his planned move to the United States by the outbreak of the Gulf War but was engrossed in the project for nearly a year His designs for levels were intended to attract both hardcore and casual gamers by integrating occasional challenging set pieces into the mostly accessible level design The game s color scheme was influenced by the work of pop artist Eizin Suzuki and the aesthetics of Green Hill were influenced by the geography of California
In designing the game mechanics Naka was inspired by Shigeru Miyamoto whose games he had enjoyed playing years earlier Admiring the simplicity of Miyamoto s mechanics in complex environments Naka decided that Sonic would be controlled with only a directional pad for movement and a single button for jumping He also wanted his creation to be more action oriented than the Mario series while playing Super Mario Bros he had wondered why the levels could not be cleared more quickly Due to the need to demonstrate the Genesis technological prowess the developing game underwent extensive testing and redesign a process taking over six months The developers efforts were rewarded according to Yuji Naka the game had the fastest ever character speed in a video game and a rotation effect in the special stages that was considered impossible on the console The team intended to add a two player mode displayed via split screen but Naka s programming knowledge was insufficient to implement this feature However such a mode would later appear in sequel Sonic the Hedgehog where the second player would control Sonic s best friend Miles Tails Prower Naka Oshima and Yasuhara worked hours a day on the project for several months
Naka s relationship with Sega of Japan was tenuous during this time he received little credit for his involvement in the game He left the company shortly after the game s release although Sega of America hired him later Before leaving however he defied Sega of Japan s prohibition of developer credits by displaying a few names in black text on a black background identifiable only by looking at the game s code
The music for Sonic the Hedgehog was composed and produced by Masato Nakamura bassist and lead songwriter of the J pop band Dreams Come True The game uses onboard Yamaha YM and SN programmable sound generators to produce a variety of stereo sound effects and music It was originally intended to have a sound test menu with animations of Sonic breakdancing to the music of a Sonic Band of Sharps Chicken on guitar Max Monkey on bass Mach Rabbit on drums and Vector the Crocodile on keyboard The playable Vector became a recurring character in the series also appearing in Knuckles Chaotix Sonic Heroes and Sonic Free Riders The development schedule scrapped the feature and Yuji Naka replaced the test with the Se ga chant used in TV commercials which reportedly used one eighth of the memory of the four megabit cartridge
On October twenty years after the game s release a three disc compilation of music from Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog was released in Japan The first disc features original tracks from both games the second contains Masato Nakamura s demo recordings and the third comprises songs by Dreams Come True and their Akon remixes
Game package illustrator Akira Watanabe said that his goal was to make the characters colorful using clear lines and gradation to finish them neatly According to Watanabe the developers asked him to create a package design similar to pop art without being particular to conventional packages something original and stylish The game was released in North America Europe and Australia on June and in Japan on July Sega of America packaged it with American Genesis consoles replacing Altered Beast Genesis owners who bought their consoles before the switch could request free copies of Sonic the Hedgehog by mail Sega of America created a large scale marketing campaign to promote the game and Sonic as a mascot for the company
A version of Sonic the Hedgehog was developed by Ancient and released in for Sega s bit consoles the Master System and Game Gear Its plot and gameplay mechanics are similar to the bit version with different level themes and digital assets The level design is flatter with no vertical loops and Sonic cannot re collect his rings after being hit The game has a different soundtrack composed by chiptune musician Yuzo Koshiro and including his compositions and adaptations of music from the bit version It was the final game released for the Master System in North America The Master System version was re released for Wii s Virtual Console service in North America on August and in Europe on August The Game Gear version was re released for the Nintendo DS Virtual Console on June and included as an unlockable game in Sonic Adventure DX Director s Cut for GameCube and Windows and Sonic Mega Collection Plus for PlayStation Xbox and Windows
A port Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis was released for the Game Boy Advance GBA on November in United States to mark the game s fifteenth anniversary It included several new features such as the ability to save game progress a level select option and an Anniversary Mode with the Spin Dash move not originally implemented until Sonic the Hedgehog Its screen is slightly zoomed in and adapted to the GBA s widescreen aspect ratio The game received poor reviews with a Metacritic score of percent the chief complaints concerned its poor conversion to the Game Boy Advance resulting in a slow frame rate remixed chunky music and poor preservation of the original gameplay
With its sequels for the Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog has been ported for a wide range of home and handheld consoles and personal computers It has appeared in Sonic Compilation for the Genesis Sonic Jam for the Sega Saturn and Gamecom Sonic Mega Collection Sonic Mega Collection Plus Sonic s Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox and PlayStation and Sonic Classic Collection for the Nintendo DS Additionally the game is an unlockable reward in the console versions of Sonic Generations
Sonic the Hedgehog has been available for all three major seventh generation video game consoles It was part of the Wii Virtual Console at the service s introduction and was released for the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network shortly afterwards The game was released for the iPod Classic iPod video and video capable iPod Nano models in and for Apple s iOS service compatible iPhone and iPod touch models in April Sonic the Hedgehog became available on GameTap in September In October it was released as a Microsoft Windows download which was ported to Steam The game was ported to two online app services Google Play and the Amazon Appstore in December A remastered mobile port created using Christian Whitehead s Retro Engine previously used in the rerelease of Sonic CD was released on iOS replacing the original port on May with an Android version released the following day The port features widescreen graphics the optional ability to spin dash a time attack mode and the unlockable option to play as Tails or Knuckles the Echidna The game was also released as part of the Nintendo DS D Classics line in May in Japan and worldwide in December
Sonic the Hedgehog was critically praised at its release and in retrospective reviews with an percent approval rating at the review aggregator GameRankings based on nine reviews The game rivaled the Mario series particularly Super Mario World which was recently released for Genesis rival Super Nintendo Entertainment System Paul Rand of Computer and Video Games compared the two in depth and characterized Sonic the Hedgehog as being faster with brighter colors and Super Mario World as having more depth of play
Reviewers noted the game s colorful detailed graphics Rand called its color scheme lively but never garish praising the interaction of color with detail in the sprites backgrounds and animations and describing its graphics as the best available for the Genesis Reviewer Boogie Man of GamePro called the intricate backgrounds eye popping and gorgeous which was echoed by Mean Machines According to the Lessers Hartley Patricia and Kirk of Dragon The graphics and animation in Sonic the Hedgehog make this a serious contender for the best video game of the year and GameZone called the animation some of the smoothest and fastest ever seen The music and sound effects were also well received Dragon called them great and GameZone amazing Rand noted stacks of catchy tunes and jingles calling some of the sound effects absolutely brilliant Although Mean Machines called the songs vaguely appealing the game s sound effects were better appreciated
Critics cited the fast gameplay unprecedented in platformers GamePro s Boogie Man noted its lightning fast action and according to Electronic Gaming Monthly EGM If you thought the Enterprise was quick wait till you see Sonic at warp speed The game s difficulty was disputed described as impossible by Rand and average by EGM Rand said about the gameplay in general that it plays like a dream according to GameZone it would enchant players for hours and Boogie Man praised Sonic Team s ability to provide an engaging experience primarily from running and jumping Although EGM Dragon and Paul of Mean Machines praised the level design especially the hidden rooms Paul found losing all of one s rings frustrating
Sonic the Hedgehog has maintained its popularity appearing on lists of the greatest video games of all time Frank Provo of GameSpot described the game as one of the best platformers of all time noting that despite technical issues in the Game Boy Advance port after all these years the underlying graphics audio and gameplay still hold up Lucas M Thomas of IGN agreed that it stood the test of time You ll be impressed by the clarity and color that come through Few people realize how difficult it was to create Sonic s graphics engine which allowed for the incredible rate of speed the game s known for But the technical achievement impressed back in and still does so today Mega ranked the game its third favorite Genesis title and in Game Informer called it the th greatest game of all time Sonic the Hedgehog has been a commercial success the original Genesis version sold over million copies by February and the mobile version had eight million paid downloads by
Primarily because of its Genesis bundling Sonic the Hedgehog contributed to the console s North American popularity During October December the Genesis outsold the Super NES by a two to one ratio and at its January peak claimed percent of the market for bit consoles Although Nintendo eventually again overtook Sega this was the first time since December that the company did not lead the console market
Sonic the Hedgehog added speed and momentum based physics to the standard platform formula Set pieces and mechanics introduced by the game such as loops springs and acceleration pads have appeared in other games and become associated with the Sonic series
A flood of animal with attitude platformers each featuring a cartoon mascot were released after Sonic the Hedgehog Bubsy Aero the Acro Bat James Pond Earthworm Jim Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel Awesome Possum Ty the Tasmanian Tiger Gex This carried into the PlayStation era with games like Punky Skunk and Crash Bandicoot
The game s success led Sega to develop an extensive media franchise A sequel Sonic the Hedgehog gave Sonic a best friend and sidekick named Miles Tails Prower and continued the fight against Dr Robotnik Sonic has generated dozens of additional games and a large cast of recurring characters keeping Sonic and Robotnik as mainstays surviving the end of Sega console manufacturing after the Dreamcast The series has ventured from platformers to fighting racing role playing and sports games and has expanded into anime and manga cartoons and comic books novels and toys Sonic the Hedgehog has become one of the best selling video game franchises of all time with over million copies sold by May The game s first stage Green Hill Zone has also been re purposed for use in several other titles such as Sonic Adventure Sonic Generations and the Super Smash Bros series
The Same Old Story is the second episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe The episode was written by executive producer Jeff Pinkner and co creators J J Abrams Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci When developing the series they sought to find a medium between serialized drama and the crime procedural The Same Old Story was the first regular episode of Fringe and journalists viewed it as an example of what they could expect from the series It was directed by Paul A Edwards
After a newborn baby rapidly ages into an year old man Fringe division agent Olivia Dunham Anna Torv and consultants Peter Joshua Jackson and Walter Bishop John Noble investigate They tie the case to the murders of young women who have all had their pituitary glands removed It is revealed that Dr Claus Penrose Mark Blum an expert in progeria is working to help his son Christopher Derek Cecil stay alive as he suffers from rapid aging syndrome
The Same Old Story first aired in the United States on September on Fox An estimated million viewers watched the episode a percent increase from the series premiere The episode received mixed reviews from television critics reviewers thought it was an improvement from the previous episode but faulted it for containing plot contrivances
A prostitute is abandoned by an unknown man at a hospital dangerously in labor She dies as the doctors perform a caesarean section but the child ages rapidly in minutes soon dead having aged to the likes of an year old man Olivia Dunham Anna Torv Peter Bishop Joshua Jackson and Walter Bishop John Noble new members of the Fringe division are called to investigate by division head Phillip Broyles Lance Reddick believing the case to be part of The Pattern a string of mysterious incidents The woman is identified as having recently left a local motel and Olivia finds evidence that points to a past serial murder case she and her former partner John Scott were not able to solve Olivia explains to Peter that their murderer would paralyze his victims young women then make an incision along their face to extract a piece of brain material killing the victim in the process Walter takes both corpses back to his lab and determines that the woman had only been pregnant minutes before giving birth her child having accelerated aging disease Walter is reminded of having previously done work in this field and remembers where he stashed his car that contains the related files Once they are retrieved Olivia makes a connection to the pituitary gland which controls growth in humans and informs Charlie Francis Kirk Acevedo to monitor recent cases where the victims pituitary gland has been removed
Olivia and Peter turn to an expert in progeria Dr Penrose Mark Blum to trying to learn more about rapid aging but Dr Penrose cannot help them further though Peter suspects he is hiding something Unseen by the Fringe division Dr Penrose visits an abandoned warehouse and meets the murderer Christopher Derek Cecil his son who suffers from rapid aging syndrome Penrose warns Christopher to be careful and that they only need one more woman to complete the process By this time Charlie has found a recent murder victim killed in the same fashion as Olivia s serial murderer At Walter s lab they identify the pituitary gland has been removed They rationalize the murderer must extract hormones from the glands to slow down his own aging process Walter hypothesizes they can discover the location of the crime by looking at the images left in the woman s optical nerves induced by the paralyzing sedative Borrowing an electronic pulse camera from Massive Dynamic they discover the image of a suspension bridge near Stoughton and identify the likely location from which it was viewed the same warehouse that Dr Penrose visited The FBI converge on the building and Olivia and Peter find Penrose about to cut into another victim Olivia chases off after Christopher who eventually succumbs to his rapid aging and dies while Peter after nicking Penrose with a bullet confers with Walter to apply a makeshift defibrillator to bring the victim back to life
As they wrap up the case Olivia Peter and Walter complete forms to finalize their position in the Fringe division When Peter is out of earshot Walter learns from Olivia that the FBI medical files on Peter s childhood are void of any details
Co creators J J Abrams Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and executive producer Jeff Pinkner wrote the episode Paul A Edwards served as the director his first such credit for the series In developing Fringe the co creators did not want to make the series too serialized as this was a complaint often directed at Abrams television series Alias They wanted to find a balance between standalone stories and serialized content and studied procedural dramas such as Law and Order and CSI Crime Scene Investigation for inspiration Kurztman explained While we make sure that our episodes are self contained have a beginning a middle and an end the character stories can be serialized They don t have to resolve themselves over the course of one show The Same Old Story was Fringe s first regular episode and some journalists viewed it as an example of how the series would be structured
The episode was based on actual recent research and involved much collaboration among the series different departments For the scene in which they remove the victim s eyeball the special effects crew created a mold based on actress Elizabeth Stanley s head Using plaster to make a prosthetic they drilled out the eyeball and sculpt ed it open and went through a series of molds Stanley stated that it s really cool to see the head because it really does look just like me even though it s very gruesome because the eyeball s popping out The prop department rigged a weapon which they called a photon gun according to prop master Peter Gelfman this gun was based on real devices employed in airport security that look through people s clothing for concealed weapons VFX Supervisor Christopher Scollard explained that for the eye s last vision they used a lot of actual photographic reference on the set and on the location which they then used to take that imagery and composite it into the various computer monitors and displays in the lab
The Same Old Story featured guest appearances by actors Derek Cecil as Christopher Penrose and Mark Blum as his father Dr Claus Penrose Other guest actors included Betty Gilpin as Loraine Amber Daisy Alcott Bernie McInerney as old Christopher Penrose Carmen Goodine as Amy Ty Jones as a doctor and Karin Agstam as John Scott s sister
The Same Old Story was watched by million viewers in the United States a percent increase of four million from the pilot Fox claimed that this ratings improvement was the best for any new network drama series in over five years Its high rated lead in House helped boost Fringe s ratings for the night as percent of House s total audience and percent of to year olds stayed to watch Fringe Fringe was also the highest rated program for male to year olds that evening
The Same Old Story received mixed reviews from television critics TV Squad writer Jane Boursaw thought the episode seemed all over the place and wasn t sure what to think She stated the two most interesting parts of the episode were when Walter removed the girl s eye in order to identity her killer and the cliffhanger at the very end when Walter states If you ve read my file then you know the truth about Peter s medical history Travis Fickett of IGN thought it was better than the pilot though it was laden with lots of clunky exposition and clichd dialogue Fickett understood that it was needed to acquaint new viewers to the show Fickett concluded his review by saying Fringe has the potential to be a great show and he also praised the production level as top notch and Torv s performance as very good as she brings a unique presence to the show The AV Club critic Noel Murray gave the episode a C while Television Without Pity graded it with a B
Josh Jackson of Paste Magazine disliked the deus ex machina aspects that neatly solved the puzzles of the first two episodes and also criticized perceived plot contrivances like how the serial murderer immediately began aging once interrupted from killing his last victim Despite these flaws Jackson said he would tune in next week because he would rather have a show err on the side of unbelievable than unremarkable and I m interested to see if Abrams has any more tricks up his sleeve Erin Fox of TV Guide also liked The Same Old Story better than the pilot because she thought that it had really cool special effects awesome Walter isms and actual chemistry forming between Olivia and Peter and we also got to delve more into the connections between Walter Nina Sharp Massive Dynamic and the government and the experiments they conducted before Walter was institutionalized
A UGO Networks columnist was concerned that the expensive pilot would be hard to translate into weekly episodes but after sitting down to watch Fringe s second episode The Same Old Story my concerns have vanished Fringe s second episode represents all that is holy about genre programming without sacrificing any of Fringe s eleven herbs and spices In fact the subtle framework of what makes Fringe not X Files is even better defined in the first weekly episode I d struggled to find the word to describe it and the winner is condensed The Same Old Story has all of the sense of mystery discovery and humor that the pilot had just in a smaller more combustible space Another UGO writer Alex Zalben later compared The Same Old Story to the similarly plotted The X Files episode Dd Kalm Zalben concluded that Fringe wins this one just for having a slightly less stupid explanation
The Randy Blythe manslaughter case was a court case in the Czech Republic stemming from a Lamb of God concert in Prague wherein year old fan Daniel Nosek sustained head injuries leading to a coma and subsequent death During the investigation Czech police unsuccessfully asked United States authorities for cooperation When the band returned to the Czech Republic for another concert two years later its vocalist Randy Blythe was arrested charged with causing Nosek s death and remanded in custody for five weeks
According to a verdict delivered by the Municipal Court in Prague on March it was proven that Blythe had thrown Nosek offstage and thus had moral responsibility for his death However due to the circumstances Blythe was not held criminally liable and most of the blame lay with promoters and security members The acquittal was upheld by the Prague High Court on June
During a concert on May in the Prague club Abaton Blythe was involved in an incident that resulted in the death of Daniel Nosek a year old attending fan According to eyewitness statements cited by the Czech online daily newspaper aktulncz following Blythe s arrest Blythe was chanting Come on up between songs which the newspaper stated may have been intended to invite applause from the audience and not a direct invitation to fans The newspaper went on to report that the fan tried to climb onstage and was thrown by the singer from the stage falling backwards directly on his head According to the same paper Nosek was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol suffered serious brain trauma fell into a coma and died weeks later from his injuries
A report about the concert at issue released on May by topzinecz stated that one of the things that was unexpected was the behavior of the singer Randall Blythe who on a few occasions struck some fans in a relatively brutal way off the stage The article also contains pictures one of them showing Blythe holding a fan down on the ground Meanwhile another report released two days after the concert by metalopolisnet alleged that Randy in a totally uncompromising way took down an impertinent fan who has climbed the podium several times The front man clearly showed that it is his territory he struck the intruder down punched him a couple of times and sent him through the air off the podium without even stopping singing On May the report by marastmusiccom stated that some broken head was a testimony to the fact that the band does not like anybody on the stage while abysszinecom stated that the only negative thing about the concert was to say it mildly disputable approach of the band towards the stage divers when somebody tried to climb the stage he was brutally swept down
Following Blythe s arrest Tom Fiala a promoter of the concert said that there was no fight between the fan and Blythe and that it was an unfortunate incident which happened during the concert when someone climbed onto the stage where he was not supposed to be According to the Lamb of God publicist Adrenaline PR the incident deals with a fan that three times during the concert jumped the barricade and rushed Randy during the performance It is alleged that the third time security was not able to reach him and that Randy pushed him back into the audience where supposedly he fell and hit his head However it was revealed during the trial that it was a different fan who previously got into contact with Blythe than Nosek Guitarist Willie Adler said I can t recall that particular show let alone a fan being beaten on the stage I think I would ve noticed something like that considering the Dime thing
According to Blythe s attorney Martin Radvan the police launched an investigation following the death of Nosek about a month after the concert and following a coma After interviewing several eyewitnesses from the concert the police asked the United States Department of Justice to take part in the investigation however they refused to cooperate and moreover did not notify anyone from Lamb of God or its management
On June Blythe was arrested by the Czech police on suspicion of manslaughter Lamb of God was prepared to play in Prague on June but Blythe s arrest upon arrival at Ruzyn Airport caused the concert to be canceled
According to TV Nova Blythe stated that he had not been aware of Nosek s death and expressed his remorse
A police spokesperson stated on June that the police had formally charged Blythe under section of the Czech Criminal Code which contains intentional infliction of bodily harm resulting in death ie manslaughter He faced years of imprisonment if found guilty Randy s brother Mark Blythe said the charge was bogus and outrageous and will be dropped immediately
On June the State Attorney brought a motion to remand Blythe in pre trial detention as he considered Blythe a flight risk During a hearing conducted the same day judge Petr Fassati of the Prague District Court ruled that Blythe will be held on remand with the possibility of a bail of CZK US Blythe s alleged annual income Blythe was held in Pankrc Prison Bail was deposited in the court s bank account on mid day of July After this the State Attorney had three working days to either accept the bail or to challenge it by filing a complaint Due to public holidays it was not until July that the State Attorney filed his complaint which was to be dealt with by appellate court the Prague Municipal Court
On July Prague Municipal Court s panel of three judges headed by judge Lubo Vrba overturned the bail decision by doubling the bail amount to CZK million US After this the State Attorney challenged the conditions of release trying to achieve that the bail is subject to Blythe staying in the country and or Blythe having to report at a given police station regularly until the criminal proceedings are finished On August the appellate court rejected the State Attorney s second complaint and ordered Blythe s immediate release Blythe left the Czech Republic the next day claiming in an interview with TV Nova that he would return for the trial
On November the spokesperson of the Prague State Attorney s Office announced that the police had formally closed their investigation and proposed to the State Attorney to indict Blythe After reviewing the case file the State Attorney indicted Blythe on the aforementioned charges on November Two weeks later a judge set the trial to commence on February with a plan to conduct the hearings in four consecutive days Blythe was summoned to attend the hearing in person
The case was heard by a panel of the Prague Municipal Court consisting of presiding professional judge Tom Kubovec and two lay judges Trials in the Czech Republic are public In general the court is bound to decide on the deed as stated in the indictment however it is not bound by its legal assessment by the State Attorney
Both the defendant and the State Attorney may appeal the decision the appeal would be heard by a panel of the Prague High Court consisting of three professional judges A decision of second instance court is final and enforceable Nevertheless an extraordinary appeal may be lodged by the defendant or the Supreme State Attorney which would be heard by the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic in Brno an extraordinary appeal may however rest only on issues of law and does not provide for full review of the case After exhausting all of these remedies the defendant may also lodge a petition to the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic The petition may be based on allegation of violation of rights under the Czech Constitution and Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms
Indictment against Blythe was brought by State Attorney Vladimr Muk Muk had tried a number of murderers such as Lubo Mika life in prison Roman Fidler life imprisonment at st instance years on appeal Maria Zolotukinov years imprisonment and Petr Prochzka years imprisonment He also tried a case against Andranik Soghojan an alleged head of Russian mafia requesting years in prison for ordering a murder The Municipal Court in Prague acquitted Soghojan due to lack of evidence however the decision was repealed on appeal by the High Court and the case will be heard again by a different tribunal of the Municipal Court Another of Muk s murder cases which ended in acquittal due to insufficient evidence is that of Miroslav Rus who was indicted in connection with disappearance of Miroslav K a vice chairman of the Czech Football Association
Randy Blythe was represented by Prague lawyers Martin Radvan and Vladimr Jablonsk Radvan studied law at the Faculty of Law of Charles University and at the New York University From to he served as external advisor of the then Prime Minister Marin alfa A former partner at Baker McKenzie Radvan established Radvan Co in He is also a member of board of directors of Forum
Jablonsk gained fame as attorney of Yekta Uzunoglu a Kurdish national who was first charged in with preparing to commit three murders and committing blackmail and torture It became one of the longest criminal cases in the Czech history as the witnesses and alleged victims gradually withdrew or changed their testimonies against Uzunoglu until he was exonerated by the Municipal Court in Prague in The court held that although the crimes did take place there is no evidence that Uzunoglu took part in it He was also defending judge Pavel Nagy who was indicted of accepting a bribe The proceedings ended with Nagy being found insane and criminally not liable Jablonsk also acted as a defense attorney in the case of a hairdresser of Czech VIPs indicted on charges of rape and torture During the proceedings the judge sent Jablonsk to face the disciplinary commission of the Czech bar association for what he perceived as behaviour bordering on contempt
The trial started on February Blythe testified that when he wanted to see the club before the concert Lamb of God s technician told him that the club was terrible and messy According to Blythe the technician went on saying that the stage was small there were too many people and that it was rather dangerous
Blythe who is nearsighted took off his glasses before entering the stage which together with the smoke and light effects allegedly left him half blind Blythe said that people could easily reach the band members or climb up to the stage One of the fans who was identified as Milan Podek by Czech newspapers and who was scheduled to testify later during the proceedings managed to climb the stage twice without being stopped by security Blythe testified that during the first attempt Podek rushed the stage and started waving his arms before stage diving The second time he tried to put his arms around Blythe in an attempt to hug him Blythe who according to his own words perceived this as a danger caught Podek s collar pushed him on the ground knelt on him and repeatedly told him to stop He then led the fan by his hair to the edge of the stage where the fan jumped off It was only after watching a video of the incident that Blythe found out that a security officer was actually pushing the fan from back Blythe further said that he saw Podek trying to reach the stage yet again before finally being stopped by security
Later when another fan tried to climb the stage Blythe thought that it was Podek again Blythe testified that he approached the fan and pushed him with both hands out of the stage in the belief that the crowd would catch him which it did not Ji Choro author of video which caught the previous incidents with Podek testified that the fan was for a moment lying on the ground with nobody helping him Blythe further commented that he saw the fan get up and that other fans showed him thumbs up Blythe insisted that he never saw Nosek nor came into contact with him It was not until the arrest two years later that he found out about Nosek s death
Blythe further testified that he was not under the influence of alcohol during the concert and that he had never used any drugs Chris Adler Lamb of God s drummer testified that he had not seen anything from the back of the stage and further proclaimed that Blythe s aggressiveness is only a stage act According to Adler Blythe is a calm moderate and well read person The defense also presented videos from various Lamb of God concerts in order to demonstrate that metal music is very energetic and that Blythe regularly cheers to the crowd but not to encourage people to climb the stage
Blythe also alleged that after learning about Nosek s death he had written a letter to the Nosek family in which he offered help and a meeting in person Daniel Nosek s father however testified that the family has not been contacted by anyone from the band nor by the defense team Nosek s father confirmed that his son had been healthy up until the day of the incident The Nosek family s representative brought a claim for damages in the amount of CZK approx US
Altogether eight witnesses delivered their testimonies on February Among them were friends of Daniel Nosek Nosek and three friends had come to attend the concert from Vrchlab a town in mountains some kilometres mi northwest of Prague They described Nosek as a huge fan of Lamb of God who had been able to secure an autograph from a guitar player before the concert had started
Nosek s friend Jan Jebav testified that Nosek climbed the stage and as he turned around towards the crowd he was pushed by Blythe off the stage He said he was sure Blythe pushed Nosek with both hands He further said that Blythe s behavior deviated from all the concerts he had attended in the past commenting that Blythe was visibly furious He further claimed that Nosek was not the first person to be chased off the stage by Blythe with another fan being kicked choked and receiving a punch from Blythe Jebav corroborated Blythe s testimony that Blythe asked Are you okay after Nosek fell and that the crowd gave him a positive reply However as Nosek fell sick after the concert they called him an ambulance According to Jebav the band had not warned the fans against getting on stage and the security guards did not pay much attention to it
Nosek s other friend Ondej Vlach testified that Nosek s fall happened in a break between the end of concert and the encore Nosek climbed the stage together with another fan as the band members were leaving to go backstage According to him Blythe ran into the two fans and pushed them both off While the other fan was caught by a couple of fans remaining under the stage Nosek fell directly on the ground According to Vlach there were fewer fans in front of the stage due to the break Vlach further testified that after the fall Nosek went to sit on a bench where he was fetched a water bottle Nosek began vomiting about half an hour after the fall and as his friends realized that he had a bulge at the back of his head they called an ambulance for fear he might have a concussion Vlach said that he understood Blythe s gesture in the break as an invitation to the stage
Another person to testify was Robert Havelka who worked as a security guard the night of the incident Havelka said that the guardrail was too close to the stage but not so close as to make a platform for climbing the stage He testified that he pulled one person off the stage and that another person fell off before he could be secured He further said that the fan s fall might have been helped by someone else perhaps the singer though he did not see it precisely
Blythe s defense team attacked differences between the testimonies the witnesses gave after the incident in and at the court Among other things one of the witnesses originally alleged that Nosek and Blythe shook hands or that one of them offered hand to another on stage however at the court hearing he testified that there was no prior contact between them Blythe also argued that video evidence shown in court refuted claims about his aggressive behavior
Milan Podek the fan whom Blythe admitted to shoving off the stage testified on the third day of the trial Podek said he climbed the stage twice in order to stage dive he changed his mind during the third attempt to get on stage Podek testified that Blythe knocked him down knelt on him and held him down for a moment but Blythe definitely did not choke him He also admitted that taking into account the fact that he Podek was drunk and the way he acted Blythe s reaction was adequate He commented that he grasped the fact that he was not wanted on stage
Another witness who had attended the concert at the rear of the crowd testified that Blythe s behavior was standard to metal concerts saying that metal bands always put on angry and tough acts and the concert at issue was no exception She said that it was evident that Blythe did not want any fans on the stage Neither the two nor any other witness who took the stand that day gave a testimony as to the moment of Nosek s fall at the end of the concert
The judge also read a sworn statement from Abaton s former producer who stated that she had not known about the incident She was aware that an ambulance was called that evening but learned about the reasons for that only later during the police investigation The court further heard that Lamb of God had sent a list of security demands to the concert venue including that barriers should be placed metres ft from the stage Promoter Tom Fiala testified that although this was not the case the band had not expressed any concerns to him either before or after the concert
Randy Blythe was called again to the stand that day The judge first alerted him that he had the right to remain silent and can deny answering his questions The judge went again through the Blythe s testimony and with a view to the previous witness statements asked Blythe whether he insists that it was Milan Podek whom Blythe threw off the stage Blythe responded by saying To the best of my knowledge it was Milan Podek who was coming up on stage every time
Also that day expert medical witness Michal Pogoi took the stand According to The Prague Post Pogoi testified that Nosek s cause of death was pneumonia resulting from a blow to the brainstem Pogoi added that the mortality rate from this kind of injury is around percent and that doctors couldn t have done more to save the patient Nosek was initially taken to a nearby hospital less than a kilometer from the venue where the initial diagnosis took place Since this hospital did not have a specialized neurology department Nosek was transferred to another hospital after the diagnosis There Nosek underwent two operations first to tend to the injury and second to reduce pressure on brain by removing some bone
Finally defense asked for adjournment as a key witness fell ill The court decided to continue with the hearings the next day after which the hearings would be adjourned until March in order to hear the defense s witness Blythe committed to return when the trial resumed
On February only one witness took the stand before the hearing was adjourned Luk Havlena contacted the defense after reading about the trial in newspapers because he didn t like the description of the situation by the previous witnesses He said he did not think Blythe was aggressive that night and that fans should realize any aggressive behavior displayed onstage is just part of the show He also said that each time somebody got on the stage Blythe demonstrated that they were not allowed there Havlena testified that he saw how a fan tried to reach the stage three times and that as he was preparing to stage dive somebody aided his fall from behind He had not seen anybody fall directly on the ground Havlena had trouble recalling details from the show as he had visited multiple concerts on other dates in Abaton and thus could not describe among other things the position of the guardrail
The trial resumed on March with testimonies from expert witnesses in the fields of criminal psychology Tereza Soukupov appointed by the court and psychiatry Alena Gayov appointed by the defense Blythe returned to attend the hearings in person even though the presiding judge had told him that at this point they may be undertaken in his absence The two expert witnesses agreed that Blythe is not aggressive nevertheless he may have issues with controlling his emotions under stress The court further heard testimonies from two eyewitnesses One of them was a bodyguard who was present at the concert but did not see the fall He testified that when by the exit he saw two men taking a third man out of the building to fresh air He said that he was told by them that the person fell off the stage The ambulance arrived minutes later
Another eyewitness was a fan Alena Rozsvalov who testified that she saw Blythe shove Nosek saying h e climbed onto the stage and when he tried to stand up Blythe shoved him According to her the shove was strong enough for Nosek to fall behind the front row of the fans into a place where no fans were staying at the moment She testified that Nosek fell backwards Another attendee of the concert who took the stand that day did not recall seeing any fall by the end of the concert
A defense appointed expert witness in the field of biomechanics testified on March that Nosek could not turn degrees during the fall and that should he be falling forward he could not have sustained an injury to the back of his head He further said that if Nosek fell over the first row of the fans he must have been not only pushed but must have jumped himself The State Attorney immediately attacked this testimony claiming that the expert witness omitted the conditions at the place and time as well as some of the eyewitness testimonies according to which Nosek fell onto his back from the beginning and did not turn during the fall The presiding judge agreed with the State Attorney on some of his points
In his closing speech the State Attorney asked the court to incarcerate Blythe for years claiming that even children in the kindergarten are aware that a fall from height may lead to an injury
A Nosek family representative said that based on the witness testimonies the family did not believe that Blythe was solely responsible He continued that he would not be substantiating the requested amount as no money could replace the loss the family has suffered He further added that Daniel had died on his father s birthday and his mother has consequently become a psychiatry patient unable to work
In his closing word Blythe said that he did not wish to avoid any responsibility and that if he felt guilty he would have pleaded so He further commented that in case of acquittal measures would be undertaken to avoid anything similar from happening at Lamb of God concerts again
On March the court delivered a verdict according to which Blythe was not criminally liable for Nosek s death even though he had the moral responsibility for it Consequently the court dismissed the damages claim and ordered the return of Blythe s bail
The court held that it was proven that Blythe had thrown Nosek off the stage However Blythe due to his nearsightedness could have mistaken Nosek for the other fan who had repeatedly gotten over the guardrail According to the court the largest part of the blame lies with the promoters and security members Judge Kubovec further reproached Blythe for not having met with the Nosek family
The State Attorney announced that he would appeal the verdict
The State Attorney s appeal was heard by a panel of three judges of the Prague High Court chaired by judge Ji Lnnika The hearing took place in Blythe s absence Blythe s acquittal was upheld by the panel on June
The verdict may have been appealed by the Supreme State Attorney SSA to the Supreme Court As the appeal hasn t been lodged by SSA within two months of the delivery of written second instance verdict it has become final
In Blythe demanded ca CZK millions for damages but the Municipal Court for Prague dismissed the suit
In reaction to the arrest and detention a fan created a petition at the official White House petition site By the time Blythe was released on bail it gathered over signatures
On July there was a vigil organized in Lamb of God s hometown of Richmond Virginia by a friend of Blythe s At the event Gwar who are also from Richmond frontman Dave Brockie said I don t think it was right for him to be arrested I don t think it was right for him to be locked up This stuff could have all been worked out diplomatically or legally before he got there In addition to Brockie other notable figures in heavy metal such as Tom Araya and David Draiman have also come out in support of Blythe
In a post to his blog Blythe explained that he met the Nosek family in private after the trial and promised them to be a spokesperson for safer shows He emphasized that the family never attacked him and just wanted to know the truth of what had happened to their son
US Highway US is a component of the United States Numbered Highway System that connects Everett Washington to the Upper Peninsula UP of the US state of Michigan with a separate segment that runs from Rouses Point New York to Houlton Maine In Michigan the highway runs through the UP in two segments as a part of the state trunkline highway system entering the state at Ironwood and ending at St Ignace in between US briefly traverses the state of Wisconsin As one of the major transportation arteries in the UP US is a major conduit for traffic through the state and neighboring northern Midwest states Two sections of the roadway are included as part of the Great Lakes Circle Tours and other segments are listed as state designated Pure Michigan Byways There are several memorial highway designations and historic bridges along US that date to the s and s The highway runs through rural sections of the UP passing through two national and two state forests in the process
The route of what became US was used as part of two Indian trails before European settlers came to the UP and as part of the Michigan segments of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway and the King s International Highway auto trails in the early th century The state later included these trails as part of M when the first state highway trunklines were designated in Most of M was redesignated as part of US when the US Highway System was created on November Since the s several changes have reshaped the highway s routing through the UP One such alteration eventually created a business loop that connected across the state line with Hurley Wisconsin and others pushed an originally inland routing of US closer to the Lake Michigan shoreline With the creation of the Interstate Highway System part of US was rerouted to coincide with the new Interstate I though in the s the US Highway was truncated and removed from the I freeway resulting in today s basic form
According to a regional planning committee report US is a key highway for Michigan providing its main western gateway The roadway plays an important role in the transportation of goods across the northern tier of states in the Midwest and is listed on the National Highway System NHS for its entire length The NHS is a network of roadways important to the country s economy defense and mobility Together with M US is part of a pair of primary trunklines that bridge the eastern and western sides of the UP The miles km of roadway in Michigan is divided into a mile km western segment and a mile km eastern segment interrupted by a section that runs for miles km in the state of Wisconsin
US enters Michigan from Wisconsin for the first time north of downtown Hurley Wisconsin and Ironwood Michigan over the state line that runs along the Montreal River The highway crosses the river into Gogebic County and passes a welcome center on the way into a commercial district north of downtown Running along Cloverland Drive US meets its only business route in Michigan at Douglas Boulevard The business route was previously a full loop that ran west through downtown Ironwood and crossed the border into Hurley and back to the main highway The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has removed the signage on their side of the border which reduced the loop to a business spur that ends at the state line US continues eastward through UP woodlands to the city of Bessemer While bypassing the community of Ramsay the highway crosses a branch of the Black River The roadway enters Wakefield on the south side of Sunday Lake meeting M at a stoplight in town As the US Highway leaves Wakefield it turns southeasterly through the Ottawa National Forest crossing Jackson Creek and two branches of the Presque Isle River US and M merge and run concurrently over the second branch of the Presque Isle in the community of Marenisco This concurrency has the lowest traffic volume along the entire length of the highway within the state in the Michigan Department of Transportation MDOT recorded a daily average usage along the stretch of vehicles compared to the overall average of vehicles for the highway At the end of the concurrency M turns northerly to run along Lake Gogebic
The highway continues parallel to the state line from the Marensico area through the national forest toward Watersmeet That unincorporated community is the home of the Watersmeet High School Nimrods the basketball team featured on a series of ESPN commercials and a documentary series on the Sundance Channel The area is also where the waters meet the rolling hills drain to Lake Superior via the Ontonagon River to Lake Michigan via the Brule and Menominee rivers or to the Gulf of Mexico via the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers Also located in the area are the Sylvania Wilderness and the Lac Vieux Desert Indian Reservation which includes the Lac Vieux Desert Casino and Resort The highway travels southeasterly from Watersmeet around the many lakes and streams in the area and crosses into rural Iron County US intersects Federal Forest Highway FFH near Golden Lake in Stambaugh Township in the middle of the national forest The trunkline then runs along the Iron River as it approaches the city of the same name and meets M In town US intersects M before crossing the river and turning northeast out of the city
US leaves the Ottawa National Forest at Iron River and the highway continues eastward through forest lands near several small lakes to Crystal Falls the county seat of Iron County On the west side of town US meets US the two highways run concurrently along Crystal Avenue The combined highway turns south onto th Street and meets M s eastern terminus at the intersection between th Street and Superior Avenue next to the county courthouse at the top of the hill US US runs south out of Crystal Falls to the west of and parallel to the Paint River The roadway passes Railroad Kennedy and Stager lakes and leaves the state of Michigan at the Brule River crossing into Florence County Wisconsin for about miles km
US US re enters Michigan where it crosses the Menominee River and subsequently meets M in Breitung Township north of Iron Mountain and Kingsford The highways merge in a triple concurrency and run south on Stephenson Avenue into Iron Mountain along the west side of Lake Antoine parallel to a branch line of the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad ELS Railroad The road crosses through a retail corridor and over a flooded pit of the Chapin Mine In downtown Iron Mountain at Ludington Street M turns west off Stephenson Avenue to run across town to Kingsford US US exits downtown and turns east along a second retail corridor near the Midtown Mall The highway re enters Breitung Township where US separates to the south to re enter Wisconsin US continues eastward parallel to a branch of the Canadian National Railway CN Railway Both road and rail travel through the community of Quinnesec where they pass near the largest paper mill in the UP The trunkline runs along the main street of Norway where the highway meets the eastern terminus of US Then US continues east through rural Dickinson County to Vulcan passing north of Hanbury Lake through the Copper Country State Forest before crossing the Sturgeon River in Loretto and passing into Menominee County
In Menominee County the environment takes on a more agricultural character along US The highway passes through the edge of the community of Hermansville before entering Powers US comes to a three way intersection and turns northeast merging onto US The concurrent highway runs from Powers through the communities of Wilson and Spaulding on the south side of the CN Railway At Harris the trunkline enters the Hannahville Indian Community Harris is on the Menominee County side of the reservation but as the highway continues east it crosses over to Bark River on the Delta County side The county line in between not only separates the two communities but also serves as the boundary between the Central and Eastern time zones East of Bark River the highway crosses the community s namesake waterway before intersecting the eastern terminus of M The roadway crosses the Ford River prior to turning due east into the outskirts of Escanaba
US US widens to four lanes along Ludington Street which forms the east west axis of the Escanaba street grid Near downtown the highway meets M which runs along the city s north south axis Lincoln Avenue The trunklines merge and run north bypassing the traditional central business district for a different business corridor Lincoln Avenue runs north carrying four lanes of traffic past the Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds site of one of the two state fairs for the state of Michigan the only state to have twin fairs US US M continues north on Lincoln Avenue past the campus of Bay de Noc Community College The four lane highway crosses the Escanaba River just upstream from its mouth near the large Mead Paper Mill and shifts to run immediately next to Little Bay de Noc The section here carried the highest traffic counts along all of US in the state an average of vehicles used this segment of roadway daily in
The road turns inland again and US US M passes to the west of downtown Gladstone The highway through here is an expressway four lanes divided by a central median and no driveway access Unlike a freeway the expressway has standard intersections and not interchanges The highway intersects the eastern terminus of County Road CR and crosses the ELS Railroad south of the stoplight for th Avenue North where M separates from the US Highways and turns to the northwest The expressway continues north parallel to the CN Railway crossing the Days River Through this area the trunkline carries a speed limit of mph km h for car traffic This is the only road in the UP with a speed limit higher than mph km h besides I which has a speed limit of mph km h The expressway segment runs around the upper end of Little Bay de Noc before ending at Rapid River In this location US separates to the north and US returns to an easterly track as a two lane road crossing the Rapid and Whitefish rivers and turning southeast around the head of the bay As US crosses southern Delta County it passes through the western unit of the Hiawatha National Forest Near Garden Corners the highway runs along the shore of Big Bay de Noc After the intersection with the northern terminus of M US turns inland cutting across the base of the Garden Peninsula and enters Schoolcraft County
As the highway approaches Thompson US leaves the western unit of the Hiawatha National Forest and enters the Lake Superior State Forest The roadway runs along Lake Michigan to Manistique crossing the Manistique River The trunkline turns inland approaching Gulliver and then turns north northeast to Blaney Park The community there is a former logging town turned resort at the southern terminus of M the resort was active from the late s but declined by the s From Blaney Park US turns due east and crosses into Mackinac County west of Gould City Where it intersects a former routing the main highway crosses the CN Railway one last time and runs to the south of Engadine to follow the Lake Michigan shoreline through Naubinway After passing the community of Epoufette US crosses the Cut River Bridge feet m over the Cut River The highway crosses into the eastern unit of the Hiawatha National Forest near Brevort running between Lake Michigan and Brevort Lake in the process The road continues along the Lake Michigan shoreline passing Mystery Spot near Gros Cap and turning inland immediately west of St Ignace The US designation ends at the highway s partial cloverleaf interchange with I The roadway continues easterly into downtown St Ignace as Business Loop I BL I
In the first transportation routes through what became the state of Michigan were the lakes rivers and Indian trails Two of these trails followed parts of the future US The Sault Green Bay Trail roughly followed the Lake Michigan shoreline routing of US between Escanaba and St Ignace The Mackinac Trail connected St Ignace with Sault Ste Marie
In the age of the auto trail the roads that later formed US through the UP were given a few different highway names When the original roadways between Ironwood and Iron River were completed in late the Upper Peninsula Development Bureau UPDB named the area Cloverland and the highway the Cloverland Trail Later the name was extended over the highway to Escanaba and to all highways in the area in the early s the name was phased out by the UPDB completely in The roadways were also used for the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway named for former US president Theodore Roosevelt after his death in Overall this highway ran from Portland Oregon to Portland Maine by way of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario Through the UP the southern branch followed the immediate predecessors to US including the section through Florence County Wisconsin
The Great Lakes Automobile Route was established in by the UPDB A predecessor of the Great Lakes Circle Tours by seventy years the route followed a circular journey along the banks of lakes Michigan and Superior and Green Bay This route followed the modern US from Ironwood to the M junction in Manistique using the modern M and M to stay in Michigan Branches of the route followed US and M between Powers and Escanaba The route was originally intended to entice motorists to drive around Lake Michigan The name fell out of use before its first anniversary because of World War I
One Canadian auto trail was routed through the UP as well In the King s International Highway linked Vancouver British Columbia to Halifax Nova Scotia but there was no highway to carry it around the north side of Lake Superior Motorists had to ship their cars by boat between Sault Ste Marie Ontario and Thunder Bay or enter the United States to continue along the auto trail The routings varied on the maps of the time but its basic route used US through the UP from Ironwood to Sault Ste Marie until a highway north of Lake Superior was opened in by that time the auto trail had taken on the Trans Canada Highway name
The first state trunkline highway designated along the path of the modern US was M a designation that was in use by July between Ironwood and Sault Ste Marie The first roadside park in the country was created by Herbert Larson near what is now US near Iron River in although other sources state that the first was a picnic table alongside US Grand River Avenue in south of Saranac When the US Highway System was created on November US partially replaced M Between Crystal Falls and Iron Mountain US was routed through Florence Wisconsin The former routing of M from Crystal Falls to Sagola became a new M when the former M became US now US M from Sagola south to Iron Mountain was made a part of an extended M which is now M By the next year M was added along US from Rexton to Garnet as part of a larger extension
The first changes to the routing of US itself were made in with a bypass of downtown Escanaba A larger rerouting was completed in between Rogers Park and Sault Ste Marie The new routing followed Mackinac Trail instead of turning east to Cedarville and north to Sault Ste Marie the former routing was given the M designation Another realignment in the Iron Mountain area shifted US US to a new bridge over the Menominee River between and Downtown Ironwood was bypassed in and the former route was initially designated M
The Michigan State Highway Department MSHD changed the routings and designations of the highways around Cooks Thompson and Manistique in the mid s The agency rerouted US between Cooks and M in Thompson turning the old road back to county control The section between M and M was redesignated as an extension of M to Thompson and M was replaced by a further extension of M The last change was to route US along its current alignment in the area completing the changes on August
The MSHD started construction in on a new road that rerouted US into St Ignace for the first time Between Brevort and Moran US previously followed Worth Road inland to the Tahquamenon Trail to meet the northern extension of US into the Upper Peninsula The new routing took US along the lakeshore into St Ignace US was truncated to the state ferry docks in Mackinaw City and US was routed through St Ignace along the former US to Rogers Park the connection in St Ignace to the state ferry docks became M Further changes in the early s straightened the roadway out near Watersmeet and Crystal Falls
Additional realignments were completed by the MSHD to move US to its modern lakeshore routing between Gould City and Epoufette in The new highway traveled due east from Gould City to Naubinway and then along the lake to Epoufette The former route through Engadine was turned back to local control as far east as Garnet From there east it was numbered just M removing US from a concurrency Another former section into Epoufette was added to extend M The new highway was detoured around the Cut River Bridge until it was completed in after construction delays over steel shortages during World War II
The western end of US took on two changes in the s M was extended along US to the state line at Ironwood from its western terminus at Wakefield A similar extension was made from M s eastern terminus to Sault Ste Marie in The M designation was renumbered as Business US by The eastern M extension was reversed in and the western extension to the state line was shifted to a new location by
With the coming of the Interstate Highway System in Michigan the MSHD planned to convert the eastern section of US to a freeway between St Ignace and Sault St Marie In planning maps from this highway corridor was included in the system that later became the Interstates It was also included in the General Location of National System of Interstate Highways Including All Additional Routes at Urban Areas Designated in September or Yellow Book after the cover color that was released in as the federal government readied plans for the freeway system The proposed number in was Interstate I
The first section of freeway was built in late or early between Evergreen Shores and M north of St Ignace The Mackinac Bridge was opened to traffic on November a new section of freeway and an interchange connected US to the bridge In another new freeway segment closed the gap between the Mackinac Bridge and Evergreen Shores sections At the time the I designation supplanted US on the bridge and US was shifted to follow I along the freeways in the St Ignace area The former routing of US in downtown St Ignace was redesignated BL I More sections of freeway were opened in immediately to the south of the newly constructed International Bridge in Sault Ste Marie as well as between Dafter and Kinross The last two sections opened in connected the northern end of the freeway at M to Kinross and the section between Dafter and Sault Ste Marie At this time all of US s former routing became a county road known as Mackinac Trail H
The Department of State Highways expanded US US into an expressway between Gladstone and Rapid River in The state built a new bridge over the Manistique River in bypassing downtown MDOT disposed of the former routing of US into downtown in two ways The western half was initially an unnumbered state highway until it was later transferred to local control An extension of M replaced the remainder including the Siphon Bridge through downtown In that same year the department truncated US to end in St Ignace by removing it from the I freeway The last changes were made to US s routing through Iron River in bypassing the bridge that formerly carried the highway over the river in town In MDOT raised the speed limit along the expressway section in Delta County from to mph to km h although the speed limit for trucks remains mph km h
On July the State Administrative Board named M the predecessor to US in Michigan the Bohn Highway to honor Frank P Bohn a prominent local citizen who later served in Congress from to In the residents of Escanaba created a memorial to the veterans of World War I called Memory Lane The project consisted of elm and maple trees planted along US US west of town The American Legion sold the trees to local businesses and individuals who could honor specific soldiers Later in the Bessemer Women s Club created a tribute in the form of a permanent living memorial to the area veterans Also called Memory Lane the group planted elms and evergreens trees and shrubs as a landscaped parkway along miles km of US east of Bessemer
Most of US along with US in the Lower Peninsula was designated the United Spanish War Veterans Memorial Highway in To connect the gap in the routing where US cuts through Wisconsin M and M were used in place of US between Iron Mountain and Crystal Falls Signs marking the highway were not erected until when Governor George W Romney had them installed
The Amvets Memorial Drive designation was created for the section of US US M between the northern Escanaba city limits and County Road CR in Delta County The American Veterans AMVETS organization in Michigan petitioned the Michigan Legislature to grant this designation which was assigned under Public Act in
Two sections of US are part of the overall Great Lakes Circle Tour GLCT the segment from the Wisconsin state line near Ironwood to the M junction in Wakefield is part of the Lake Superior Circle Tour LSCT and the segment from the southern M junction in Escanaba to the eastern terminus in St Ignace is part of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour LMCT These two tours were created in May through a joint effort between MDOT and its counterparts in Wisconsin Minnesota and Ontario The section of US between Iron River and Crystal Falls has been named the Iron County Heritage Trail This Pure Michigan Byway was designated to honor the rich history of two industries that built a state and nation mining and logging On August MDOT announced that the section of US that runs concurrently with M in Delta County was being included in the UP Hidden Coast Recreational Heritage Trail
There are six bridges along current or former sections of US that MDOT has added to its listing of Michigan s Historic Bridges two of these are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places NRHP A third bridge added to the NRHP in late has not been added to MDOT s listing however The first of these historic bridges is the crossing of the Iron River which has since been bypassed by a new bridge The original structure dating to is a foot long m spandrel arch span that was built by the MSHD as Trunk Line Bridge No The structure was listed on the NRHP on December for its architectural and engineering significance
In December the National Park Service approved the listing of the Upper Twin Falls Bridge that crosses the Menominee River northwest of Iron Mountain The structure is a single span pin connected camelback through truss bridge and it is the only known example of its type in Michigan It was built between and because the Twin Falls Power Dam would flood an existing river crossing The span cost equivalent to in paid equally by Dickinson and Florence counties Until the s the Upper Twin Falls Bridge carried US across the Menominee River In a new bridge was built about a mile downstream and the highway was rerouted over the new span The bridge closed to automobile traffic in September and the nomination process for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places began in
In MDOT replaced the Sturgeon River Bridge in Waucedah Township Dickinson County As of October even though the old bridge was demolished and replaced MDOT retained it on their historic bridge list It was built in
Before US used a different routing through Manistique and crossed the Manistique River on what is nicknamed the Siphon Bridge Built as a part of a raceway flume on the river the water level is actually higher than the road surface This produces a siphon effect giving the bridge its nickname The Manistique Pulp and Paper Company was organized in and needed a dam on the Manistique River to supply their mill This dam would require a large section of the city to be flooded and shallow river banks meant difficulties in any bridge construction Instead of expensive dikes a concrete tank was built lengthwise in the river bed the sides of this tank provided man made banks higher than the natural banks The Michigan Works Progress Administration described the bridge as having concrete bulkheads formed by the side spans of the bridge that allow the mill to maintain the water level several feet above the roadbed The Manistique Tourism Council stated At one time the bridge itself was partially supported by the water that was atmospherically forced under it and that the bridge has been featured in Ripley s Believe It or Not The eight span structure is feet m long
The Cut River Bridge carries US across the Cut River in Hendricks Township Mackinac County This structure was built during World War II but completion was delayed due to war induced steel shortages The span uses short tons long tons t of structural steel to bridge the feet m over the river and its gorge at a height of feet m above the river The Cut River Bridge is one of only two cantilevered deck truss bridges in the state On either side of the bridge there are picnic areas and trails down to the river
Listed on the NRHP on December the Mackinac Trail Carp River Bridge carries H the modern successor to US over the Carp River north of St Ignace The bridge is another spandrel arch structure feet m in length and built in Increasing traffic along Mackinac Trail prompted the MSHD to widen its deck by five feet m and install new guardrails in the biennium along with the addition of decorative retaining walls
The last of the historic bridges along a former segment of US is the structure carrying Ashmun Street BS I over the Power Canal in Sault Ste Marie Built in it is one of only three steel arch bridges in the state The foot wide m and foot long m structure is described by MDOT as massive with an innovative construction method the previous structure was used as a falsework for the current bridge before removal
MDOT has erected milemarkers along the two Michigan segments of the highway that use the total mileage starting at the state line in Ironwood the signs on the eastern segment reflect the mileage in Florence County Wisconsin
Business US Highway Bus US is a mile km business route that runs from the Wisconsin state line at the Montreal River The route extends through downtown Ironwood on Silver and Aurora streets before turning northward along Suffolk Street Bus US stays on Suffolk Street for a short while until it turns onto Frederick Street On Frederick Street Bus US bears north through a residential area along Douglas Street The eastern terminus of the route is at its junction with US at the corner of Cloverland Drive and Douglas Street north of downtown
The business route was created in August when former M in Ironwood was renumbered as a business loop of US It was originally a bi state business connection before the Wisconsin Department of Transportation decommissioned Bus US in Hurley westward along State Trunk Highway and northward along US in
The Butterfly World Tour was the third concert tour by American singer songwriter Mariah Carey The tour promoted Carey s album at the time Butterfly and included songs from several of her previous albums The tour visited Asia Australia and the United States with rehearsals taking place in December Starting on January the tour spanned five shows in Asia six in Australia and one in Hawaii US Throughout the tour Carey varied hairstyles and outfits as well as song selections The Butterfly World Tour was very successful the four dates at Japan s largest stadium Tokyo Dome sold out in under one hour equaling over tickets breaking the previous record she held at the stadium for show sell outs
The tour was recorded in VHS format and was titled Around the World The video featured live performances of Carey at different worldwide venues including New York Japan Hawaii and Brisbane Other scenes are included in the video such as a conversation between Carey and Brenda K Starr prior to her performance of I Still Believe Prior to the performances in Australia a scene of Carey swimming with dolphins is shown Additionally Olivia Newton John makes a cameo appearance during their joint performance of Newton John s song Hopelessly Devoted to You The video was commercially successful being certified platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA and gold in Brazil by the Associao Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos ABPD
Since her debut in Carey had not journeyed on a large or extensive tour In fact she had not embarked on a tour until her third studio effort Music Box when she performed six arena shows in the United States during the Music Box Tour The opening night of the tour received scathing reviews mostly aimed at Carey s deemed obvious stage fright and failure to make a connection with the crowd Succeeding nights were more favorably reviewed with critics raving about Carey s vocals Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote regarding Carey s live vocals Beyond any doubt Ms Carey s voice is no studio concoction Her range extends from a rich husky alto to dog whistle high notes she can linger over sensual turns growl with playful confidence syncopate like a scat singer However after the strong media attention Carey did not visit the US on her succeeding Daydream World Tour in visiting only Europe and Asia The tour in contrast received critical acclaim from critics and fans alike as well as breaking ticket sale records Carey s three shows at Japan s largest stadium Tokyo Dome sold out in under three hours equaling in over tickets setting the record of fastest show sellouts in Japan s history On the Butterfly World Tour Carey broke the record selling tickets in under one hour During after the commercially and critically successful release of Butterfly Carey had not planned to tour once again due to the long travel times and strain on her voice However due to overwhelming demand by fans Carey agreed to perform in Asia once again only extending the tour to Taiwan and Australia as well as one last show in the United States Rehearsals for the show began shortly after Christmas extending for a period of two weeks
The show began with Carey standing on a small elevated centerpiece on stage surrounded by several long draped curtains Carey featured three background vocalists throughout the tour Trey Lorenz Melodie Daniels and Kelly Price As the introduction began with Emotions each of the curtains were slowly draped revealing Carey atop the platform dressed in a beige mini dress and matching sheer blouse and stiletto heels As she began performing Emotions the platform was lowered so Carey could access the other sections of the stage throughout the song s performance After an intimate performance with dimmed lights for The Roof Back in Time Carey was joined on stage by a Peruvian guitar player who played the Latin inspired guitar melodies during her performance of My All Afterwards Carey sang Close My Eyes the only sitting performance of the show During the song several male backup dancers performed slow and ample dance routines behind Carey on a higher level of the stage
For the second part of the show Carey had the second costume change of the evening donning a long sequined black gown and semi teased hair For the performance of Dreamlover Carey was joined by three female back up dancers who mimicked her light dance routines during the song The next song on the set list was Hero which featured Carey alone on stage without any vocal back up After the song s performance Carey was joined on stage by Lorenz who performed I ll Be There alongside her Next came Make It Happen a song which accompanied yet another wardrobe change for Carey She donned a short mini skirt alongside a sleeveless white blouse and loose golden curls On stage Carey was joined by a full church choir all dressed in long black garments After the song s recital Carey performed One Sweet Day alongside a previously recorded video of Boyz II Men during their live performance of the song with Carey at Madison Square Garden in
After completing the song Carey changed to a pair of leg hugging blue jeans and a tank top Her next performance was the Fantasy remix featuring Ol Dirty Bastard on a large projection screen behind the stage as Carey performed light chair dance routines alongside several male dancers The performance featured the most intricate choreography Carey performed on the tour After a low key performance of Babydoll or Whenever You Call in other countries Carey was once again joined by several male dancers as she sang Honey while re enacting the music video during a small skit Carey once again changed to a beige ensemble similar to her first outfit before performing her debut single Vision of Love The final song on the tour was Butterfly which featured large stills of butterflies and flowers projected onto the large screen behind Carey She donned a long brown sequined gown for the performance being joined on stage once again by her trio of back up singers During the shows in Japan Carey performed her holiday classic All I Want for Christmas Is You alongside various male and female dancers on stage who performed light dance routines alongside Carey During the song Carey donned a Santa suit and matching hat while being carried on a large stage prop by the dancers
Virtually the entire tour was an instant sell out the four shows at Japan s largest stadium Tokyo Dome broke Carey s previous ticket sales record selling out all tickets in under one hour Additionally the entire Australian leg sold out within hours leading Carey to extend the tour one more date in the United States The show at Hawaii s capacity Aloha Stadium sold out as well making her one of the few acts in the stadiums history to sell out the entire venue Aside from its commercial success fans and critics raved about the show s visuals as well as Carey s vocal delivery
During the tour several bits and performances were filmed and later edited into a VHS and DVD entitled Around the World The VHS featured performances from Tokyo Dome Aloha Stadium as well as few other skits and scenes that were later compiled into the video The film first begins with performances in Hawaii where the song s recitals are cut into halves excluding the second verses and bridge to shorten the bulk length of the video Afterwards Carey s performance of My All is shown in inter cut scenes from Japan and Taipei After the conclusion of the song scenes of Carey conversing with Brenda K Starr are shown which eventually lead to a tribute to her at a small and intimate New York club where Carey performs I Still Believe Soon after Carey s performance in Japan with Lorenz for I ll Be There is shown leading to scenes of Carey swimming with dolphins in Australia the next title on the video is Carey s live rendition of Hopelessly Devoted To You where she is joined by Olivia Newton John on stage in Melbourne A scene of a fans gathering outside of a New York City studio is shown following a performance of Honey and Hero at Aloha Stadium The VHS was a commercial success being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA denoting shipments of over units The video was also certified gold in Brazil by the Associao Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos ABPD
Daydream Interlude Fantasy Sweet Dub Mix
I ll Be There with Trey Lorenz
Make You Happy Trey Lorenz
One Sweet Day featuring pre recorded Boyz II Men
Ain t Nobody Band Interlude
Honey featuring pre recorded Mase
All I Want for Christmas is You
sus sus Performed on select dates
Trey Lorenz vocals background vocals
Thelnetham Windmill also known as Button s Mill is a Grade II listed tower mill constructed of brick The windmill is located at Thelnetham Suffolk England It was built in the early nineteenth century to grind wheat into flour Thelnetham windmill worked by wind power until latterly on two sails after which it became derelict
In a group of enthusiasts purchased Thelnetham windmill for restoration Numerous volunteers helped to restore the mill to full working order over an eight year period The mill is open to the public and flour ground at the mill can be bought at the site
The mill is a small four storey tower mill with Patent sails and winded by a fantail It drives two pairs of millstones with a third pair driven by an auxiliary engine
The windmill at Thelnetham was built by millwright George Bloomfield for William Button in It replaced a post mill which had been moved to Sandy Lane Diss Norfolk the previous year The mill was set to work on Christmas Day In the mill was modernised by the fitting of a cast iron windshaft Patent sails and a fantail The new windshaft was fitted on July It was made by J Aickman the Kings Lynn millwright and weighs tons kg A new stock was fitted in September William Button died on February The mill passed jointly to his widow Rebecca and their son Richard Richard Button worked the mill until at which date it was conveyed to his sons Richard and William who sold it to Richard Peverett from Kenninghall Norfolk in
The mill was worked by Stephen Peverett Richard s son He inherited the mill on the death of his father in and leased it to Henry Bryant in In the mill was sold by auction and Henry Bryant purchased the freehold Bryant rebuilt the floors of the mill From a portable steam engine was used as auxiliary power driving an extra pair of millstones on the ground floor This was replaced in by a Hornsby oil engine Bryant ran the mill until when he sold it to Alphonso Vincent a retired millwright from Garboldisham Norfolk The Hornsby engine was sold in the early s The mill was tailwinded c and as a result one pair of sails was removed Vincent carried out some repairs to the mill and ran it until he retired in One of the remaining two sails was wrecked in when the mill was again tailwinded
On the death of Alphonso Vincent in his son George inherited the property He lived at the site in an old lorry until his death in The mill passed to his daughter who sold it in to Mr and Mrs Humphries who intended to convert it into a house They later changed their minds and offered it for sale for restoration In the cap of the mill was blown to pieces in a gale Thelnetham windmill was purchased by five members of the Suffolk Mills Group in November and plans for restoration were made The consortium consisted of Mark Barnard Charles Dolman Peter Dolman David Pearce and Chris Seago The derelict mill and an acre of land cost
The mill was restored over a period of six years Much of the work was carried out by enthusiasts who used working holidays to repair the mill
The consortium took possession of the mill in November The first priority was to make the mill as weathertight as possible Polythene sheets were spread on the dust floor of the mill to prevent further water penetration of the structure The mill was surveyed and recorded In spring the dust floor partially collapsed and was removed as a safety measure Scaffolding was erected to allow the fanstage to be dismantled and the cap centering wheels were removed in preparation for the removal of the cap frame
A two week work in was held at the end of July and beginning of August Thirty three volunteers worked on the mill over the work in Two new main floor beams for the dust floor were made from baulks of pitch pine which had previously been in a maltings at Bury St Edmunds On August the windshaft and remaining sail fragments were removed by a mobile crane followed by the cap frame and the cast iron curb sections
New oak joists were laid on the dust floor and temporary boarding laid to provide a working platform for repairs to the top of the mill tower The bin floor was removed apart from one oak main beam which was repairable A replacement main beam was made from pitch pine and the oak beam was repaired New oak joists were fitted along with some salvaged from the original floor which were fit to be reused One of these had previously been a whip from a Common sail Some of the joists were made from pitch pine from the Eastbridge Windpump which following its collapse on February had been re erected at the Museum of East Anglian Life Stowmarket The sack hoist was dismantled to enable its repair brickwork was repaired and new lintels were made for some of the windows A tarpaulin was secured over the mill tower to keep the weather out over winter The floorboards on the bin floor were replaced and one of the two pairs of millstones was removed
The work was financed by grants of from the Council for the Preservation of Rural Essex from St Edmundsbury Borough Council from the Scarfe Trust and from the Suffolk Mills Group Other donations and income amounted to with the balance of expenditure being met jointly by the five owners
The work in was reported in both local and national media including BBC Look East Bury Free Press Eastern Daily Press East Anglian Daily Times Daily Telegraph and Radio Orwell
In the season two separate work ins were held the first from July to August and the second from August to August A total of volunteers participated over the two weeks
The millstones were removed from the stone floor which was then repaired One of the main beams was found to have been attacked by Death Watch beetles and over a third of the elm beam was replaced with oak The six supports for the hurst frame were repaired one at a time as they bore the whole of the weight of the machinery above One post required replacement It had rotted and the floor had sunk by inches mm causing the second main floor beam to fracture When this work had been completed the stone floor was removed including the second main floor beam which was removed in one piece so that the most suitable route to install its replacement could be assessed
The new main beam for the stone floor was installed and the ground floor was concreted The stone floor was reconstructed reusing the old stone bearers and those joists that were fit for reuse Other joists were made new from oak or pitch pine New floorboards were laid in the dust floor the inches mm thick elm boards being double grooved with a metal tongue between them Those on the bin floor are of a similar configuration The top four courses of brickwork of the mill tower were removed and work began on rebuilding them aided by a trammel attached to the upright shaft
During the second work in the remainder of the stone floor was boarded again using double grooved boards with a metal tongue between them The window on the dust floor was rebuilt and the reconstruction of the top four courses of brickwork continued The top two courses were rebuilt with red engineering bricks The dust floor window had a reinforced concrete lintel cast as the tower was weak at this point and had distorted The windshaft the curb segments and fantail gearing were given two coats of red lead paint A new finial for the cap was made from a piece of oak feet mm long by inches mm diameter A start was made on removing the old pointing on the brickwork and repointing with gauged mortar
After the work in had finished the boarding of the stone floor was completed and the mill thoroughly cleaned in preparation for an open day which was held in late autumn The work done in cost Donations received were from Rank Xerox from the Historic Buildings Council and from St Edmundsbury Borough Council Other donations and income received amounted to The project received further coverage in local media the Eastern Daily Press and South Norfolk News
The work ins took place from July to August and August to August The work planned included the completion of the brickwork at the top of the tower installation of the Elm curb a start on the construction of the new cap installing machinery and making and fitting various doors and windows The cap frame was constructed incorporating two beams from the original cap frame that were fit to be reused The cap frame was completed in autumn It had been constructed upside down and a mobile crane was used to turn it over and place the windshaft into position
Work in the early part of was mainly confined to smaller jobs such as casting various brasses and overhaul of the various parts of the fantail drivetrain and mechanism for controlling the Patent sails The mill was generally made as safe as possible inside in preparation for scheduled visits including one from the Wind and Watermill Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Other work included the overhaul of the final drive to the feet inches m stones including dismantling the stone nut and replacement of three cogs in beech
When the weather improved work commenced outside The cap circle was mostly constructed before the first work in commenced The work ins took place over two separate weeks in July and August with people participating During the first work in the fantail posts and braces were fitted The oak cap ribs which had been prefabricated offsite were fitted and the finial was supported by scaffolding ready for final fitting Intermdiate noggings of oak were fitted and the finial was pulled into position using a windlass The cap frame was competed with the fitting of intermediate ribs and noggings The rear of the cap circle was also completed during this time
Between the two work ins the rear dormer was completed and the fitting of noggings to the cap frame completed This enabled a start to be made on boarding the cap on the Monday of the second work in The boards for the cap are inch mm thick and inches mm wide at the petticoat tapering towards the top A new neck bearing was installed under the windshaft not without difficulty and much machining before it would fit When the boarding of the cap was completed the cover strips were fitted over the joints The petticoat was drawn into position using a rope and windlass and the galvanised steel reinforcing band screwed into position producing a sturdy structure The striking rod was fitted through the windshaft and the axle for the fantail fitted in position on top of the fantail posts At the top of the mill tower the curb was prepared to accept the cap and the cast iron curb track plates bolted into position Repointing of the brickwork of the tower continued with nearly half of it completed at the end of the second work in
After the work ins had ended work continued on finishing the cap which was scheduled for lift on in October The weather hampered the work initially but the application of a modern microporous paint designed to withstand normal movement of the timber and yet remain waterproof was completed in time for the lift on A mini work in was held the weekend before the cap was lifted with people participating over the weekend Final work was done to the cap and a new window was fitted to the stone floor of the mill The tarpaulin was removed and the trammel dismantled The ton cap was lifted into place by a mobile crane on October watched by a crowd of some people The fitting of the cap was toasted with beer from Adnams Brewery Southwold
Restoration work in cost Grants were received from the Association of Independent Museums Blo Norton Women s Institute Ipswich Historical Transport Society the National Association for Gifted Children Mr D Porter and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Further income came from the sale of guide books and a drawing of the mill by Wilf Foreman
Four work ins were held during The first two were by apprentices from Eastern Electricity Board Thelnetham Windmill was chosen at the project to benefit from the Young Person s Development Project for that year Pakenham Watermill had previously benefited from the project and its owners the Suffolk Preservation Trust had suggested that Thelnetham Windmill would be a good candidate for the scheme Two separate parties spent a week each at the mill A mains electricity supply was provided An underground cable was laid with assistance from British Telecom who were trialling a thrust borer which had been developed at their research facility at Martlesham Heath The thrust borer laid yards m of ducting through which the mains cable was pulled into position The mill was then supplied with lights and sockets on each floor
Other work undertaken by the apprentices involved repairing some frost damage to the foundation brickwork digging a drainage trench around the mill and moving the auxiliary engine into position A concrete path around the tower was trapping moisture leading to rising damp A French drain was constructed around the mill to remedy these problem A horsepower kW Ruston Hornsby YHR diesel engine had been purchased in and was fitted onto a permanent concrete base with the aid of a mobile crane After fitting it was then painted Some missing or broken parts were made or repaired as necessary
Off site the new brake wheel and fantail were made The original brake wheel was too rotten to repair and showed evidence that it had been altered from the original one installed in The original brake wheel was feet m diameter to allow the Common sails to run at their optimum speed When the mill was modernised in it was necessary to alter the gear ratios within the mill as Patent sails run at a slower speed than Common sails The great spur wheel was increased in diameter and the stone nuts reduced in diameter The brake wheel was also rebuilt with a cast iron segment ring fitted in place of the original cogs resulting in a wheel feet inches m in diameter The opinion of professional millwrights was sought and it was decided that a scaled up version of the original brake wheel would be made but retaining the cast iron teeth segments The remains of the original brake wheel were retained as an exhibit in the mill The original iron segments were all broken so a pattern was made and new segments were cast in heat treated malleable cast iron When the brake wheel was completed it was dismantled and transported to the mill ready for reassembly
The fantail was made Some of the small gears were replaced The stocks were made from pitch pine and the blades from Douglas fir Work at the mill over the winter included repairs to the brickwork and windows with only one window still needing attention when the first work in began New beech cogs were fitted to the crown wheel which was restored to its correct position on the upright shaft
The stocks and sails were made during the two work ins held in July and August a total of people attending over the two weeks A second hand stock had been bought in the s and preserved at the mill but upon examination it was found to be unfit for use Thus two new stocks were required instead of one Modern steel stocks had already been discounted on cost and durability grounds leaving two options Traditional stocks made from a single piece of timber or laminated stocks Good quality pitch pine was not obtainable in the lengths required Douglas fir was obtainable in such lengths but was discounted on strength and durability grounds A Douglas fir stock on a nearby mill had rotted after only seven years Thus it was decided that laminated stocks would be made
The feet m long stocks were made from Douglas fir All timber had been pressure treated with preservative and well seasoned It was estimated that a laminated stock would be up to stronger than a similar stock of solid timber The timber used was inches mm thick and nine laminations were required at the centre where the stock passes through the poll end of the windshaft Careful attention was paid to where individual joints occurred between different pieces of timber Both stocks were made during the work in with one of them being trimmed and finished ready for use The stocks were the first laminated stocks made by amateurs
The four sails were made The originals being slightly different pairs Those on the inner stock having bays of feet mm pitch and those on the outer stock having bays of feet inches mm pitch It was decided that the new sails would be identical at the larger pitch Four feet m long whips were cut from a baulk of pitch pine obtained from a demolished maltings at Bury St Edmunds The whips are inches mm square at their inner end Sail bars and uplongs were made from modern pitch pine selected for quality The mortices for the sail bars were cut That at the heel of the sail being at and that at the tip being decreasing by at each sail bar Three of the four sails had been completed at the end of the work in
The fantail and associated gearing was fitted to the mill At the end of the second work in the cap could be turned by means of the hand crank The fantail itself with the blades painted red white and blue was installed shortly afterwards The clasp arm brake wheel was assembled around the windshaft It was found that the wallower was eccentric on the upright shaft by inch mm When this was corrected the brake wheel was within th of an inch less than mm of true The clamps for the stocks were sawn from a baulk of pitch pine ready for completion later in the year Other work included a new frame for one of the ground floor doors cleaning and painting ironwork and further repointing on the brickwork The four sails were fitted to the mill with the aid of a mobile crane at the end of the second work in The stock with one sail attached was carefully inserted through the poll end of the windshaft and when wedged in position and the clamps had been attached the second sail was fitted to the stock The process was repeated for the second pair of sails The mill turned by wind again on the last day of the second work in
Work later in the year included the finishing of the fourth sail balancing the fantail and sorting out teething troubles with the fantail gearing The brake and brake lever were made and installed and shutter cranks for the sails were cast
Restoration work in cost Grants received were from English Heritage from St Edmundsbury Borough Council Other donations amounted to Income from open days at the mill came to A boost to the funds was from Hervey Benham This money had been allocated to allow the moving of a derelict post mill buck to Thelnetham In the end the removal was not proceeded with and Mr Benham allowed the donation to remain with the Thelnetham Mill Preservation Trust The project received further support in local media including the East Anglian Daily Times one of the work ins being featured on Anglia Television s About Anglia programme
Work planned for included the replacement of the dust floor window and completion of the stocks and sails The external walls of the mill were tarred and internal walls plastered Two work ins were held from July to July and August to August Further work over the next two years saw the restoration completed in
The restoration of Thelnetham Windmill was made possible by the efforts of individuals and organisations This was achieved by the donation of labour plant materials or grants of money or by giving discounts for materials purchased or providing publicity for the project
Terms explained in the Mill machinery article are in italics
A four storey tower mill with Common sails carried on a wooden windshaft driving two pairs of overdrift millstones Brake wheel feet m diameter Winding was by hand
The four storey tower is built of brick and stands feet inches m from ground level to the curb The walls are feet mm thick at ground level The mill is described from the top down
The pepperpot cap sits on top of the tower giving the mill an overall height of feet m to the finial It houses the cast iron windshaft and feet inches m diameter wooden brake wheel internally Externally the four double Patent sails span feet m They are feet m wide and can develop horsepower kW The eight bladed fantail keeps the mill turned into wind
The top floor of the mill is the dust floor It could be used for storage of grain and gives internal access to the cap The cast iron wallower which is driven by the brake wheel is carried at the top of the upright shaft in the centre of the mill
The bin floor is where the grain is stored before being ground into flour The sack hoist mechanism is housed on this floor driven from the wooden crown wheel on the floor below by belt
The stone floor is where the two pairs of underdrift French Burr millstones are located The stones are feet inches m and feet inches m diameter The wooden crown wheel is located towards the ceiling This drives the sack hoist on the bin floor Other machinery on this floor are an oat crusher and a flour dresser
The ground floor of the mill is the meal floor It is where the freshly ground flour is delivered for bagging up The wooden great spur wheel located at the bottom of the extended upright shaft and stone nuts are located on this floor The great spur wheel has been converted from compass arm construction to clasp arm construction A third pair of feet inches m diameter French Burr millstones is located on a hurst frame driven by the auxiliary engine via a fast and loose pulley
A video of the restoration of the mill was produced by Viv Codd
Thelnetham Mill is open to the public on Easter Monday the Sunday of the late May and August bank holidays and the first Sunday in July August and September It is also open at other times by prior arrangement
Sailor Mouth is the first segment of the th episode of the second season or the th overall episode of the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants The episode was directed by Andrew Overtoom and was written by Walt Dohrn Paul Tibbitt and Merriwether Williams Dohrn and Tibbitt also served as storyboard directors and Carson Kugler William Reiss and Erik Wiese worked as storyboard artists It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on September
The series follows the adventures and endeavors of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom In this episode SpongeBob reads a bad word off a dumpster behind the Krusty Krab but does not know what it means Patrick explains to him that it is a sentence enhancer which is used when you want to talk fancy The two start using it in every sentence they speak However when Mr Krabs hears them he warns the two never to use the word again or any of the bad words Later on SpongeBob accidentally swears again Patrick then runs to tell Mr Krabs with SpongeBob trying to stop him However when Mr Krabs accidentally injures his toe he utters all the bad words The two cannot believe it and run to Mama Krabs to tell on him Mama Krabs who is appalled by their use of the words makes the three paint her house as punishment
The episode received positive reviews while various members of the SpongeBob SquarePants crew consider the episode to be one of their favorites mainly due to the satirical nature of the episode However the episode was not immune to negative reception and was criticized by watchdog media group the Parents Television Council and fans who interpreted the episode as an example of promoting and implicitly satirizing use of profanity towards children
When SpongeBob goes around to the back of the Krusty Krab to take out the trash he reads some words written on a dumpster SpongeBob asks Patrick what is it and Patrick says that the word is a sentence enhancer which is used when you want to talk fancy The next day SpongeBob walks into the Krusty Krab and says the word to Patrick and then over the intercom The Krusty Krab customers are appalled by SpongeBob s use of his word and leave Squidward then informs Mr Krabs who then decides to tell them that they were using profanity and mentions that there are swear words they should not use SpongeBob and Patrick vow Mr Krabs that they will never use swear words again
Later they play their favorite game Eels and Escalators Patrick always gets escalators but SpongeBob always gets eels Eventually he loses the game and accidentally utters the swear word Patrick then races to the Krusty Krab to tell Mr Krabs with SpongeBob trying to stop him SpongeBob bursts through the front door and tells Mr Krabs that Patrick said the swear word Patrick then joins along Eventually Mr Krabs stops their gibberish explanations and takes SpongeBob and Patrick outside and makes them paint the Krusty Krab as punishment
Mr Krabs is about to give SpongeBob and Patrick the job but he hits his foot on a rock throws the paint away and says all swear words while complaining about his foot being injured When SpongeBob and Patrick hear all the swear words they run to Mama Krabs house to tell her that Mr Krabs swears When they all reach her house they repeat the same swear words that Mr Krabs used This makes her faint but shortly after Mr Krabs scolds SpongeBob and Patrick for saying all those bad words in front of her she regains consciousness Mama Krabs states that all three of them should be ashamed for saying all those words She then gives all three of them the task of painting her house with a fresh coat of paint as punishment for saying those words at her
Sailor Mouth was directed by Andrew Overtoom and was written by Walt Dohrn Paul Tibbitt and Merriwether Williams Dohrn and Tibbitt also served as storyboard directors and Carson Kugler William Reiss and Erik Wiese worked as storyboard artists Series creator Stephen Hillenburg has described the episode plot as a classic thing all kids go through Much of the storyline for the episode was inspired by the writers own experiences from childhood The episode originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on September The episode marks the introduction of Mr Krabs mother Mama Krabs who was voiced by former SpongeBob SquarePants creative producer and current executive producer Paul Tibbitt
The writing staff used their individual childhood experiences as inspirations to come up with much of the story lines for this episode The idea for Sailor Mouth was inspired by creative director Derek Drymon s experience when I got in trouble for saying the f word in front of my mother Drymon said The scene where Patrick is running to Mr Krabs to tattle with SpongeBob chasing him is pretty much how it happened in real life The end of the episode where Mr Krabs uses more profanity than SpongeBob and Patrick was also inspired by the fact that my Drymon s mother has a sailor mouth herself
The scene where SpongeBob and Patrick playing a game of Eels and Escalators which is a parody of Snakes and Ladders was difficult for the crew to animate since many shots featured certain board pieces changing location According to the series season DVD commentary it was planned to have a scene that had SpongeBob saying Go dolphin noise yourself followed by Patrick saying Dolphin noise you too during the Eels and Escalators game It was removed in the final episode check because it would have been inappropriate for the younger audience
Sailor Mouth was released on the DVD compilation called SpongeBob SquarePants Sea Stories on March It was also included in the SpongeBob SquarePants The Complete nd Season DVD released on October On September Sailor Mouth was released on the SpongeBob SquarePants The First Episodes alongside all the episodes of seasons one through five
Erik Wiese a member of the SpongeBob SquarePants crew considers Sailor Mouth to be his favorite episode mainly due to its random and satirical nature saying Sometimes SpongeBob just catches me off guard Nancy Basile of Aboutcom ranked the episode at number two for her list of the Top SpongeBob SquarePants Episodes She said Sailor Mouth just barely missed being in the number one slot Basile praised the episode s plot and called it genius because children can relate to the forbidden thrill of using curse words and adults can laugh at the parody of TV censorship In an interview with Paul Tibbitt one of the episode s writers he told that Sailor Mouth is his second favorite SpongeBob episode
According to a report titled Wolves in Sheep s Clothing which documents the increase in potentially violent profane and sexual content in children s programming the Parents Television Council a watchdog media group and fans believed the SpongeBob SquarePants episode Sailor Mouth was an implicit attempt to promote and satirize use of profanity among children The episode originally aired during the television season ironically the season in which the PTC named SpongeBob SquarePants among the best programs on cable television but the report cited a repeat broadcast of the episode from to prove its point that it promoted use of profanity among children In a later report several members of the PTC listed Sailor Mouth as an example of how levels of profane sexual and violent activity has increased in children s television programming Nickelodeon in response to the incident said It s sad and a little desperate that they stooped to literally putting profane language in the mouths of our characters to make a point Has the FCC looked at this Richard Huff of the New York Daily News criticized the report for misinterpreting an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants Sailor Mouth over its intent to satirize profanity implicitly
The military history of Australia spans the nation s year modern history from the early Australian frontier wars between Aboriginals and Europeans to the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early st century Although this history is short when compared to that of many other nations Australia has been involved in numerous conflicts and wars and war and military service have been significant influences on Australian society and national identity including the Anzac spirit The relationship between war and Australian society has also been shaped by the enduring themes of Australian strategic culture and its unique security dilemma
As British offshoots the Australian colonies participated in Britain s small wars of the th century while later as a federated dominion and then an independent nation Australia fought in the First World War and Second World War as well as in the wars in Korea Malaya Borneo and Vietnam during the Cold War In the Post Vietnam era Australian forces have been involved in numerous international peacekeeping missions through the United Nations and other agencies including in the Sinai Persian Gulf Rwanda Somalia East Timor and the Solomon Islands while more recently they have also fought as part of multi lateral forces in Iraq and Afghanistan In total nearly Australians died during the course of these conflicts
For most of the last century military service has been one of the single greatest shared experiences of white Australian males and although this is now changing due to the professionalisation of the military and the absence of major wars during the second half of the th century it continues to influence Australian society to this day War and military service have been defining influences in Australian history while a major part of the national identity has been built on an idealised conception of the Australian experience of war and of soldiering known as the Anzac spirit These ideals include notions of endurance courage ingenuity humour larrikinism egalitarianism and mateship traits which according to popular thought defined the behaviour of Australian soldiers fighting at Gallipoli during the First World War The Gallipoli campaign was one of the first international events that saw Australians taking part as Australians and has been seen as a key event in forging a sense of national identity
The relationship between war and Australian society has been shaped by two of the more enduring themes of Australian strategic culture bandwagoning with a powerful ally and expeditionary warfare Indeed Australian defence policy was closely linked to Britain until the Japanese crisis of while since then an alliance with the United States has underwritten its security Arguably this pattern of bandwagoning both for cultural reasons such as shared values and beliefs as well as for more pragmatic security concerns has ensured that Australian strategic policy has often been defined by relations with its allies Regardless a tendency towards strategic complacency has also been evident with Australians often reluctant to think about defence issues or to allocate resources until a crisis arises a trait which has historically resulted in unpreparedness for major military challenges
Reflecting both the realist and liberal paradigms of international relations and the conception of national interests a number of other important themes in Australian strategic culture are also obvious Such themes include an acceptance of the state as the key actor in international politics the centrality of notions of Westphalian sovereignty a belief in the enduring relevance and legitimacy of armed force as a guarantor of security and the proposition that the status quo in international affairs should only be changed peacefully Likewise multilateralism collective security and defence self reliance have also been important themes Change has been more evolutionary than revolutionary and these strategic behaviours have persisted throughout its history being the product of Australian society s democratic political tradition and Judaeo Christian Anglo European heritage as well its associated values beliefs and economic political and religious ideology These behaviours are also reflective of its unique security dilemma as a largely European island on the edge of the Asia Pacific and the geopolitical circumstances of a middle power physically removed from the centres of world power To be sure during threats to the core Australia has often found itself defending the periphery and perhaps as a result it has frequently become involved in foreign wars Throughout these conflicts Australian soldiers known colloquially as Diggers have often been noted somewhat paradoxically for both their fighting abilities and their humanitarian qualities
From until the defence of the Australian colonies was mostly provided by British Army regular forces Originally Marines protected the early settlements at Sydney Cove and Norfolk Island however they were relieved of these duties in by a British Army unit specifically recruited for colonial service known as the New South Wales Corps The New South Wales Corps subsequently was involved in putting down a rebellion of Irish convicts at Castle Hill in Soon however shortcomings in the corps convinced the War Office of the need for a more reliable garrison in New South Wales and Van Diemen s Land Chief of these shortcomings was the Rum Rebellion a coup mounted by its officers in As a result in January the rd Perthshire Regiment of Foot arrived in Australia By British infantry regiments had served in Australia as had a small number of artillery and engineer units
Although the primary role of the British Army was to protect the colonies against external attack no actual threat ever materialised The British Army was instead used in policing guarding convicts at penal institutions combating bushranging putting down convict rebellions as occurred at Bathurst in and to suppress Aboriginal resistance to the extension of European settlement Notably British soldiers were involved in the battle at the Eureka Stockade in on the Victorian goldfields Members of British regiments stationed in Australia also saw action in India Afghanistan New Zealand and the Sudan
During the early years of settlement the naval defence of Australia was provided by detached Royal Navy units of the East Indies Station based in Sydney However in Australia was established as a separate squadron under the command of a commodore marking the first occasion that Royal Navy ships had been permanently stationed in Australia The Royal Navy remained the primary naval force in Australian waters until when the Australia Station ceased and responsibility handed over to the Royal Australian Navy the Royal Navy s depots dockyards and structures were given to the Australian people
The reactions of the native Aboriginal inhabitants to the sudden arrival of British settlers in Australia were varied but were inevitably hostile when the settler s presence led to competition over resources and to the occupation of the indigenous inhabitants lands European diseases decimated Aboriginal populations and the occupation or destruction of lands and food resources sometimes led to starvation By and large neither the British nor the Aborigines approached the conflict in an organised sense and conflict occurred between groups of settlers and individual tribes rather than systematic warfare At times however the frontier wars did see the involvement of British soldiers and later mounted police units Not all Aboriginal groups resisted white encroachment on their lands while many Aborigines served in mounted police units and were involved in attacks on other tribes
Fighting between Aborigines and Europeans was localised as the Aborigines did not form confederations capable of sustained resistance As a result there was not a single war but rather a series of violent engagements and massacres across the continent Organised or disorganised however a pattern of frontier warfare emerged with Aboriginal resistance beginning in the th century and continuing into the early th century This warfare contradicts the popular and at times academic myth of peaceful settlement in Australia Faced with Aboriginal resistance settlers often reacted with violence resulting in a number of indiscriminate massacres Among the most famous is the Battle of Pinjarra in Western Australia in Such incidents were not officially sanctioned however and after the Myall Creek massacre in New South Wales in seven Europeans were hanged for their part in the killings However in Tasmania the so called Black War was fought between and and aimed at driving most of the island s native inhabitants onto a number of isolated peninsulas Although it began in failure for the British it ultimately resulted in considerable casualties amongst the native population
It may be inaccurate though to depict the conflict as one sided and mainly perpetrated by Europeans on Aborigines Although many more Aborigines died than British this may have had more to do with the technological and logistic advantages enjoyed by the Europeans Aboriginal tactics varied but were mainly based on pre existing hunting and fighting practices using spears clubs and other primitive weapons Unlike the indigenous peoples of New Zealand and North America on the main Aborigines failed to adapt to meet the challenge of the Europeans Although there were some instances of individuals and groups acquiring and using firearms this was not widespread The Aborigines were never a serious military threat to European settlers regardless of how much the settlers may have feared them On occasions large groups of Aborigines attacked the settlers in open terrain and a conventional battle ensued during which the Aborigines would attempt to use superior numbers to their advantage This could sometimes be effective with reports of them advancing in crescent formation in an attempt to outflank and surround their opponents waiting out the first volley of shots and then hurling their spears while the settlers reloaded However such open warfare usually proved more costly for the Aborigines than the Europeans
Central to the success of the Europeans was the use of firearms However the advantages afforded by firearms have often been overstated Prior to the late th century firearms were often cumbersome muzzle loading smooth bore single shot muskets with flint lock mechanisms Such weapons produced a low rate of fire while suffering from a high rate of failure and were only accurate within metres ft These deficiencies may have initially given the Aborigines an advantage allowing them to move in close and engage with spears or clubs Yet by significant advances in firearms gave the Europeans a distinct advantage with the six shot Colt revolver the Snider single shot breech loading rifle and later the Martini Henry rifle as well as rapid fire rifles such as the Winchester rifle becoming available These weapons when used on open ground and combined with the superior mobility provided by horses to surround and engage groups of Aborigines often proved successful The Europeans also had to adapt their tactics to fight their fast moving often hidden enemies Tactics employed included night time surprise attacks and positioning forces to drive the natives off cliffs or force them to retreat into rivers while attacking from both banks
The conflict lasted for over years and followed the pattern of British settlement in Australia Beginning in New South Wales with the arrival of the first Europeans in May it continued in Sydney and its surrounds until the s As the frontier moved west so did the conflict pushing into outback New South Wales in the s In Tasmania fighting can be traced from to the s while in Victoria and the southern parts of South Australia the majority of the violence occurred during the s and s The south west of Western Australia experienced warfare from to The war in Queensland began in the area around Brisbane in the s and continued until moving to central Queensland in the s and s and then to northern Queensland from the s to In Western Australia the violence moved north with European settlement reaching the Kimberley region by with violent clashes continuing until the s In the Northern Territory conflict lasted even later still especially in central Australia continuing from the s to the s One estimate of casualties places European deaths at while at least Aborigines are believed to have perished Far more devastating though was the effect of disease which significantly reduced the Aboriginal population by the beginning of the th century a fact which may also have limited their ability to resist
In the Victorian ship HMCSS Victoria was dispatched to help the New Zealand colonial government in its war against Mori in Taranaki Victoria was subsequently used for patrol duties and logistic support although a number of personnel were involved in actions against Mori fortifications One sailor died from an accidental gunshot wound during the deployment
In late the New Zealand government requested troops to assist in the invasion of the Waikato province against the Mori Promised settlement on confiscated land more than Australians over half of whom were from Victoria were recruited to form four Waikato Regiments Other Australians became scouts in the Company of Forest Rangers Despite experiencing arduous conditions the Australians were not heavily involved in battle and were primarily used for patrolling and garrison duties Australians were involved in actions at Matarikoriko Pukekohe East Titi Hill rkau and Te Ranga Fewer than were believed to have been killed in action The conflict was over by and the Waikato Regiments disbanded in However many of the soldiers who had chosen to claim farmland at the cessation of hostilities had drifted to the towns and cities by the end of the decade while many others had returned to Australia
From until each of the six colonial governments was responsible for their own defence The colonies had gained responsible government between and and while the Colonial Office in London retained control of some affairs the Governor of the each colony was required to raise their own colonial militia To do this they were granted the authority from the British crown to raise military and naval forces Initially these were militias in support of British regulars but when military support for the colonies ended in the colonies assumed their own defence responsibilities The colonial military forces included unpaid volunteer militia paid citizen soldiers and a small permanent component They were mainly infantry cavalry and mounted infantry and were neither housed in barracks nor subject to full military discipline Even after significant reforms in the s including the expansion of the permanent forces to include engineer and artillery units they remained too small and unbalanced to be considered armies in the modern sense By the forces numbered men Although they could not be compelled to serve overseas many volunteers subsequently did see action in a number conflicts of the British Empire during the th century with the colonies raising contingents to serve in Sudan South Africa and China
Despite a reputation of colonial inferiority many of the locally raised units were highly organised disciplined professional and well trained During this period defences in Australia mainly revolved around static defence by combined infantry and artillery based on garrisoned coastal forts However by the s improved railway communications between the mainland eastern colonies led Major General James Edwards who had recently completed a survey of colonial military forces to the belief that the colonies could be defended by the rapid mobilisation of brigades of infantry As a consequence he called for a restructure of defences and defensive agreements to be made between the colonies Edwards argued for the colonial forces to be federated and for professional units obliged to serve anywhere in the South Pacific to replace the volunteer forces These views found support in the influential New South Wales Commandant Major General Edward Hutton however suspicions held by the smaller colonies towards New South Wales and Victoria stifled the proposal These reforms remaining unresolved however and defence issues were generally given little attention in the debate on the political federation of the colonies
With the exception of Western Australia the colonies also operated their own navies In Victoria received its own naval vessel HMCSS Victoria and its deployment to New Zealand in during the First Taranaki War marked the first occasion that an Australian warship had been deployed overseas The colonial navies were expanded greatly in the mid s and consisted of a number of gunboats and torpedo boats for the defence of harbours and rivers as well as naval brigades to man vessels and forts Victoria became the most powerful of all the colonial navies with the ironclad HMVS Cerberus in service from as well as the steam sail warship HMS Nelson on loan from the Royal Navy three small gunboats and five torpedo boats New South Wales formed a Naval Brigade in and by the start of the th century had two small torpedo boats and a corvette The Queensland Maritime Defence Force was established in while South Australia operated a single ship HMCS Protector Tasmania had also a small Torpedo Corps while Western Australia s only naval defences included the Fremantle Naval Artillery Naval personnel from New South Wales and Victoria took part in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in China in while HMCS Protector was sent by South Australia but saw no action The separate colonies maintained control over their military and naval forces until Federation in when they were amalgamated and placed under the control of the new Commonwealth of Australia
During the early years of the s an Egyptian regime in the Sudan backed by the British came under threat from rebellion under the leadership of native Muhammad Ahmad or Ahmed known as Mahdi to his followers In as part of the Mahdist War the Egyptians sent an army to deal with the revolt but they were defeated and faced a difficult campaign of extracting their forces The British instructed the Egyptians to abandon the Sudan and sent General Charles Gordon to co ordinate the evacuation but he was killed in January When news of his death arrived in New South Wales in February the government offered to send forces and meet the contingent s expenses The New South Wales Contingent consisted of an infantry battalion of men and officers and an artillery battery of men and sailed from Sydney on March
The contingent arrived in Suakin on March and were attached to a brigade that consisted of Scots Grenadier and Coldstream Guards They subsequently marched for Tamai in a large square formation made up of men Reaching the village they burned huts and returned to Suakin three Australians were wounded in minor fighting Most of the contingent was then sent to work on a railway line that was being laid across the desert towards Berber on the Nile The Australians were then assigned to guard duties but soon a camel corps was raised and men volunteered They rode on a reconnaissance to Takdul on May and were heavily involved in a skirmish during which more than Arabs were killed or captured On May they made one last sortie to bury the dead from the fighting of the previous March Meanwhile the artillery were posted at Handoub and drilled for a month but they soon rejoined the camp at Suakin
Eventually the British government decided that the campaign in Sudan was not worth the effort required and left a garrison in Suakin The New South Wales Contingent sailed for home on May arriving in Sydney on June Approximately Australians served in Sudan nine subsequently died of disease during the return journey while three had been wounded during the campaign
British encroachment into areas of South Africa already settled by the Afrikaner Boers and the competition for resources and land that developed between them as a result led to the Second Boer War in Pre empting the deployment of British forces the Afrikaner Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic under President Paul Kruger declared war on October striking deep into the British territories of Natal and the Cape Colony After the outbreak of war plans for the dispatch of a combined Australian force were subsequently set aside by the British War Office and each of the six colonial governments sent separate contingents to serve with British formations with two squadrons each of men from New South Wales and Victoria and one each from the other colonies The first troops arrived three weeks later with the New South Wales Lancers who had been training in England before the war hurriedly diverted to South Africa On November the Lancers came under fire for the first time near Belmont and they subsequently forced their attackers to withdraw after inflicting significant casualties on them
Following a series of minor victories the British suffered a major setback during Black Week between December although no Australian units were involved The first contingents of infantry from Victoria South Australia Western Australia and Tasmania arrived in Cape Town on November and were designated the Australian Regiment under the command of Colonel John Charles Hoad With a need for increased mobility they were soon converted into mounted infantry Further units from Queensland and New South Wales arrived in December and were soon committed to the front The first casualties occurred soon after at Sunnyside on January after Queensland Mounted Infantry and a column of Canadians British and artillery attacked a Boer laager at Belmont Troopers David McLeod and Victor Jones were killed when their patrol clashed with the Boer forward sentries Regardless the Boers were surprised and during two hours of heavy fighting more than were killed and another taken prisoner Five hundred Queenslanders and the New South Wales Lancers subsequently took part in the Siege of Kimberley in February
Despite serious set backs at Colenso Stormberg Magersfontein and Spion Kop in January and with Ladysmith still under siege the British mounted a five division counter invasion of the Orange Free State in February The attacking force included a division of cavalry commanded by Lieutenant General John French with the New South Wales Lancers Queensland Mounted Infantry and New South Wales Army Medical Corps attached First Kimberley was relieved following the battles of Modder River and Magersfontein and the retreating Boers defeated at Paardeberg with the New South Wales Mounted Rifles locating the Boer general Piet Cronj The British entered Bloemfontein on March while Ladysmith was relieved Disease began to take its toll and scores of men died Still the advance continued with the drive to Pretoria in May including more than Australians Johannesburg fell on May and the Boers withdrew from Pretoria on June The New South Wales Mounted Rifles and Western Australians saw action again at Diamond Hill on June Mafeking was relieved on May
Following the defeat of the Afrikaner republics still the Boers held out forming small commando units and conducting a campaign of guerrilla warfare to disrupt British troop movements and lines of supply This new phase of resistance led to further recruiting in the Australian colonies and the raising of the Bushmen s Contingents with these soldiers usually being volunteers with horse riding and shooting skills but little military experience After Federation in eight Australian Commonwealth Horse battalions of the newly created Australian Army were also sent to South Africa although they saw little fighting before the war ended Some Australians later joined local South African irregular units instead of returning home after discharge These soldiers were part of the British Army and were subject to British military discipline Such units included the Bushveldt Carbineers which gained notoriety as the unit in which Harry Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock served in before their court martial and execution for war crimes
With the guerrillas requiring supplies Koos de la Rey lead a force of Boers against Brakfontein on the Elands River in Western Transvaal The post held a large quantity of stores and was defended by Australians and Rhodesians The attack began on August with heavy shelling causing casualties During the night the defenders dug in enduring shelling and rifle fire A relief force was stopped by the Boers while a second column turned back believing that the post had already been relieved The siege lasted days during which more than shells were fired into the post After calls to surrender were ignored by the defenders and not prepared to risk a frontal attack the Boers eventually retired The Siege of Elands River was one of the major achievements of the Australians during the war with the post finally relieved on August
In response the British adopted counter insurgency tactics including a scorched earth policy involving the burning of houses and crops the establishment of concentration camps for Boer women and children and a system of blockhouses and field obstacles to limit Boer mobility and to protect railway communications Such measures required considerable expenditure and caused much bitterness towards the British however they soon yielded results By mid the bulk of the fighting was over and British mounted units would ride at night to attack Boer farmhouses or encampments overwhelming them with superior numbers Indicative of warfare in last months of the New South Wales Mounted Rifles travelled miles km and were involved in skirmishes killing Boers wounding and capturing for the loss of five dead and wounded Other notable Australian actions included Slingersfontein Pink Hill Rhenosterkop and Haartebeestefontein
Australians were not always successful however suffering a number of heavy losses late in the war On June the th Victorian Mounted Rifles lost killed and wounded at Wilmansrust near Middleburg after poor security allowed a force of Boers to surprise them On October Victorians of the Scottish Horse Regiment also suffered heavy casualties at Gun Hill although Boers were also killed in the engagement Meanwhile at Onverwacht on January the th Queensland Imperial Bushmen lost killed and wounded Ultimately the Boers were defeated and the war ended on May In all Australians served in South Africa and perhaps another enlisted as individuals in Imperial units casualties included killed in action died of disease and missing in action while a further were wounded Six Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross
The Boxer Rebellion in China began in and a number of western nations including many European powers the United States and Japan soon sent forces as part of the China Field Force to protect their interests In June the British government sought permission from the Australian colonies to dispatch ships from the Australian Squadron to China The colonies also offered to assist further but as most of their troops were still engaged in South Africa they had to rely on naval forces for manpower The force dispatched was a modest one with Britain accepting men from Victoria from New South Wales and the South Australian ship HMCS Protector under the command of Captain William Creswell Most of these forces were made up of naval brigade reservists who had been trained in both ship handling and soldiering to fulfil their coastal defence role Amongst the naval contingent from New South Wales were naval officers and sailors and permanent soldiers headquartered at Victoria Barracks Sydney who originally enlisted for the Second Boer War The soldiers were keen to go to China but refused to be enlisted as sailors while the New South Wales Naval Brigade objected to having soldiers in their ranks The Army and Navy compromised and titled the contingent the NSW Marine Light Infantry
The contingents from New South Wales and Victoria sailed for China on August Arriving in Tientsin the Australians provided men to an strong multinational force tasked with capturing the Chinese forts at Pei Tang which dominated a key railway They arrived too late to take part in the battle but were involved in the attack on the fortress at Pao ting Fu where the Chinese government was believed to have found asylum after Peking was captured by western forces The Victorians joined a force of men on a ten day march to the fort once again only to find that it had already surrendered The Victorians then garrisoned Tientsin and the New South Wales contingent undertook garrison duties in Peking HMCS Protector was mostly used for survey transport and courier duties in the Gulf of Chihli before departing in November The naval brigades remained during the winter unhappily performing policing and guard duties as well as working as railwaymen and fire fighters They left China in March having played only a minor role in a few offensives and punitive expeditions and in the restoration of civil order Six Australians died from sickness and injury but none were killed as a result of enemy action
The Commonwealth of Australia came into existence on January as a result of the federation of the Australian colonies Under the Constitution of Australia defence responsibility was now vested in the new federal government The co ordination of Australia wide defensive efforts in the face of Imperial German interest in the Pacific Ocean was one of driving forces behind federalism and the Department of Defence immediately came into being as a result while the Commonwealth Military Forces early forerunner of the Australian Army and Commonwealth Naval Force were also soon established
The Australian Commonwealth Military Forces came into being on March and all the colonial forces including those still in South Africa became part of the new force colonial soldiers including professional soldiers paid militia and unpaid volunteers were subsequently transferred The individual units continued to be administered under the various colonial Acts until the Defence Act brought all the units under one piece of legislation This Act also prevented the raising of standing infantry units and specified that militia forces could not be used in industrial disputes or serve outside Australia However the majority of soldiers remained in militia units known as the Citizen Military Forces CMF Major General Sir Edward Hutton a former commander of the New South Wales Military Forces subsequently became the first commander of the Commonwealth Military Forces on December and set to work devising an integrated structure for the new army In following a report by Lord Kitchener the Royal Military College Duntroon was established as was a system of universal National Service
Prior to federation each self governing colony had operated its own naval force These navies were small and lacked blue water capabilities forcing the separate colonies to subsidise the cost of a British naval squadron in their waters for decades The colonies maintained control over their respective navies until March when the Commonwealth Naval Force was created This new force also lacked blue water capable ships and ultimately did not lead to a change in Australian naval policy In Prime Minister Alfred Deakin and Creswell while attending the Imperial Conference in London sought the British Government s agreement to end the subsidy system and develop an Australian navy The Admiralty rejected and resented the challenge but suggested diplomatically that a small fleet of destroyers and submarines would be sufficient Deakin was unimpressed and in invited the American Great White Fleet to visit Australia This visit fired public enthusiasm for a modern navy and in part led to the order of two ton River class destroyers The surge in German naval construction prompted the Admiralty to change their position however and the Royal Australian Navy was subsequently formed in absorbing the Commonwealth Naval Force On October the new fleet steamed through Sydney Heads consisting of the battlecruiser HMAS Australia three light cruisers and three destroyers while several other ships were still under construction And as a consequence the navy entered the First World War as a formidable force
The Australian Flying Corps AFC was established as part of the Commonwealth Military Forces in prior to the formation of the Australian Military Forces in and was later separated in to form the Royal Australian Air Force making it the second oldest air force in the world Regardless the service branches were not linked by a single chain of command however and each reported to their own minister and had separate administrative arrangements and government departments
When Britain declared war on Germany at the start of the First World War the Australian government rapidly followed suit with Prime Minister Joseph Cook declaring on August that when the Empire is at war so also is Australia and reflecting the sentiment of many Australians that any declaration of war by Britain automatically included Australia This was itself in part due to the large number of British born citizens and first generation Anglo Australians that made up the Australian population at the time Indeed by the end of the war almost of those who served in the Australian forces had been born in Britain
As the existing militia forces were unable to serve overseas under the provisions of the Defence Act an all volunteer expeditionary force known as the Australian Imperial Force AIF was formed and recruitment began on August The government pledged men organised as one infantry division and one light horse brigade plus supporting units Enlistment and organisation was primarily regionally based and was undertaken under mobilisation plans drawn up in The first commander was Major General William Bridges who also assumed command of the st Division Throughout the course of the conflict Australian efforts were predominantly focused upon the ground war although small air and naval forces were also committed
Following the outbreak of war Australian forces moved quickly to reduce the threat to shipping posed by the proximity of Germany s Pacific colonies The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force AN MEF a man volunteer force separate from the AIF and consisting of an infantry battalion plus naval reservists and ex sailors was rapidly formed under the command of William Holmes The objectives of the force were the wireless stations on Nauru and those at Yap in the Caroline Islands and at Rabaul in German New Guinea The force reached Rabaul on September and occupied it the next day encountering only brief resistance from the German and native defenders during fighting at Bita Paka and Toma German New Guinea surrendered on September Australian losses were light including six killed during the fighting but were compounded by the mysterious loss offshore of the submarine AE with all men aboard
The AIF departed by ship in a single convoy from Albany on November During the journey one of the convoy s naval escorts HMAS Sydney engaged and destroyed the German cruiser SMS Emden at the Battle of Cocos on November in the first ship to ship action involving the Royal Australian Navy Although originally bound for England to undergo further training and then for employment on the Western Front the Australians were instead sent to British controlled Egypt to pre empt any Turkish attack against the strategically important Suez Canal and with a view to opening another front against the Central Powers
Aiming to knock Turkey out of the war the British then decided to stage an amphibious lodgement at Gallipoli and following a period of training and reorganisation the Australians were included amongst the British Indian and French forces committed to the campaign The combined Australian and New Zealand Army Corps ANZAC commanded by British general William Birdwood subsequently landed at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula on April Although promising to transform the war if successful the Gallipoli Campaign was ill conceived and ultimately lasted eight months of bloody stalemate without achieving its objectives Australian casualties totalled including killed
For Australians and New Zealanders the Gallipoli campaign came to symbolise an important milestone in the emergence of both nations as independent actors on the world stage and the development of a sense of national identity Today the date of the initial landings April is known as Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand and every year thousands of people gather at memorials in both nations as well as Turkey to honour the bravery and sacrifice of the original Anzacs and of all those who have subsequently lost their lives in war
After the withdrawal from Gallipoli the Australians returned to Egypt and the AIF underwent a major expansion In the infantry began to move to France while the cavalry units remained in the Middle East to fight the Turks Australian troops of the Anzac Mounted Division and the Australian Mounted Division saw action in all the major battles of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign playing a pivotal role in fighting the Turkish troops that were threatening British control of Egypt The Australian s first saw combat during the Senussi uprising in the Libyan Desert and the Nile Valley during which the combined British forces successfully put down the primitive pro Turkish Islamic sect with heavy casualties The Anzac Mounted Division subsequently saw considerable action in the Battle of Romani against the Turkish between August with the Turks eventually pushed back Following this victory the British forces went on the offensive in the Sinai although the pace of the advance was governed by the speed by which the railway and water pipeline could be constructed from the Suez Canal Rafa was captured on January while the last of the small Turkish garrisons in the Sinai were eliminated in February
The advance entered Palestine and an initial unsuccessful attempt was made to capture Gaza on March while a second and equally unsuccessful attempt was launched on April A third assault occurred between October and November and this time both the Anzac Mounted Division and the Australian Mounted Division took part The battle was a complete success for the British over running the Gaza Beersheba line and capturing Turkish soldiers The critical moment was the capture of Beersheba on the first day after the Australian th Light Horse Brigade charged more than miles km The Turkish trenches were overrun with the Australians capturing the wells at Beersheeba and securing the valuable water they contained along with over prisoners for the loss of killed and wounded Later Australian troops assisted in pushing the Turkish forces out of Palestine and took part in actions at Mughar Ridge Jerusalem and the Megiddo The Turkish government surrendered on October Units of the Light Horse were subsequently used to help put down a nationalist revolt in Egypt in and did so with efficiency and brutality although they suffered a number of fatalities in the process
Meanwhile the AFC had undergone remarkable development and its independence as a separate national force was unique among the Dominions Deploying just a single aircraft to German New Guinea in the first operational flight did not occur until May however when the Mesopotamian Half Flight was called upon to assist in protecting British oil interests in Iraq The AFC was soon expanded and four squadrons later saw action in Egypt Palestine and on the Western Front where they performed well
Five infantry divisions of the AIF saw action in France and Belgium leaving Egypt in March I Anzac Corps subsequently took up positions in a quiet sector south of Armentires on April and for the next two and a half years the AIF participated in most of the major battles on the Western Front earning a formidable reputation Although spared from the disastrous first day of the Battle of the Somme within weeks four Australian divisions had been committed The th Division positioned on the left flank was the first in action during the Battle of Fromelles on July suffering casualties in a single day The st Division entered the line on July assaulting Pozieres and by the time that they were relieved by the nd Division on July they had suffered casualties Mouquet Farm was attacked in August with casualties totalling men By the time the AIF was withdrawn from the Somme to re organise they had suffered casualties in just days
In March the nd and th Divisions pursued the Germans back to the Hindenburg Line capturing the town of Bapaume On April the th Division assaulted the Hindenburg Line in the disastrous First Battle of Bullecourt losing over casualties and captured On April the st and nd Divisions were counter attacked near Lagnicourt and were forced to abandon the town before recapturing it again The nd Division then took part in the Second Battle of Bullecourt beginning on May and succeeded in taking sections of the Hindenburg Line and holding them until relieved by the st Division Finally on May the th Division relieved the st remaining in the line until the battle ended in mid May Combined these efforts cost Australian casualties
On June the II Anzac Corps along with two British corps launched an operation in Flanders to eliminate a salient south of Ypres The attack commenced with the detonation of a million pounds kg of explosives that had been placed underneath the Messines ridge destroying the German trenches The advance was virtually unopposed and despite strong German counterattacks the next day it succeeded Australian casualties during the Battle of Messines included nearly men I Anzac Corps then took part in the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium as part of the campaign to capture the Gheluvelt Plateau between September and November Individual actions took place at Menin Road Polygon Wood Broodseinde Poelcappelle and Passchendaele and over the course of eight weeks fighting the Australians suffered casualties
On March the German Army launched its Spring Offensive in a last ditched effort to win the war unleashing sixty three divisions over a miles km front As the Allies fell back the rd and th Divisions were rushed south to Amiens on the Somme The offensive lasted for the next five months and all five AIF divisions in France were engaged in the attempt to stem the tide By late May the Germans had pushed to within miles km of Paris During this time the Australians fought at Dernacourt Morlancourt Villers Bretonneux Hangard Wood Hazebrouck and Hamel At Hamel the commander of the Australian Corps Lieutenant General John Monash successfully used combined arms including aircraft artillery and armour in an attack for the first time
The German offensive ground to a halt in mid July and a brief lull followed during which the Australians undertook a series of raids known as Peaceful Penetrations The Allies soon launched their own offensive the Hundred Days Offensive ultimately ending the war Beginning on August the offensive included four Australian divisions striking at Amiens Using the combined arms techniques developed earlier at Hamel significant gains were made on what became known as the Black Day of the German Army The offensive continued for four months and during Second Battle of the Somme the Australian Corps fought actions at Lihons Etinehem Proyart Chuignes and Mont St Quentin before their final engagement of the war on October at Montbrehain The AIF was subsequently out of the line when the armistice was declared on November
In all Australians enlisted in the AIF during the war and served overseas were killed and another were wounded a total casualty rate of The financial cost to the Australian government was calculated at Two referendums on conscription for overseas service had been defeated during the war preserving the volunteer status of the Australian force but stretching the reserves of manpower available particularly towards the end of the fighting Consequently Australia remained one of only two armies on either side not to resort to conscription during the war
The war had a profound effect on Australian society in other ways also Indeed for many Australians the nation s involvement is seen as a symbol of its emergence as an international actor while many of the notions of Australian character and nationhood that exist today have their origins in the war Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War
The Russian Civil War began after the Russian provisional government collapsed and the Bolshevik party assumed power in October Following the end of the First World War the western powers including Britain intervened giving half hearted support to the pro tsarist anti Bolshevik White Russian forces Although the Australian government refused to commit forces many Australians serving with the British Army became involved in the fighting A small number served as advisors to White Russian units with the North Russian Expeditionary Force NREF Awaiting repatriation in England about Australians subsequently enlisted in the British North Russia Relief Force NRRF where they were involved in a number of sharp battles and several were killed
The Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Swan was also briefly engaged carrying out an intelligence gathering mission in the Black Sea in late Other Australians served as advisers with the British Military Mission to the White Russian General Anton Denikin in South Russia while several more advised Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak in Siberia Later they also served in Mesopotamia as part of Dunsterforce and the Malleson Mission although these missions were aimed at preventing Turkish access to the Middle East and India and did little fighting
Although the motivations of those Australian s that volunteered to fight in Russia can only be guessed at it seems unlikely to have been political Regardless they confirmed a reputation for audacity and courage winning the only two Victoria Crosses of the land campaign despite their small numbers Yet Australian involvement was barely noticed at home at the time and made little difference to the outcome of the war Total casualties included killed and wounded with most deaths being from disease during operations in Mesopotamia
In October HMAS Adelaide was called to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate as part of a punitive expedition in response to the killing of a district officer and sixteen others by Kwaio natives at Sinalagu on the island of Malaita on October known as the Malaita massacre Arriving at Tulagi on October the ship proceeded to Malaita to protect the landing of three platoons of troops then remained in the area to provide personnel support for the soldiers as they searched for the killers The ship s personnel took no part in operations ashore providing only logistic and communications support Adelaide returned to Australia on November
A small number of Australian volunteers fought on both sides of the Spanish Civil War although they predominantly supported the Spanish Republic through the International Brigades The Australians were subsequently allocated to the battalions of other nationalities such as the British Battalion and the Lincoln Battalion rather than forming their own units Most were radicals motivated by ideological reasons while a number were Spanish born migrants who returned to fight in their country of origin At least Australians volunteered with only one Nugent Bull a conservative catholic who was later killed serving in the RAF during the Second World War known to have fought for General Francisco Franco s Nationalist forces
While a celebrated cause for the Australian left particularly the Communist Party of Australia and the trade union movement the war failed to spark particular public interest and the government maintained its neutrality Australian opposition to the Republican cause was marshalled by BA Santamaria on an anti communist basis rather than a pro Nationalist basis Equally although individual right wing Australians may have served with the Nationalist rebels they received no public support Service in a foreign armed force was illegal at the time however as the government received no reports of Australians travelling to Spain to enlist no action was taken Consequently returned veterans were neither recognised by the government or the Returned and Services League of Australia RSL Although the number of Australian volunteers was relatively small compared to those from other countries at least were killed
Australia entered the Second World War on September At the time of the declaration of war against Germany the Australian military was small and unready for war Recruiting for a Second Australian Imperial Force nd AIF began in mid September While there was no rush of volunteers like the First World War a high proportion of Australian men of military age had enlisted by mid Four infantry divisions were formed during and three of which were dispatched to the Middle East The RAAF s resources were initially mainly devoted to training airmen for service with the Commonwealth air forces through the Empire Air Training Scheme EATS through which almost Australians were trained during the war
The Australian military s first major engagements of the war were against Italian forces in the Mediterranean and North Africa During the light cruiser HMAS Sydney and five elderly destroyers dubbed the Scrap Iron Flotilla by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels a title proudly accepted by the ships took part in a series of operations as part of the British Mediterranean Fleet and sank several Italian warships The Army first saw action in January when the th Division formed part of the Commonwealth forces during Operation Compass The division assaulted and captured Bardia on January and Tobruk on January with tens of thousands of Italian troops surrendering at both towns The th Division took part in the pursuit of the Italian Army and captured Benghazi on February In late February it was withdrawn for service in Greece and was replaced by the th Division
The Australian forces in the Mediterranean endured a number of campaigns during During April the th Division other elements of I Corps and several Australian warships formed part of the Allied force which unsuccessfully attempted to defend Greece from German invasion during the Battle of Greece At the end of this campaign the th Division was evacuated to Egypt and Crete The force at Crete subsequently fought in the Battle of Crete during May which also ended in defeat for the Allies Over Australians were captured in these campaigns and the th Division required a long period of rebuilding before it was again ready for combat The Germans and Italians also went on the offensive in North Africa at the end of March and drove the Commonwealth force there back to near the border with Egypt The th Division and a brigade of the th Division were besieged at Tobruk successfully defending the key port town until they were replaced by British units in October During June the main body of the th Division a brigade of the th Division and the I Corps headquarters took part in the Syria Lebanon Campaign against the Vichy French Resistance was stronger than expected Australians were involved in most of the fighting and sustained most of the casualties before the French capitulated in early July
The majority of Australian units in the Mediterranean returned to Australia in early after the outbreak of the Pacific War The th Division was the largest unit to remain in the Middle East and played a key role in the First Battle of El Alamein during June and the Second Battle of El Alamein in October The division returned to Australia in early but several RAAF squadrons and RAN warships took part in the subsequent Tunisia Campaign and the Italian Campaign from until the end of the war
The RAAF s role in the strategic air offensive in Europe formed Australia s main contribution to the defeat of Germany Approximately Australian airmen served in dozens of British and five Australian squadrons in RAF Bomber Command between and the end of the war Australians took part in all of Bomber Command s major offensives and suffered heavy losses during raids on German cities and targets in France Australian aircrew in Bomber Command had one of the highest casualty rates of any part of the Australian military during the Second World War and sustained almost percent of all Australian deaths in combat were killed and hundreds more were taken prisoner Australian airmen in light bomber and fighter squadrons also participated in the liberation of Western Europe during and and two RAAF maritime patrol squadrons served in the Battle of the Atlantic
From the s Australia s defence thinking was dominated by British Imperial defence policy which was embodied by the Singapore strategy This strategy involved the construction and defence of a major naval base at Singapore from which a large British fleet would respond to Japanese aggression in the region To this end a high proportion of Australian forces in Asia were concentrated in Malaya during and as the threat from Japan increased However as a result of the emphasis on co operation with Britain relatively few Australian military units had been retained in Australia and the Asia Pacific region Measures were taken to improve Australia s defences as war with Japan loomed in but these proved inadequate In December the Australian Army in the Pacific comprised the th Division most of which was stationed in Malaya and eight partially trained and equipped divisions in Australia The RAAF was equipped with aircraft most of which were obsolete trainers and the RAN had three cruisers and two destroyers in Australian waters
The Australian military suffered a series of defeats during the early months of the Pacific War The th Division and RAAF squadrons in Malaya formed a part of the British Commonwealth forces which were unable to stop a smaller Japanese invasion force which landed on December The British Commonwealth force withdrew to Singapore at the end of January but was forced to surrender on February after the Japanese captured much of the island Smaller Australian forces were also overwhelmed and defeated during early at Rabaul and in Ambon Timor and Java The Australian town of Darwin was heavily bombed by the Japanese on February to prevent it from being used as an Allied base Over Australians were taken prisoner in early and endured harsh conditions in Japanese captivity The prisoners were subjected to malnutrition denied medical treatment and frequently beaten and killed by their guards As a result Australian prisoners died in captivity
The rapid Allied defeat in the Pacific caused many Australians to fear that the Japanese would invade the Australian mainland While elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy proposed this in early it was judged to be impossible by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters which instead adopted a strategy of isolating Australia from the United States by capturing New Guinea the Solomon Islands Fiji Samoa and New Caledonia This fact was not known by the Allies at the time and the Australian military was greatly expanded to meet the threat of invasion Large numbers of United States Army and Army Air Forces units arrived in Australia in early and the Australian military was placed under the overall command of General Douglas MacArthur in March
Australians played a central role in the New Guinea campaign during and After an attempt to land troops at Port Moresby was defeated in the Battle of the Coral Sea the Japanese attempted to capture the strategically important town by advancing overland across the Owen Stanley Ranges and Milne Bay Australian Army units defeated these offensives in the Kokoda Track campaign and Battle of Milne Bay with the support of the RAAF and USAAF Australian and US Army units subsequently assaulted and captured the Japanese bases on the north coast of Papua in the hard fought Battle of Buna Gona The Australian Army also defeated a Japanese attempt to capture the town of Wau in January and went onto the offensive in the Salamaua Lae campaign in April In late the th and th Divisions played an important role in Operation Cartwheel when they landed to the east and west of Lae and secured the Huon Peninsula during the Huon Peninsula campaign and Finisterre Range campaign
The Australian mainland came under attack during and Japanese submarines operated off Australia from May to August and January to June These attacks sought to cut the Allied supply lines between Australia and the US and Australia and New Guinea but were unsuccessful Japanese aircraft also conducted air raids against Allied bases in northern Australia which were being used to mount the North Western Area Campaign against Japanese positions in the Netherlands East Indies NEI
Australia s role in the Pacific War declined from The increasing size of the US forces in the Pacific rendered the Australian military superfluous and labour shortages forced the Government to reduce the size of the armed forces to boost war production Nevertheless the Government wanted the Australian military to remain active and agreed to MacArthur s proposals that it be used in relatively unimportant campaigns In late Australian troops and RAAF squadrons replaced US garrisons in eastern New Guinea New Britain and Bougainville and launched offensives aimed at destroying or containing the remaining Japanese forces there In May I Corps the Australian First Tactical Air Force and USAAF and USN units began the Borneo Campaign which continued until the end of the war These campaigns contributed little to Japan s defeat and remain controversial
Following Japan s surrender on August Australia assumed responsibility for occupying much of Borneo and the eastern Netherlands East Indies until British and Dutch colonial rule was restored Australian authorities also conducted a number of war crimes trials of Japanese personnel Australians enlisted during the war while served overseas Casualties included killed and another were wounded Victoria Crosses were awarded to Australians
The demobilisation of the Australian military following the end of the Second World War was completed in Plans for post war defence arrangements were predicated on maintaining a relatively strong peacetime force It was envisioned that the Royal Australian Navy maintaining a fleet that would include two light fleet carriers two cruisers six destroyers others ships in commission and another in reserved The Royal Australian Air Force would have a strength of squadrons including four manned by the Citizen Air Force Meanwhile in a significant departure from previous Australian defence policy which had previously relied on citizen forces the Australian Army would include a permanent field force of regulars organised into a brigade of three infantry battalions with armoured support serving alongside a part time force of men in the Citizen Military Forces The Australian Regular Army was subsequently formed on September while the CMF was re raised on July
In the immediate post war period Australia contributed significant forces to the Allied occupation of Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force BCOF which included forces from Australia Britain India and New Zealand At its height in the Australian component consisted of an infantry brigade four warships and three fighter squadrons totalling personnel The Australian Army component initially consisted of the th Brigade which arrived in Japan in February and was based in Hiroshima Prefecture The three infantry battalions raised for occupation duties were designated the st nd and rd battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment in and the th Brigade became the st Brigade when it returned to Australia in December forming the basis of the post war Regular Army From that time the Australian Army contribution to the occupation of Japan was reduced to a single under strength battalion Australian forces remained until September when the BCOF ceased operations although by the time the majority of units had been committed to the fighting on the Korean peninsular following the outbreak of the Korean War in The RAAF component consisted of Nos and Squadrons as part of No Wing RAAF flying P Mustangs initially based at Bofu from March before transferring to Iwakuni in However by only No Squadron remained in Japan A total of ten RAN warships served in Japan during this period including HMA Ships Australia Hobart Shropshire Arunta Bataan Culgoa Murchison Shoalhaven Quadrant and Quiberon while HMAS Ships Manoora Westralia and Kanimbla also provided support
During the early years of the Cold War Australian defence planning assumed that in the event of the outbreak of a global war between the Western world and Eastern bloc countries it would need to contribute forces under collective security arrangements as part of the United Nations or a coalition led by either the United States or Britain The Middle East was considered the most likely area of operations for Australian forces where they would most likely operate with British forces Early commitments included the involvement of RAAF aircrew during the Berlin Airlift in and the deployment of No Wing RAAF to Malta in the Mediterranean from to Meanwhile defence preparedness initiatives included the introduction of a National Service Scheme in to provide manpower for the citizen forces of the Army RAAF and RAN
On June the North Korean Army KPA crossed the border into South Korea and advanced for the capital Seoul which fell in less than a week North Korean forces continued toward the port of Pusan and two days later the United States offered its assistance to South Korea In response the United Nations Security Council requested members to assist in repelling the North Korean attack Australia initially contributed P Mustang fighter bomber aircraft from No Squadron RAAF and infantry from the rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment RAR both of which were stationed in Japan as part of the BCOF In addition it provided the majority of supply and support personnel to the British Commonwealth Forces Korea The RAN frigate HMAS Shoalhaven and the destroyer HMAS Bataan were also committed Later an aircraft carrier strike group aboard HMAS Sydney was added to the force
By the time RAR arrived in Pusan on September the North Koreans were in retreat following the Inchon landings As a part of the invasion force under the UN Supreme Commander General Douglas MacArthur the battalion moved north and was involved in its first major action at Battle of Yongju near Pyongyang on October before advancing towards the Yalu River Further successful actions followed at Kujin on October and at Chongju on October North Korean casualties were heavy while Australian losses included their commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Charles Green who was wounded in the stomach by artillery fire after the battle and succumbed to his wounds and died two days later on November Meanwhile during the last weeks of October the Chinese had moved divisions of the People s Volunteer Army across the Yalu River to reinforce the remnants of the KPA Undetected by US and South Korean intelligence the th Army Group crossed the border on October and penetrated up to kilometres mi into North Korea and were reinforced in early November by divisions from the th Army Group in total divisions composed of men RAR fought its first action against the Chinese at Pakchon on November The fighting cost the battalion heavily and despite halting a Chinese division the new battalion commander was dismissed in the wake Following the Chinese intervention the UN forces were defeated in successive battles and RAR was forced to withdraw to the th parallel
A series of battles followed at Uijeongbu on January as the British and Australians occupied defensive positions in an attempt to secure the northern approaches to the South Korean capital Further fighting occurred at Chuam ni on February following another Chinese advance and later at Maehwa San between March as the UN resumed the offensive Australian troops subsequently participated in two more major battles in with the first taking place during fighting which later became known as the Battle of Kapyong On April Chinese forces attacked the Kapyong valley and forced the South Korean defenders to withdraw Australian and Canadian troops were ordered to halt this Chinese advance After a night of fighting the Australians recaptured their positions at the cost of men killed and wounded In July the Australian battalion became part of the combined Canadian British Australian New Zealand and Indian st Commonwealth Division The second major battle took place during Operation Commando and occurred after the Chinese attacked a salient in a bend of the Imjin River The st Commonwealth Division counter attacked on October capturing a number of objectives including Hill and Hill during the Battle of Maryang San after five days the Chinese retreated Australian casualties included dead and wounded
The belligerents then became locked in static trench warfare akin to the First World War in which men lived in tunnels redoubts and sandbagged forts behind barbed wire defences From until the end of the war RAR held trenches on the eastern side of the division s positions in the hills northeast of the Imjin River Across from them were heavily fortified Chinese positions In March Australia increased its ground commitment to two battalions sending RAR This battalion remained in Korea for months before being replaced by RAR in April The Australians fought their last battle during July with RAR holding off a concerted Chinese attack along the Samichon River and inflicting significant casualties for the loss of five killed and wounded Hostilities were suspended on July Australians served during the war with killed wounded and captured
The Malayan Emergency was declared on June after three estate managers were murdered by members of the Malayan Communist Party MCP Australian involvement began in June when in response to a British request six Lincolns from No Squadron and a flight of Dakotas from No Squadron arrived in Singapore to form part of the British Commonwealth Far East Air Force FEAF The Dakotas were subsequently used on cargo runs troop movement as well as paratroop and leaflet drops while the Lincoln bombers carried out bombing raids against the Communist Terrorist CT jungle bases The RAAF were particularly successful and in one such mission known as Operation Termite five Lincoln bombers destroyed communist camps killed communists and forced one into surrender in a joint operation with the RAF and ground troops The Lincolns were withdrawn in and were replaced by Canberra bombers from No Squadron and CAC Sabres from No Wing Based at RAAF Base Butterworth they also carried out a number ground attack missions against the guerrillas
Australian ground forces were deployed to Malaya in October as part of the Far East Strategic Reserve In January the first Australian ground forces were deployed on Malaysian peninsula consisting of the nd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment RAR RAR mainly participated in mopping up operations over the next months conducting extensive patrolling in and near the CT jungle bases as part of th British Commonwealth Brigade Contact with the enemy was infrequent and results small achieving relatively few kills RAR left Malaysia October to be replaced by RAR RAR underwent six weeks of jungle training and began driving MCP insurgents back into the jungle of Perak and Kedah The new battalion extensively patrolled and was involved in food denial operations and ambushes Again contact was limited although RAR had more success than its predecessor By late operations against the MCP were in their final phase and most communists had been pushed back and across the Thailand border RAR left Malaysia October and was replaced by RAR Though patrolling the border RAR did not make contact with the insurgents and in October it was replaced by RAR which stayed in Malaysia until August The Malayan Emergency officially ended on July
Australia also provided artillery and engineer support along with an air field construction squadron The Royal Australian Navy also served in Malayan waters firing on suspected communist positions between and The Emergency was the longest continued commitment in Australian military history Australians served and died in Malaya although only were on operations and another were wounded
At the start of the s Prime Minister Robert Menzies greatly expanded the Australian military so that it could carry out the Government s policy of Forward Defence in South East Asia In Menzies announced a large increase in defence spending The strength of the Australian Army would be increased by over three years from to providing a full three brigade division with nine battalions The RAAF and RAN would also both be increased by In conscription or National Service was re introduced under the National Service Act for selected year olds based on date of birth for a period of two years continuous full time service the previous scheme having been suspended in
In three Charles F Adams class destroyers were purchased from the United States to replace the ageing Q class destroyers Traditionally the RAN had purchased designs based on those of the Royal Navy and the purchase of American destroyers was significant HMAS Perth and HMAS Hobart joined the fleet in followed by HMAS Brisbane in Other projects included the construction of six River class frigates the conversion of the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne to an anti submarine role the acquisition of ten Wessex helicopters and the purchase of six Oberon class submarines
The RAAF took delivery of their first Mirage fighters in equipping No No and No Squadrons with them The service also received American F strike aircraft C Hercules transports P Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft and Italian Macchi trainers
The Indonesia Malaysia confrontation was fought from to between the British Commonwealth and Indonesia over the creation of the Federation of Malaysia with the Commonwealth attempting to safeguard the security of the new state The war remained limited and was fought primarily on the island of Borneo although a number of Indonesian seaborne and airborne incursions onto the Malay Peninsula did occur As part of Australia s continuing military commitment to the security of Malaysia army naval and airforce units were based there as part of the Far East Strategic Reserve Regardless the Australian government was wary of involvement in a war with Indonesia and initially limited its involvement to the defence of the Malayan peninsula only On two occasions Australian troops from RAR were used to help mop up infiltrators from seaborne and airborne incursions at Labis and Pontian in September and October
Following these raids the government conceded to British and Malaysian requests to deploy an infantry battalion to Borneo During the early phases British and Malaysian troops had attempted only to control the Malaysian Indonesian border and to protect population centres However by the time the Australian battalion deployed the British had decided on more aggressive action crossing the border into Kalimantan to obtain information and conduct ambushes to force the Indonesians to remain on the defensive under the codename Operation Claret The fighting took place in mountainous jungle clad terrain and a debilitating climate with operations characterised by the extensive use of company bases sited along the border cross border operations the use of helicopters for troop movement and resupply and the role of human and signals intelligence to determine enemy movements and intentions
RAR deployed to Borneo in March and served in Sarawak until the end of July operating on both sides of the border The battalion had four major contacts with Indonesian forces and several smaller ones including at Sungei Koemba Kindau and Babang during which they inflicted heavy casualties on the Indonesians as well as suffering casualties in two mine incidents RAR served a less eventful tour between April and August and also operated over the border successfully clashing with the Indonesians on a number of occasions A squadron of the Special Air Service Regiment SASR was also deployed in and again in taking part in cross border operations and inflicting significant casualties on the Indonesians even though they were often tasked with covert reconnaissance Other units included artillery and engineers while a number of RAN ships were involved in shelling Indonesian positions in Borneo and in repelling infiltrators in the Singapore Strait The RAAF played a relatively minor role although it would have been used far more extensively had the war escalated
Operations in Borneo were extremely sensitive and they received little press coverage in Australia while official acknowledgement of involvement in cross border missions only occurred in Following a military coup in Indonesia in early which brought General Suharto to power a peace treaty was signed in August which ended the conflict Australians served during Confrontation casualties included dead with seven killed in action and eight wounded
Australia s involvement in the Vietnam War was driven largely by the rise of communism in Southeast Asia after the Second World War and the fear of its spread which developed in Australia during the s and early s As a consequence Australia supported South Vietnam throughout the early s In and the leader of the South Vietnamese government Ngo Dinh Diem asked for assistance from the US and its allies in response to a growing insurgency supported by communist North Vietnam Australia offered military advisors from the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam which became known simply as The Team They arrived in July and August beginning Australia s involvement in the war Later in August the RAAF sent a flight of Caribou transport aircraft to the port city of Vung Tau
However with the security situation in South Vietnam continuing to deteriorate the US increased its involvement to combat troops by early Australia also committed ground forces dispatching the RAR to serve with the US rd Airborne Brigade in Bien Hoa province in June and it subsequently fought a number of significant actions including Gang Toi Operation Crimp and Suoi Bong Trang In March the Australian government announced the deployment of a brigade sized unit the st Australian Task Force ATF to replace RAR Included were a large number of conscripts under the increasingly controversial National Service Scheme Consisting of two infantry battalions as well as armour aviation artillery and other support arms the task force was assigned primary responsibility for its own area and was based at Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy Province Included were the Iroquois helicopters of No Squadron RAAF At the Battle of Long Tan on August D Company RAR with considerable artillery support held off and defeated a Viet Cong force that was at least six times bigger than itself Australians were killed and wounded while communist dead were later recovered from the battlefield The battle allowed the Australians to gain dominance over Phuoc Tuy Province and ATF was not fundamentally challenged again Regardless during February the Australians suffered their heaviest casualties in the war to that point losing men killed and wounded in a single week the bulk during Operation Bribie
Yet with the Phuoc Tuy province coming progressively under control throughout the Australians increasingly spent a significant period of time conducting operations further afield ATF was subsequently deployed astride infiltration routes leading to Saigon to interdict communist movement against the capital as part of Operation Coburg during the Tet Offensive and later during the Battle of Coral Balmoral in May and June At Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral the Australians had clashed with regular North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong main force units operating in battalion and regimental strength for the first time in near conventional warfare ultimately fighting their largest most hazardous and most sustained battle of the war During days of fighting Australian casualties included killed and wounded while communist casualties included killed confirmed by body count possibly killed wounded and captured Other significant Australian actions included Binh Ba in June Hat Dich in late December and early and Long Khanh in June At the height of the Australian commitment ATF numbered troops including three infantry battalions armour artillery engineers logistics and aviation units in support A third RAAF unit No Squadron RAAF flying Canberra bombers was sent in and four RAN destroyers joined US patrols in the waters off North Vietnam
The Australian withdrawal effectively commenced in November As a consequence of the overall allied strategy of Vietnamization and with the Australian government keen to reduce its own commitment to the war RAR was not replaced at the end of its tour of duty ATF was again reduced to just two infantry battalions albeit with significant armour artillery and aviation support remaining Australian combat forces were further reduced during as part of a phased withdrawal and ATF ceased operations in October Meanwhile the advisors remained to train South Vietnamese troops until withdrawn on December by the newly elected Labor government of Gough Whitlam The last Australian forces were finally withdrawn in The Vietnam War was Australia s longest and most controversial war and although initially enjoying broad support as the nation s military involvement increased a vocal anti war movement developed More than Australians served in Vietnam were killed and were wounded Four were awarded the Victoria Cross
Although the importance of joint warfare had been highlighted during Second World War when Australian naval ground and air units frequently served as part of single commands the absence of a central authority continued to result in poor co ordination between the services in the post war era with each organising and operating on the basis of a different military doctrine The need for an integrated command structure received more emphasis during the Australian military s experiences in the Vietnam War In the Secretary of the Department of Defence Arthur Tange submitted a report to the Government that recommended the unification of the separate departments supporting each service into a single department and the creation of the post of Chief of the Defence Force Staff
The Whitlam Labor Government subsequently amalgamated the five defence ministries Defence Navy Army Air Force and Supply into a single Department of Defence in while conscription under the National Service scheme was abolished On January the three branches of the Australian military were brought together as a unified all volunteer professional force known as the Australian Defence Force ADF Today the ADF is headquartered at Russell Offices in Canberra and is divided into Air Land Maritime and Special Operations Commands In addition Northern Command is based in Darwin and is responsible for operations in Northern Australia
Until the s Australia s military strategy centred on the concept of Forward Defence in which the role of Australian military and naval forces were to co operate with Allied forces to counter threats in Australia s region Following the adoption of the Guam Doctrine by the United States in and the British withdrawal east of Suez in the early s Australia developed a defence policy emphasising self reliance and the defence of the Australian continent Known as the Defence of Australia Policy it focused Australian defence planning on protecting the nation s northern maritime approaches the air sea gap against possible attack
In line with this goal the ADF was restructured to increase its ability to strike at enemy forces from Australian bases and to counter raids on continental Australia This was achieved by increasing the capabilities of the RAN and RAAF and relocating regular Army units to Northern Australia During this time the ADF had no military units on operational deployment outside Australia However in the ADF made its first operational deployment as part of Operation Morris Dance in which several warships and a rifle company deployed to the waters off Fiji in response to the Fijian coups d tat While broadly successful this deployment highlighted the need for the ADF to improve its capability to rapidly respond to unforeseen events
During this period Australia continued to retain forces in Malaysia as part of the Five Power Defence Arrangements FPDA agreed in to defend it in the event of external attack with this commitment initially including significant air ground and naval forces However these forces were gradually reduced with the infantry battalion withdrawn from Singapore in and the two Mirage fighter squadrons in Since then a detachment of Orion maritime patrol aircraft support personnel and an infantry company known as Rifle Company Butterworth have been maintained as well as occasional deployments of F A Hornet fighter aircraft Australian submarines were reportedly also involved in a number of clandestine surveillance missions throughout Asian waters in the last decades of the Cold War Airforce and Navy units were also involved in tracking Soviet ship and submarine movements in the region Since then the Orions have continued to participate in maritime security operations as part of Operation Gateway conducting patrols over the Indian Ocean Strait of Malacca and South China Sea They have reportedly also been involved in freedom of navigation flights
Australia was a member of the international coalition which contributed military forces to the Gulf War deploying a naval task group of two warships a support ship and a clearance diving team in total about personnel The Australian contribution was the first time Australian personnel were deployed to an active war zone since the establishment of the ADF and the deployment tested its capabilities and command structure However the Australian force did not see combat and instead playing a significant role in enforcing the sanctions put in place against Iraq following the invasion of Kuwait Some ADF personnel serving on exchange with British and American units did see combat and a few were later decorated for their actions Following the war the Navy regularly deployed a frigate to the Persian Gulf or Red Sea to enforce the trade sanctions which continued to be applied to Iraq A number of Australian airmen and ground crew posted to or on exchange with US and British air forces subsequently participated in enforcing no fly zones imposed over Iraq between and
Since the late s the Australian government had increasingly called upon the ADF to contribute forces to peacekeeping missions around the world While most of these deployments involved only small numbers of specialists several led to the deployment of hundreds of personnel Large peacekeeping deployments were made to Namibia in early Cambodia between and Somalia in Rwanda between and and Bougainville in and from onwards The election of the Howard Liberal government resulted in significant reforms to the ADF s force structure and role with the new government s defence strategy placed less singular emphasis on defending Australia from direct attack and greater emphasis on working in co operation with regional states and Australia s allies to manage potential security threats in recognition of Australia s global security interests In line with this new focus the ADF s force structure changed in an attempt to increase the proportion of combat units to support units and to improve the ADF s combat effectiveness
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in however following years of violent struggle the new Indonesian government of President BJ Habibie subsequently agreed to allow the East Timorese to vote on autonomy in The United Nations Mission in East Timor UNAMET was established to organise and conduct the vote which was held at the end of August and resulted with of voters deciding in favour of independence However following the announcement of the results pro Indonesian militias supported by elements of the Indonesian military launched a campaign of violence looting and arson and many East Timorese were killed while perhaps more than were displaced Unable to control the violence Indonesia subsequently agreed to the deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force Australia which had contributed police to UNAMET organised and led an international military coalition known as the International Force for East Timor INTERFET a non UN force operating in accordance with UN resolutions The total size of the Australian force committed numbered personnel and included a significant ground force supported by air and naval forces in the largest single deployment of Australian forces since
Under the overall command of Australian Major General Peter Cosgrove INTERFET began arriving on September and was tasked with restoring peace and security protecting and supporting UNAMET and facilitating humanitarian assistance operations With the withdrawal of the Indonesian armed forces police and government officials from East Timor UNAMET re established its headquarters in Dili on September On October Indonesia formally recognised the result of the referendum and shortly thereafter a UN peacekeeping force the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor UNTAET was established becoming fully responsible for the administration of East Timor during its transition to independence The hand over of command of military operations from INTERFET to UNTAET was completed on February Australia continued to support the UN peacekeeping operation with between and personnel as well as landing craft and Blackhawk helicopters and remained the largest contributor of personnel to the peacekeeping mission During these operations Australian forces regularly clashed with pro Indonesian militia and on a number of occasions Indonesian forces as well especially along the border with West Timor Significant actions occurred in Suai Mota ain and at Aidabasalala in October However with the security situation stabilised the bulk of the Australian and UN forces were withdrawn by Two Australians died from non battle related causes while a number were wounded in action
The unexpected deployment to East Timor in led to significant changes in Australian defence policy and to an enhancement of the ADF s ability to conduct operations outside Australia This successful deployment was the first time a large Australian military force had operated outside of Australia since the Vietnam War and revealed shortcomings in the ADF s ability to mount and sustain such operations In response the Defence White Paper placed a greater emphasis on preparing the ADF for overseas deployments The Australian government committed to improve the ADF s capabilities by improving the readiness and equipment of ADF units expanding the ADF to full time personnel and increasing real Defence expenditure by per year
In May ADF personnel were again deployed to East Timor as part of Operation Astute following unrest between elements of the Timor Leste Defence Force Australian forces were involved in a number skirmishes during this time including a heavy clash with rebels commanded by Alfredo Reinado at Same on March However by early the security situation had been stabilised and just Australian personnel remained to train the local security forces as part of a small international force Following a drawdown the International Stabilisation Force commenced withdrawing from Timor Leste in November a process which was completed in April
Shortly after the Islamist inspired terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September Australian forces were committed to the American led international coalition against terrorism The ADF s most visible contribution codenamed Operation Slipper has been a special forces task group operating in Afghanistan from to and again from mid to fight against the Taliban Over time the Australian commitment has grown with the addition of further ground forces in the form of a Reconstruction Task Force from to provide security reconstruction and to mentor and train the Afghan National Army Australia has also contributed a frigate and two AP C Orion surveillance aircraft and three C Hercules transport aircraft to international operations in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean since supporting both the operations in Afghanistan and those in Iraq under Operation Catalyst A detachment of four F A Hornet fighter bombers was based at Diego Garcia from late to mid while two Boeing air to air refuelling aircraft were also based in Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan to provide support to coalition aircraft operating in Afghan airspace but were later withdrawn A Special Operations Task Group was deployed to support the Reconstruction Taskforce in April In addition to radar crews logistics and intelligence officers and security personnel this brought the number of Australian personnel in Afghanistan to by mid with further small increases to in mid in early and in mid
A modest force remained in Afghanistan over this time and was involved in counter insurgency operations in Uruzgan Province in conjunction United States and other coalition forces including the Dutch prior to their withdrawal The force consisted of motorised infantry special forces engineers cavalry artillery and aviation elements By it included a combined arms battalion sized battle group known as the Mentoring Task Force and the Special Operations Task Group both based at Forward Operation Base Ripley outside of Tarin Kowt as well as the Rotary Wing Group flying CH D Chinooks the Force Logistics Asset and an RAAF air surveillance radar unit based in Kandahar In addition a further Australian logistic personnel were also based in the Middle East in support but are located outside of Afghanistan Meanwhile detachments of maritime patrol and transport aircraft continued to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan based out of Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates Also included is the deployment of one of the RAN s frigates to the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden on counter piracy and maritime interdiction duties
Australian forces were at times involved in heavy fighting and significant actions included Operation Anaconda in and Operation Perth in as well as actions in Chora in Kakarak in the Shah Wali Kot and Derapet in and Doan in although others have yet to be publicly acknowledged due to operational security requirements Casualties include killed and wounded while another Australian also died serving with the British Army Four Australians have been awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia the first such decorations in forty years Following a drawdown in forces the last combat troops were withdrawn on December however approximately personnel remain in Afghanistan as trainers and advisers and are stationed in Kandahar and Kabul Over Australian personnel have served in Afghanistan
Australian forces later joined British and American forces during the invasion of Iraq The initial contribution was also a modest one consisting of just personnel codenamed Operation Falconer Major force elements included special forces rotary and fixed wing aviation and naval units Army units included elements from the SASR and th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment Commando a CH Chinook detachment and a number of other specialist units RAN units included the amphibious ship HMAS Kanimbla and the frigates HMAS Darwin and HMAS Anzac while the RAAF deployed F A Hornets from No Squadron a number of AP C Orions and C Hercules The Australian Special Forces Task Force was one of the first coalition units forces to cross the border into Iraq while for a few days the closest ground troops to Baghdad were from the SASR During the invasion the RAAF also flew its first combat missions since the Vietnam War with No Squadron flying a total of sorties and dropping laser guided bombs
The Iraqi military quickly proved no match for coalition military power and with their defeat the bulk of Australian forces were withdrawn While Australia did not initially take part in the post war occupation of Iraq an Australian Army light armoured battlegroup designated the Al Muthanna Task Group and including ASLAV light armoured vehicles and infantry was later deployed to Southern Iraq in April as part of Operation Catalyst The role of this force was to protect the Japanese engineer contingent in the region and support the training of New Iraqi Army units The AMTG later became the Overwatch Battle Group West OBG W following the hand back of Al Muthanna province to Iraqi control Force levels peaked at personnel in May including the OBG W in Southern Iraq the Security Detachment in Baghdad and the Australian Army Training Team Iraq A RAN frigate was based in the North Persian Gulf while RAAF assets included C H Hercules and AP C elements Following the election of a new Labor government under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd the bulk of these forces were withdrawn by mid while RAAF and RAN operations were redirected to other parts of the Middle East Area of Operations as part of Operation Slipper
Low level operations continued however with a small Australian force of soldiers remaining in Iraq to protect the Australian Embassy in Baghdad as part of SECDET under Operation Kruger SECDET was finally withdrawn in August and was replaced by a private military company which took over responsibility for providing security for Australia s diplomatic presence in Iraq Although more than personnel served during operations in Iraq Australian casualties were relatively light with two soldiers accidentally killed while a third Australian died serving with the British Royal Air Force A further personnel were wounded Two officers remained in Iraq attached to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq as part of Operation Riverbank This operation concluded in November
In June a small number of SASR personnel were deployed to Iraq to protect the Australian embassy when the security of Baghdad was threatened by the Northern Iraq offensive Later in August and September a number of RAAF C and C J transport aircraft based in the Middle East were used to conduct airdrops of humanitarian aid to trapped civilians and to airlift arms and munitions to forces in Kurdish controlled northern Iraq In late September an Air Task Group ATG and Special Operations Task Group SOTG were deployed to Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates as part of the coalition to combat Islamic State forces in Iraq Equipped with F A F Super Hornet strike aircraft a KC A Multi Role Tanker Transport and an E A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning Control aircraft the ATG began operations on October The SOTG is tasked with operations to advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces and was deployed to Iraq after a legal framework covering their presence in the country was agreed between the Australian and Iraqi Governments It began moving into Iraq in early November In April a strong unit known as Task Group Taji was deployed to Iraq to train the regular Iraqi Security Forces Airstrikes were extended to Syria in September
Australia s involvement in international peacekeeping operations has been diverse and included participation in both United Nations sponsored missions as well as those as part of ad hoc coalitions Australians have been involved in more conflicts as peacekeepers than as belligerents however in comparative international terms Australia has only been a moderately energetic peacekeeper Although Australia has had peacekeepers in the field continuously for years being among the first group of UN military observers in Indonesia in its commitments have generally been limited consisting mostly of small numbers of high level and technical support troops such as signallers engineers medics observers and police One significant commitment has been Australia s ongoing involvement with the long running Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai The operational tempo started increasing in the mid s when Australia became involved in a series of high profile operations deploying significantly larger combat units in support of a number of missions including Cambodia Rwanda Somalia East Timor and the Solomon Islands Australia has been involved in close to separate missions involving more than personnel Australians have died during these operations
Ward LeRoy Churchill born is an American author and political activist He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder from until The primary focus of his work is on the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States government His work features controversial and provocative views written in a direct often confrontational style
In January Churchill s work attracted controversy because of the circulation of a essay On the Justice of Roosting Chickens in which he argued the September attacks were a natural and unavoidable consequence of unlawful US foreign policy over the latter half of the th century the essay is well known for Churchill s use of the phrase little Eichmanns to describe the technocratic corps working in the World Trade Center
In March the University of Colorado began investigating allegations that Churchill had engaged in research misconduct it reported in June that he had done so Churchill was fired on July leading to a claim by some scholars that he was fired because of the Little Eichmanns comment Churchill filed a lawsuit against the University of Colorado for unlawful termination of employment In April a Denver jury found that Churchill was wrongly fired awarding him in damages In July a District Court judge vacated the monetary award and declined Churchill s request to order his reinstatement deciding the university has quasi judicial immunity In February Churchill appealed the judge s decision In November the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the lower court s ruling In September the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the lower courts decisions in favor of the University of Colorado On April the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case
In a February interview Churchill commented that after living more than forty years in the northern plains Colorado region he had relocated to Atlanta Georgia in Churchill also stated that he had a half dozen uncompleted books which he intended to finish and publish in the next three years
Churchill was born in Urbana Illinois to Jack LeRoy Churchill and Maralyn Lucretia Allen His parents divorced before he was two and he grew up in Elmwood where he attended local schools
In he was drafted into the United States Army On his resume he said he served as a public information specialist who wrote and edited the battalion newsletter and wrote news releases
In a profile on Churchill the Denver Post reported that he was drafted went to paratrooper school then volunteered for Vietnam where he served a month tour as Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol LRRP one of a six man team sent out to track down the enemy The Post article also reported that Churchill was politically radicalized as a result of his experiences in Vietnam Churchill told the Post that he had spent some time at the Chicago office of the Students for a Democratic Society SDS in the late s and briefly taught members of the Weather Underground how to build bombs and fire weapons
In the Denver Post reported that Churchill s military records show he was trained as a film projectionist and light truck driver but they do not reflect paratrooper school or LRRP training The th Ranger Regiment Association found no record of Churchill having been a member of the unit or a LRRP team
Churchill received his BA in technological communications in and MA in communications theory in both from Sangamon State University now the University of Illinois at Springfield
In Churchill began working at the University of Colorado Boulder as an affirmative action officer in the university administration He also lectured on American Indian issues in the ethnic studies program In the University of Colorado hired him as an associate professor although he did not possess the academic doctorate usually required for the position The following year he was granted tenure in the Communications department without the usual six year probationary period after having been declined by the Sociology and Political Science departments
He has long been interested in issues associated with the Dawes Act which broke up the communal reservation lands and assigned plots to individual households Connected with that was the federal government s first use of blood quantum to define individual membership in tribes for what became known as the Dawes Rolls Since re establishing self governments federally recognized tribes have established their own criteria for enrollment as members often related to descent from recognized historical lists but less often requiring proofs of blood quantum Some of his published works address these issues which he has interpreted as part of the federal government s policy of genocide against Native Americans
In Churchill discussed his views with David Barsamian in an interview
You could say that five hundred years ago was the basis of blood quantum in Ibero America But in Anglo America while there was some preoccupation with it it was not formalized until the passage of the General Allotment Act mid s At that point they began to define Indian as being someone who was demonstrably and documentably of at least one quarter by quantum blood indigenous in a given group You couldn t be an eighth Cheyenne and an eighth Arapaho and be an Indian You had to be a quarter Cheyenne or a quarter Arapaho or hopefully a quarter and a quarter The reason for this was quite clear They were identifying Indians for purposes of allotting them individual parcels of land in the existing reservation base at that point If they ran out of Indians identifiable as such then the rest of the land would be declared surplus So it was clearly in the interests of the government to create a definition of Indianness that would minimize the number of Indians that were available It was an economic motivation for the application of this genetic criteria to Indianness in the first place It s become increasingly so ever since David Barsamian December Interview with Ward Churchill Historical and Current Perspectives Z Magazine
In Churchill moved to the new Ethnic Studies Department of the University of Colorado In he was promoted to full professor He was selected as chairman of the department in June
In January during the controversy over his remarks Churchill resigned as chairman of the ethnic studies department at the University of Colorado his term as chair was scheduled to expire in June of that year On May the Investigative Committee of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct at the University of Colorado concluded that Churchill had committed multiple counts of academic misconduct specifically plagiarism fabrication and falsification On July Churchill was fired for academic misconduct in an eight to one vote by the University of Colorado s Board of Regents
In Churchill stated I am myself of Muscogee and Creek descent on my father s side Cherokee on my mother s and am an enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians In Churchill wrote elsewhere that he is one eighth Creek and one sixteenth Cherokee In Churchill told the Colorado Daily that he was one sixteenth Creek and Cherokee Churchill told the Denver Post in February that he is three sixteenths Cherokee
In a statement dated May and posted on its website the United Keetoowah Band initially said
The United Keetoowah Band would like to make it clear that Mr Churchill IS NOT a member of the Keetoowah Band and was only given an honorary associate membership in the early s because he could not prove any Cherokee ancestry The tribe said that all of Churchill s past present and future claims or assertions of Keetoowah enrollment written or spoken including but not limited to biographies curriculum vitae lectures applications for employment or any other reference not listed herein are deemed fraudulent by the United Keetoowah Band
Two days later the United Keetoowah Band replaced its statement and acknowledged Churchill s alleged ancestry of being Cherokee
Because Mr Churchill had genealogical information regarding his alleged ancestry and his willingness to assist the UKB in promoting the tribe and its causes he was awarded an Associate Membership as an honor the tribe s website now said However Mr Churchill may possess eligibility status for Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma since he claims Cherokee
The tribe s spokesperson Lisa Stopp stated the tribe enrolls only members with certified one quarter American Indian blood The website statement further clarified that Churchill was not eligible for tribal membership due to the fact that he does not possess a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood CDIB and the associate membership did not entitle an individual to voting rights or enrollment in the tribe
Churchill has never asked for CDIB certification and finds the idea of being vetted by the US government offensive
In June the United Keetoowah Band had voted to stop awarding associate memberships Such honorary associate membership recognizes an individual s assistance to the tribe but it has nothing to do with Indian ancestry and it does not entitle an individual to vote in the tribe as a member The Keetoowah Band states that Churchill still holds the associate membership and it has not been rescinded In a separate interview Ernestine Berry formerly on the tribe s enrollment committee and four years on its council said that Churchill had never fulfilled a promise to help the tribe
In June the Rocky Mountain News published an article about Churchill s genealogy and family history It turned up no evidence of a single Indian ancestor among direct ancestors of Churchill s identified from records The News reported that both Churchill s birth parents were listed as white on the census as were all but two of his great great grandparents listed on previous census and other official documents The News found that some of Churchill s accounts of where his ancestors had lived did not agree with documented records Numerous members of Churchill s extended family have longstanding family legends of Indian ancestry among ancestors but none was confirmed among the direct forebears of Churchill who were identified
Documents in Churchill s university personnel file show that he was granted tenure in a special opportunity position In then CU Boulder Chancellor James Corbridge refused to take action on allegations that Churchill was fraudulently claiming to be an Indian saying it has always been university policy that a person s race or ethnicity is self proving
Some of Churchill s Native American critics such as Vernon Bellecourt White Earth Ojibwe and Suzan Shown Harjo Southern Cheyenne Muscogee Creek argue that his assertion of Native American ancestry without the ability to prove it might constitute misrepresentation and grounds for termination The University has said that it does not hire on the basis of ethnicity The University of Colorado s Research Misconduct Committee conducted a preliminary investigation into whether Churchill misrepresented his ethnicity to add credibility and public acceptance to his scholarship The committee concluded that the allegation was not appropriate for further investigation under the definition of research misconduct
In a interview in The Rocky Mountain News Churchill said I have never been confirmed as having one quarter blood and never said I was And even if the critics are absolutely right what does that have to do with this issue I have never claimed to be goddamned Sitting Bull The longtime indigenous activist Russell Means said in February of that year So I want from this day forward every media person nationally internationally and locally to know that we have ascertained that Ward Churchill is a full blooded Indian leader
Churchill has responded to requests for verification of his claimed Indian heritage in various ways including attacking the blood quantum upon which some Native American tribes establish their membership requirements Churchill argues that the United States instituted blood quantum laws based upon rules of descendancy in order to further goals of personal enrichment and political expediency
For decades in his writings Churchill has argued that blood quantum laws have an inherent genocidal purpose He says
Set the blood quantum at one quarter hold to it as a rigid definition of Indians let intermarriage proceed as it has and eventually Indians will be defined out of existence
Churchill s assertions have been raised as one of the several research misconduct allegations that were brought against him in see below He has been accused of using his interpretation of the Dawes Act to attack tribal governments that would not recognize him as a member
Churchill has written on American Indian history and culture and speaks about genocide inflicted on the indigenous people of the Americas by European settlers and what he describes as the repression of native peoples that continues to this day
As of according to a report submitted on his behalf Churchill has written books on his own and co authored Some have been reprinted with updates He has written book chapters law reviews and scholarly essays of these were refereed He has edited volumes and co edited more
According to the University of Colorado investigation His academic publications are nearly all works of synthesis and reinterpretation drawing upon studies by other scholars not monographs describing new research based on primary sources The investigation also noted that he has decided to publish largely in alternative presses or journals not in the university presses or mainstream peer reviewed journals often favored by more conventional academics In addition to his academic writing Churchill has written for several general readership magazines of political opinion
In Churchill wrote an essay titled Pacifism as Pathology Notes on an American Pseudopraxis criticizing pacifist politics within the US left as being hypocritical de facto racist and ineffectual In Arbeiter Ring Publishing published the essay in a book entitled Pacifism as Pathology Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America and listing Ward Churchill as the author The book included a preface by Ed Mead a new introduction to the essay by Churchill and a commentary by Mike Ryan The book sparked much debate in leftist circles and inspired more aggressive tactics within the anti globalization movement in the following few years
Agents of Repression co authored by Jim Vander Wall describes what the authors claim was a secret war against the Black Panther Party and American Indian Movement carried out during the late s and s by the FBI under the COINTELPRO program The COINTELPRO Papers reissued also co authored with Jim Vander Wall examines a series of original FBI memos that detail the Bureau s activities against various leftist groups from the US Communist Party in the s to activists concerned with Central American issues in the s
In Fantasies of the Master Race Churchill examines the portrayal of American Indians and the use of American Indian symbols in popular American culture He focuses on such phenomena as Tony Hillerman s mystery novels the film Dances with Wolves and the New Age movement finding examples of cultural imperialism and exploitation Churchill calls author Carlos Castaneda s claims of revealing the teachings of a Yaqui Indian shaman the greatest hoax since Piltdown Man
Struggle for the Land reissued is a collection of essays in which Churchill chronicles what he describes as the US government s systematic exploitation of Native lands and the killing or displacement of American Indians He details Native American efforts in the th and th centuries to prevent defoliation and industrial practices such as surface mining
Churchill s Indians Are Us a sequel to Fantasies of the Master Race further explores American Indian issues in popular culture and politics He examines the movie Black Robe the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation killings the prosecution of Leonard Peltier sports mascots the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of and blood quantum laws calling them tools of genocide Churchill is particularly outspoken about New Age exploitations of shamanism and American Indian sacred traditions and the do it yourself Indianism of certain contemporary authors John P LaVelle of the University of New Mexico School of Law published a review of Indians Are Us in The American Indian Quarterly Professor LaVelle an enrolled member of the Santee Sioux Nation states that Indians Are Us twists historical facts and is hostile toward Indian tribes It was in this book that Churchill first made the claim that the United States distributed smallpox infested blankets to Indian tribes a claim which he repeated several times over the next decade The claim has been criticized as a falsification Churchill has however received support from some scholars
From a Native Son Selected Essays on Indigenism is a collection of previously published essays on Native American history culture and political activism In his introduction to this volume Howard Zinn lauds the emergence of a new generation of Native American scholars and describes Churchill s writing as powerful eloquent unsparing of cant and deception
Churchill s A Little Matter of Genocide is a survey of ethnic cleansing in the Americas from to the present He compares the treatment of North American Indians to historical instances of genocide by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia Turks against Armenians and Europeans against the Gypsies as well as Nazis against the Poles and Jews
In Perversions of Justice Churchill argues that the US s legal system was adapted to gain control over Native American people Tracing the evolution of federal Indian law Churchill argues that the principles set forth were not only applied to non Indians in the US but later adapted for application abroad He concludes that this demonstrates the development of the US s imperial logic which depends on a corrupt form of legalism to establish colonial control and empire
Churchill s controversial essay on was expanded into a book length manuscript published as On the Justice of Roosting Chickens Reflections on the Consequences of US Imperial Arrogance and Criminality by AK Press The book features two other chapters one listing US military interventions another listing what Churchill believes to be US violations of international law The original essay takes the roosting chickens of the title from a Malcolm X speech in which Malcolm X linked the assassination of US president John F Kennedy to the violence which Kennedy perpetuated as merely a case of chickens coming home to roost Churchill s essays in this book address the worldwide forms of resistance that he posits were and continue to be provoked by US imperialism of the th and st centuries
In Kill the Indian Save the Man The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools Churchill traces the history of removing American Indian children from their homes to residential schools in Canada or Indian boarding schools in the USA as part of government policies s s which he regards as genocidal
Churchill has been active since at least as the co director of the Denver based American Indian Movement of Colorado now an autonomous chapter of the American Indian Movement In he and other local AIM leaders including Russell Means Glenn T Morris Robert Robideau and David Hill broke with the national AIM leadership including Dennis Banks and the brothers Vernon and Clyde Bellecourt claiming that all AIM chapters are autonomous The AIM Grand Governing Council is based in Minneapolis and retains the name of the national group It says that the schism arose when Means Churchill Glenn T Morris and others openly supported the Miskito Indian group Misurasata who were allied with the anti revolutionary CIA backed Contras
Journalists such as Harlan McKosato attributed the split to Means and other AIM members dividing over opposition to the Bellecourt brothers because of their alleged involvement in the execution of Anna Mae Aquash in December who was then the highest ranking woman in AIM but had been suspected of being an informant It was a year in which other FBI informants had been discovered in AIM On November Means held a press conference in Denver Colorado in which he accused the Bellecourt brothers of complicity in Aquash s death and named three lower level AIM members involved in her death Arlo Looking Cloud John Graham and Theda Nelson Clark This was the first time that an AIM leader active at the time of the Aquash murder had publicly accused AIM of having been involved
Looking Cloud and Graham were convicted of murder in and by federal and South Dakota state juries respectively By then Clark was being cared for in a nursing home and was not indicted Means attributed the split in AIM to divisions in the aftermath of Aquash s murder The journalist Harlan McKosato said in her Aquash s death has divided the American Indian Movement
The schism continued with the national AIM leadership claiming that the local AIM leaders such as Churchill are tools of the US government used against other American Indians The leaders of the national AIM organization now called AIM Grand Governing Council claim that Churchill has worked in the past as an underground counter intelligence source for the US government for example the FBI and local non Indian police forces to subvert the national AIM organization Specifically they refer to a Boulder Colorado interview with Jodi Rave a former columnist for the Denver Post in which Churchill stated that he was teaching the Rapid City Police Department about the American Indian Movement In addition Vernon Bellecourt accused Churchill of having fraudulently represented himself as an Indian to bolster his credentials Bellecourt said he complained to the University of Colorado about this as early as
Churchill has been a leader of Colorado AIM s annual protests in Denver against the Columbus Day holiday and its associated parade Colorado AIM s leadership has come into conflict with some leaders in the Denver Italian American community the main supporters of the parade As early as Churchill had claimed that such parades are unconstitutional arguing that the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution provides Native Americans with a right not to be subjected to such displays overriding the First Amendment rights of non Native Americans
Churchill wrote an essay in September entitled On the Justice of Roosting Chickens In it he argued that the September attacks were provoked by US foreign policy He compared the role of financial workers at the World Trade Center in ongoing genocidal American imperialism to the role played by Adolf Eichmann in organizing the Holocaust In this essay was widely publicized when Hamilton College invited Churchill to speak This led to both condemnations of Churchill and counter accusations of McCarthyism by Churchill and supporters Following the controversy the University of Colorado interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano said While Professor Churchill has the constitutional right to express his political views his essay on has outraged and appalled us and the general public
A documentary called Shouting Fire Stories from the Edge of Free Speech broadcast on HBO prominently features Churchill s case in addressing the issues of free speech and First Amendment rights
The controversy attracted increased academic attention to Churchill s research which had already been criticized by the legal scholar John LaVelle and historian Guenter Lewy Additional critics were the sociologist Thomas Brown who had been preparing an article on Churchill s work and the historians RG Robertson and Russell Thornton who claimed that Churchill had misrepresented their work In University of Colorado Boulder administrators ordered an investigation into seven allegations of research misconduct including three allegations of plagiarism and four allegations of fabrication or falsification regarding the history of the Dawes Act the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of and statements that smallpox was intentionally spread to Native Americans by John Smith in and by the United States Army at Fort Clark in not to be confused with the well documented use of smallpox infected blankets at Fort Pitt in
On May the University released their findings the Investigative Committee agreed unanimously that Churchill had engaged in serious research misconduct including falsification fabrication and two of the three allegations of plagiarism The committee was divided on the appropriate level of sanctions The Standing Committee on Research Misconduct accepted the findings of the Investigative Committee but also disagreed on what sanctions should be imposed Churchill s appeal against his proposed dismissal was considered by a panel of the University s Privilege and Tenure Committee which found that two of the seven findings of misconduct did not constitute dismissible offences Three members recommended that the penalty should be demotion and one year s suspension without pay while two favored dismissal
On July the University regents voted seven to two to uphold all seven of the findings of research misconduct overruling the recommendation of Privilege and Tenure panel that two be dismissed By a vote of eight to one the regents determined to fire Churchill
The next day Churchill filed a lawsuit in state court claiming that the firing was retribution for his expressing politically unpopular views The jury in Churchill s suit for reinstatement weighed the university s claims of academic misconduct per jury instructions it received in the case As Stanley Fish said It was the jury s task to determine whether Churchill s dismissal would have occurred independently of the adverse political response to his constitutionally protected statements The jury found that the alleged misconduct would not have led to Churchill s firing and rejected the university s academic misconduct claim as the grounds for dismissal On April a Colorado jury found that Churchill had been wrongly fired and awarded in damages As one of the jurors said later in a press interview it wasn t a slap in his face or anything like that when we didn t give him any money It s just that Churchill s attorney David Lane kept saying this wasn t about the money and in the end we took his word for that Churchill s counsel asked Chief Judge Larry J Naves of the Denver District Court to order reinstatement in light of the verdict
On July Judge Naves found that the defendants university were entitled to quasi judicial immunity as a matter of law vacated the jury verdict and determined that the University did not owe Churchill any financial compensation Naves denied Churchill s request for reinstatement at CU
Churchill appealed both decisions On November a three judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court s decision In February Churchill filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Colorado Supreme Court In late May the Colorado Supreme Court agreed to hear his case Court records indicate that oral arguments began June On September the court ruled that the University had quasi judicial immunity upholding the trial court s ruling On April the US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Churchill
Alfred University awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters
Marxism and Native Americans Boulder CO South End Press ISBN
Sharon Venne ed Islands in Captivity The International Tribunal on the Rights of Indigenous Hawaiians Boulder CO South End Press ISBN Re released as Churchill Ward Sharon Venne ed Islands in Captivity The Record of the International Tribunal on the Rights of Indigenous Hawaiians Boulder CO South End Press ISBN
Natsu Saito ed Confronting The Crime Of Silence Evidence Of US War Crimes In Indochina AK Press ISBN
Books as author and co author
Culture versus Economism Essays on Marxism in the Multicultural Arena with Elisabeth Lloyd Indigena Press
Agents of Repression The FBI s Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement with Jim Vander Wall Boulder CO South End Press ISBN
The COINTELPRO Papers Documents from the FBI s Secret War Against Domestic Dissent with Jim Vander Wall Boulder CO South End Press ISBN
Fantasies of the Master Race Literature Cinema and the Colonization of American Indians Common Courage Press ISBN
Churchill Ward Jennie and Jim Vander Wall ed Cages of Steel The Politics of Imprisonment in America Activism Politics Culture Theory Vol ed Maisonneuve Press ISBN Re released as Churchill Ward Jim Vander Wall ed Politics of Imprisonment in the United States AK Press ISBN
Struggle for the Land Indigenous Resistance to Genocide Ecocide and Expropriation in Contemporary North America Common Courage Press ISBN Revised and expanded edition Struggle for the Land Native North American Resistance to Genocide Ecocide and Colonization San Francisco CA City Lights Books ISBN
Indians Are Us Culture and Genocide in Native North America Common Courage Press ISBN
Since Predator Came Notes from the Struggle for American Indian Liberation Aigis Press ISBN
Churchill Ward From a Native Son Selected Essays on Indigenism Boulder CO South End Press ISBN
Pacifism as Pathology Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America with Mike Ryan introduction by Ed Mead Arbeiter Ring ISBN
A Little Matter of Genocide San Francisco CA City Lights Books ISBN
Draconian Measures The History of FBI Political Repression Common Courage Press ISBN
Acts Of Rebellion The Ward Churchill Reader Routledge ISBN
Perversions of Justice Indigenous Peoples and Angloamerican Law San Francisco CA City Lights Books ISBN
On the Justice of Roosting Chickens Reflections on the Consequences of US Imperial Arrogance and Criminality AK Press ISBN
Kill the Indian Save the Man The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools San Francisco CA City Lights Books ISBN
Speaking Truth in the Teeth of Power Lectures on Globalization Colonialism and Native North America AK Press ISBN
To Disrupt Discredit And Destroy The FBI s Secret War Against The Black Panther Party Routledge ISBN
Churchill Ward July September I Am Indigenist Notes on the Ideology of the Fourth World Z Papers Archived from the original on October
Churchill Ward Let s Spread the Fun Around First published as Crimes Against Humanity in Margaret Anderson and Patricia Hill eds Race Class and Gender An Anthology Belmont CA Wadsworth pp Also published under the titles The Indian Chant and the Tomahawk Chop and Using Indian Names as Mascots Harms Native Americans
Churchill Ward November Smoke Signals A History of Native Americans in Cinema LiP Magazine
Churchill Ward Winter Spring An American Holocaust The Structure of Denial Socialism and Democracy doi
Churchill Ward Spring The Ghosts of Reflections on History Justice and Roosting Chickens Alternative Press Review Archived from the original on October
Churchill Ward July August The Fourth World Struggles for Traditional Lands and Ways of Life Left Turn
Doing Time The Politics of Imprisonment audio CD of a lecture recorded at the Doing Time Conference at the University of Winnipeg September AK Press ISBN
Life In Occupied America AK Press ISBN
In A Pig s Eye Reflections on the Police State Repression and Native America AK Press ISBN
US Off The Planet An Evening In Eugene With Ward Churchill And Chellis Glendinning VHS video recorded July Cascadia Media Collective
Pacifism and Pathology in the American Left audio CD recorded at an AK Press warehouse in Oakland AK Press Audio
Z Mag Ward Churchill Audio August and earlier
Churchill Speaks About Academic Freedom Free Speech Radio News February
Ward Churchill Under Fire Free Speech Radio News February
The Justice of Roosting Chickens Ward Churchill Speaks The Pacifica Network Show Democracy Now from February features extended Audio Video exclusive interview with Churchill
A Little Matter of Genocide Linking US Aggression Abroad to the Domestic Repression of Indigenous Peoples recorded in North Battleford Saskatchewan on March
Debate with David Horowitz and Ward Churchill at George Washington University April
Full two hour audio of debate with David Horowitz rightalklistenzcom Retrieved
David Horowitz vs Ward Churchill Round Young Americans Foundation Retrieved Video and audio excerpt
David Horowitz vs Ward Churchill insidehigheredcom Retrieved
Churchill s subjects are often American Indian figures and other themes associated with Native American Culture He uses historical photographs as source material for works In the early s at Santa Fe Indian Market Churchill protested the passage of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act It requires that to identify and exhibit works as being by a Native American artists and craftsmen must be enrolled in a Native American tribe or designated by a tribe as an artisan Under federal law Churchill cannot identify his art as by a Native American
Some of Churchill s pieces may infringe copyrights For example his serigraph Winter Attack was according to Churchill and others based on a drawing by the artist Thomas E Mails Churchill printed copies of Winter Attack and sold at least one of them Other copies are available online for purchase Churchill says that when he produced Winter Attack he publicly acknowledged that it was based on Mails work The online journal Artnet mentions Churchill s artwork and the controversy surrounding its originality
Exit Through the Kwik E Mart is the fifteenth episode of the twenty third season of the American animated television sitcom The Simpsons It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March In the episode Bart is punished by Homer after causing trouble He gets revenge on his father by spray painting images of him with the word dope all over Springfield Street artist Shepard Fairey encounters Bart one night and offers him a gallery show of Bart s artworks However Chief Wiggum suddenly appears during the show and arrests Bart for covering the town in graffiti It turns out that Fairey is an undercover officer working for Wiggum
The episode references the street art documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop by graffiti artist Banksy and features guest appearances from street artists Ron English Kenny Scharf and Robbie Conal as themselves Fairey who is a long time fan of The Simpsons also guest starred in the episode as himself Around million Americans tuned in to watch Exit Through the Kwik E Mart during its original broadcast Since then the episode has received praise from television critics for its opening sequence which parodies the opening sequence of the medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones
As a birthday gift for Marge Homer buys a blender designed by television chef Paula Paul He goes to a health food store called Swapper Jack s where Paula is giving away autographs to have Paula sign it Homer is impressed by the store and says he will not be shopping at the Kwik E Mart any more Apu who is there to spy overhears Homer and the two engage in a fight until the security guards grab hold of Apu and take him away At the signing Homer tells Paula that Marge is a big fan of hers Paula decides that she will call Marge live during her upcoming show to wish her a happy birthday Meanwhile Bart gets his mother a rabbit for her birthday The rabbit chews through the phone lines in the Simpsons home causing Marge to miss Paula s call Paula becomes furious at Marge for not answering the phone as she embarrassed herself on her show Homer punishes Bart by locking him up in the rabbit s cage
To get revenge on Homer Bart goes around Springfield spray painting graffiti of Homer s face and the word dope When his work appears on the television news it encourages Bart to create even more graffiti in the town Street artists Shepard Fairey Ron English Kenny Scharf and Robbie Conal encounter Bart one night when he is making some graffiti The four tell Bart that they are impressed by his work and would like to showcase his art in a gallery show at first Bart is unsure but Bart remembers how Homer treated him and then agrees Meanwhile the Kwik E Mart suffers because of the competition from Swapper Jack s Apu ends up attempting to rob Swapper Jack s in a desperate measure but the cashier Snake Jailbird convinces him to hand over the gun Later Apu is about to shut down the Kwik E Mart when his wife Manjula tells him that Swapper Jack s is closing because it was discovered they were selling monkey meat imported from Brazil as chicken
Homer initially refuses to attend Bart s show because he discovers the artwork is an insult to him but changes his mind after Bart apologizes and writes I m sorry on the hood of Homer s car At the show Chief Wiggum and the Springfield Police Department suddenly appear to arrest Bart for making graffiti throughout the town It is revealed that the gallery show is a sham and that Fairey is an undercover officer who helped the police identify Bart as the graffiti artist that had been spray painting Springfield Since Bart is just a boy he is not sent to jail Instead he is punished by once again being locked up in the rabbit cage When Bart tells Wiggum that he has to go to the bathroom Wiggum covers the cage with the blanket and finds Bart gone when he removes the blanket from the cage
Exit Through the Kwik E Mart was written by Marc Wilmore and directed by Steven Dean Moore as part of the twenty third season of The Simpsons It spoofs the debated status of street art as a true form of art The title is a reference to Exit Through the Gift Shop a street art documentary by graffiti artist Banksy who produced the opening sequence of an earlier Simpsons episode titled MoneyBART The Richard Hawley song Tonight The Streets Are Ours which is the theme song of Exit Through the Gift Shop is included in the episode during a montage of Bart painting graffiti in Springfield Hayden Childs of The AV Club noted in his review of Exit Through the Kwik E Mart that the reveal that the art show was a police sting gives the show a moment to joke about the anti art market theme from Exit Through The Gift Shop Wiggum asks who would be stupid enough to pay for work that an amateur puts up for free in public and the answer is as in Banksy s movie the very wealthy here represented by Mr Burns
American street artist Fairey guest starred in Exit Through the Kwik E Mart as himself The graffiti art featuring Homer s face and the word dope that Bart creates in the episode is a reference to Fairey s Barack Obama Hope poster and his OBEY Giant image Fairey has said that The Simpsons has been one of his favorite television shows since the early s because of its blend of humor and social commentary and he felt deeply honored to be included in an episode Fairey wrote on his website that Part of being on The Simpsons is you re being honored as a reference point in culture He described the plot of the episode as great adding that the staff members of the show were kind enough to indulge a couple of my dialogue suggestions designed to make the social commentary more pointed even though I had to make fun of myself to do so This was Fairey s first acting performance Street artists English Scharf and Conal also guest starred in the episode as themselves
The traditional Simpsons opening sequence was replaced in this episode with a redesigned version that spoofed the opening sequence of the HBO medieval fantasy series Game of Thrones The Game of Thrones opening shows the various locations featured in the series on a three dimensional map of the fictional continent Westeros In the Simpsons opening these locations were substituted with places in Springfield and The Wall was replaced with the Simpson family s couch The theme song featured in the Game of Thrones opening sequence was arranged by The Simpsons composer Alf Clausen and used in the Simpsons opening as well Nicholas McKaig known for uploading a cappella covers of famous songs on YouTube performed the Simpsons theme song over the closing credits of Exit Through the Kwik E Mart He was recruited after a staff member of the show saw his cover of the Simpsons theme on YouTube
Exit Through the Kwik E Mart was originally broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on March It was watched by approximately million people during this broadcast and in the demographic for adults aged the episode received a Nielsen rating and a seven percent share This was a slight decrease from the previous episode At Long Last Leave which acquired a rating The episode became the second highest rated broadcast in Fox s Animation Domination lineup for the night in terms of both total viewers and in the demographic finishing higher than new episodes of American Dad Napoleon Dynamite and The Cleveland Show but lower than a new Family Guy episode which received a rating and was seen by million people For the week of February March Exit Through the Kwik E Mart placed th in the ratings among all prime time broadcasts in the demographic and seventh among all Fox prime time broadcasts
Writing for The AV Club television reviewer Hayden Childs commented that Exit Through the Kwik E Mart was somewhat amusing and far more coherent than many recent episodes but the satire is relatively mild The episode curdles a bit while looking for a sweet ending but it is otherwise solid enough Critics have praised the opening sequence that parodies Game of Thrones Tim Surette of TVcom called it one minute of genius and MTV s Brandon Freeberg wrote Congratulations are in order for Matt Groening and his staff for really knocking this one out of the park Jenna Busch of Zapit and Kelly West of Cinema Blend both fans of Game of Thrones named the opening the best in the history of the show IGN s Eric Goldman commented Ah The Simpsons Always there for us with clever loving parody of something we all love Such was the case last night when the animated series opened with an epic opening credit sequence that gave us the Springfield inspired version of the terrific Game of Thrones credits
The th Boat Race took place on March Held annually the event is a side by side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames Oxford won the race Oxford s crew featured the oldest competitor in Boat Race history The race took place in very difficult weather conditions strong winds and heavy rain resulting in the slowest winning time in over sixty years Oxford won by six lengths the largest margin of victory since the race
Oxford s Isis beat Cambridge s Goldie in the reserve race while Oxford won the Women s Boat Race
The Boat Race is a side by side rowing competition between the University of Oxford sometimes referred to as the Dark Blues and the University of Cambridge sometimes referred to as the Light Blues First held in the race takes place on the mile km Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities and followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide Cambridge went into the race as reigning champions having beaten Oxford by over a length in the previous year s race and the overall lead with victories to Oxford s The race was sponsored by Xchanging for the fourth time
The first Women s Boat Race took place in but did not become an annual fixture until the s Until the contest was conducted as part of the Henley Boat Races but as of the race it is held on the River Thames on the same day as the men s main and reserve races The reserve race contested between Oxford s Isis boat and Cambridge s Goldie boat has been held since It usually takes place on the Tideway prior to the main Boat Race
Oxford s crew weighed an average of pounds kg more per rower than their opponents and featured the oldest competitor in Boat Race history in year old American Mike Wherley Cambridge crew consisted of six Britons two Australians and an American while Oxford s comprised four Americans three Britons an Australian and a German Both coxes Nick Brodie and Rebecca Dowbiggin were former Blues while Cambridge also saw year old Tom Edwards return having rowed in Cambridge s boat club president Dan O Shaughnessy was the seventh Light Blue president not to row in his own Blue Boat
Oxford were pre race favourites but Cambridge won the toss and elected to start from the Surrey station Oxford took an early lead but the boats closed on each other and Umpire John Garrett was forced to issue a number of warnings to both coxes in an attempt to prevent a collision By Craven Cottage Oxford were nearly a length ahead and Cambridge responded by the time the crews passed under Hammersmith Bridge they were level Along Chiswick Eyot Oxford moved ahead once again and were clear of Cambridge after strokes Oxford extended their lead to pass the finishing post in minutes seconds six lengths and seconds ahead of their opponents Driving rain strong winds and choppy water resulted in the slowest winning time for over sixty years but the largest margin of victory since the race
Oxford s Isis beat Cambridge s Goldie by three and a quarter lengths in the reserve race Oxford won the th running of the Women s Boat Race by half a length
Oxford s Oliver Moore said we got the rage going in the crew and we started to kill it we hit an awesome rhythm Cambridge coach Duncan Holland congratulated his opponents Well done to Oxford they were much faster on the day Following tradition the victorious Oxford crew tossed their cox Brodie into the Thames
Fort Scott National Historic Site is a historical area under the control of the United States National Park Service in Bourbon County Kansas United States Named after General Winfield Scott who achieved renown during the Mexican American War during the middle of the th century the fort served as a military base for US Army action in what was the edge of settlement in For the next quarter century it was used as a supply base and to provide security in turbulent areas during the opening of the West to settlement a period which included Bleeding Kansas and the American Civil War
The current national historic site protects historic structures a parade ground and five acres m of restored tallgrass prairie inside the city of Fort Scott It is open to visitors most days of the year
In Fort Scott was named after Winfield Scott was established on the American frontier on the military road in eastern Kansas between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Gibson It was established to provide protection to the rapidly increasing number of settlers who were migrating from the Eastern United States Fort Scott became one of a chain of forts intended to protect the new settlers from the Plains Indians as well as to protect the Indians from the settlers encroachment
The United States government intention to reserve permanent Indian lands west of the Missouri River gave way to the competition of settlers continuing to encroach on the Indian settlements Fort Scott s most active days were between and although it was also used during the Civil War
The Cherokee of Indian Territory now Oklahoma were upset to have Fort Wayne in their proximity After some delay the US Army decided to abandon Fort Wayne and move its soldiers to a new fort to be built between Fort Leavenworth and the site The Army both wanted to placate the Cherokee who were supervised by the Department of Defense and provide more defense for white settlers and other Indians against the Osage who had been conducting frequent raids in the area On April some soldiers of Fort Wayne left their fort and on April arrived where Fort Scott would be built in the Osage Cuestas section of modern day Kansas After haggling with the Cherokees to acquire the land the rest of Fort Wayne s garrison left the fort on May and arrived at the Fort Scott site on May
Unlike most forts for military use the fort did not have defensive walls or structures when first built the wide open area and the available artillery made an enclosed fort unnecessary The soldiers concentrated on building structures for lodging the men animals and equipment These buildings were on the edges of a foot m parade ground
The post quartermaster Captain Thomas Swords was in charge of building Fort Scott s structures and had to deal with the problems of construction on the Kansas prairie which had few trees He had only two bricklayers and three carpenters to rely on as there were few civilians and most of the soldiers had other duties to perform Wood was available but the mill was built miles km away making transport time consuming Swords found his efforts plagued by lack of wood skilled labor and working equipment Freak accidents destroyed much of the wood intended for the fort s construction As a result only one duplex of the five planned officers quarters four duplexes and post commandant s house was built by and the intended enlisted barracks were not completed In his inspection of the fort Colonel George Croghan reported that in comparison to other frontier forts he considered Fort Scott above average
Due to the rising tensions that escalated in the Mexican American War the US Army redeployed troops to the Southwest With Fort Scott still uncompleted officials decided on April that no more construction would be done there after eight years and By the time it was finished it was obsolete three years later it was abandoned by the military in favor of the more western Fort Riley
For the average soldier life at the fort was monotonous Until the permanent structures were built soldiers had to live in tents which lacked comfort Aside from a few whiskey peddlers and prostitutes few civilians lived at the fort Officers had brought their personal slaves with them including Captain Swords Five miles East in Missouri was a grog shop that supplied soldiers and quite a few courts martial followed soldiers going AWOL at the shop The desertion rate from the fort ranged from due to boredom irregular pay and hatred for military life As no combat took place near the fort it seemed more of a frontier village than a military base Hunting was a popular pastime according to Captain Swords wolf chasing and duck hunting was the only way one officer could tolerate the place
Two years after the army abandoned the fort the buildings were sold by auction to civilians with two being converted to hotels In the Kansas Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise of which had kept slavery out of Kansas Missourians in favor of slavery soon moved to Kansas to try to sway the vote of whether or not Kansas would permit slavery Settlers from New England arrived equally determined to keep it out Each of the two competing factions of the Bleeding Kansas conflict claimed one of the hotels at Fort Scott Free Soil at the Fort Scott Hotel and Pro Slavery at the Western Hotel Most of the residents in Fort Scott supported slavery but those outside the town tended to the free soil side During this time there were local incidents of murder and attempted arson typical elements of the guerrilla conflicts that were prevalent in the fighting
During the American Civil War the fort was renewed as a US military post In August the Union Army took command of Fort Scott and readied it for the war times The United States Army also took over several blocks within the town for commissary and quartermaster functions The Union Army rented the properties from the current civilian owners Troops from Indiana Iowa Colorado Ohio and Wisconsin would come to the fort and either stayed by the fort or traveled farther to subjugate Missouri Arkansas or the Indian Territory Fort Scott was one of the few installations that recruited and trained black soldiers for the United States Colored Troops of the Union Army
A major supply depot was situated at the fort Confederate general Sterling Price hoped to capture the town but the closest the Confederate force came to the garrison was miles km away at Battle of Dry Wood Creek The site was strategically important as it was within a Southern sympathizing area and close to the Confederate state of Arkansas and the unstable Indian Territory present day state of Oklahoma where many of the members of the Five Civilized Tribes were allied with the Confederates The fort served as a general hospital large military hospital and prison until after the war Following the end of the war in October the US Army left the facilities and sold off by auction what they controlled
On January the Army returned with the formation of the Post of Southeast Kansas The Post was based at Fort Scott but the soldiers camped along the rail tracks and seldom used the original fort They were sent to protect the railroads and workers from settlers Some of the latter feared that the railroad which had been awarded land for development by the US Government in rights of way would evict them from their squatter homes The settlers considered the troops lackeys to the railroads and lumped both as enemies
Settlers also had some continuing conflicts with Indians and insurgents using the recent Confederate cause as excuse for robbery By the spring of the US Army withdrew the troops from Fort Scott for good From to the buildings of the fort were left unattended and slowly deteriorated Many military buildings were razed and replaced with structures built for civilian use
With the Act of August the National Park Service gave the city government of Fort Scott Kansas the necessary funds and technical knowledge to restore the fort
On October Fort Scott became a National Historic Site under the supervision of the National Park Service encompassing acres m Today the fort is open throughout the year save for Thanksgiving Christmas and New Years Day Visitation has declined in recent years In visitation was in it was
Surviving structures include four officers barracks one dragoon s barracks two infantry barracks a hospital guardhouse dragoon stables ordnance and post headquarters quartermaster stables bake shop flagpole and magazine Another feature of the park is acres ha of tallgrass prairie restored as part of an ecology restoration project
Slammiversary was a professional wrestling pay per view PPV event produced by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling TNA promotion that took place on June at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven Mississippi It was the fourth event under the Slammiversary name and the sixth event in the TNA PPV schedule Seven professional wrestling matches and one dark match were featured on the event s card three of which were for championships The event commemorated TNA s six year anniversary
The main event was a King of the Mountain match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in which then champion Samoa Joe defended against Booker T Christian Cage Rhino and Robert Roode Joe won the match to retain the title The card also featured a bout pitting AJ Styles against Kurt Angle which Styles won The TNA World Tag Team Championship was defended by The Latin American Xchange Hernandez and Homicide LAX against Team D Brother Devon and Brother Ray at the event LAX was the victors in the contest to retain the championship A Six Woman Tag Team match was won by the team of Gail Kim ODB and Roxxi over The Beautiful People Angelina Love and Velvet Sky and Moose on the undercard
Slammiversary is remembered for Joe being the first to retain a championship in a King of the Mountain match The reported figure of purchasers for the event was as reported by The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Slammiversary had an attendance of people Jon Waldman of the professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer rated the show a out of which was lower than the out of given to the edition by Jason Clevett After the event an accident occurred which resulted in the death of one man and the injury of another
The fourth installment in the Slammiversary name was announced in January to take place on June In March it was reported that Slammiversary would be held outside the TNA Impact Zone in Orlando Florida In late March Slammiversary was expected to be held in Tennessee TNA issued a press release in April advertising Slammiversary on June at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven Mississippi although TNA promoted the event as being held in the Memphis area It also announced that the annual King of the Mountain match would be held at the event Tickets for Slammiverary went on sale on April Slammiversary celebrates TNA s six year anniversary after it formed on June TNA created a section covering the event on their website TNA released a poster to promote the event prior featuring the tagline In a town where legends are made one strives to reach immortality and Booker T Christian Cage Rhino Samoa Joe and Tomko Release the Flood by Dust for Life was used as the official theme for the show Promotional material advertising the return of Abyss at the event was featured on TNA s television program TNA Impact The scripted wedding of Jay Lethal and SoCal Val was promoted for Slammiversary This was announced on the May episode of Impact when Lethal proposed and Val accepted in the storyline American singer Ace Young was advertised take part in the segment on the May episode of Impact On the May episode of Impact Lethal asked Sonjay Dutt to be his best man to which Dutt agreed Lethal s groomsmen were announced on the June episode as George Steele Kamala Koko B Ware and Jake Roberts
Slammiversary featured seven professional wrestling matches and one pre show match that involved different wrestlers from pre existing scripted feuds and storylines Wrestlers portrayed villains heroes or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches
The main event at Slammiversary was a King of the Mountain match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in which then champion Samoa Joe defended the title against four other competitors On the May episode of Impact Joe announced the encounter would take place at Slammiversary as well that an agreement had been made between Management Director Jim Cornette and himself on who would compete in the bout The arrangement entailed that qualifying matches would take place leading to the event between four wrestlers he chose and four wrestlers Cornette chose Cornette s four wrestlers were James Storm Matt Morgan Robert Roode and Tomko while Joe s four were AJ Styles Booker T Christian Cage and Rhino The qualifying matches were held on the May and May episodes of Impact Roode defeated Morgan in the first qualifier while Booker T defeated Styles in the second both on the May episode of Impact The last two qualification matches were held on the May episode of Impact with Rhino defeating Storm and Cage defeating Tomko Kevin Nash who played Joe s mentor in the storyline requested to be made the Special Guest Ringside Enforcer for the bout which he was granted by Cornette on the May episode of Impact
The predominate storyline heading into the event was the rivalry between AJ Styles and Kurt Angle both members of The Angle Alliance group On the February episode of Impact TNA held the scripted wedding of Angle s real life wife Karen Angle and Styles despite Angle and Karen still being married on screen Afterwards Karen and Angle separated in the storyline on the March episode of Impact TNA continued to build the situation with Angle attempting to reconcile with Karen on the May episode of Impact Karen refused Angle s request on the May episode of Impact leading to Angle turning on and assaulting Styles later in the episode due to his jealousy of the affection Karen showed for Styles On the May episode of Impact Cornette announced Angle versus Styles for the event Angle sustained a severe neck injury in early May with several TNA officials believing Angle would not recover in time to perform at the show Angle was still in pain a few days prior to Slammiversary but was expected to perform normally despite some officials feeling it was too soon to compete
The TNA World Tag Team Championship was defended at Slammiversary by then champions The Latin American Xchange Hernandez and Homicide LAX against Team D Brother Devon and Brother Ray At TNA s previous PPV event Sacrifice on May LAX defeated Team D in the final round of the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament for the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championship On the May episode of Impact Team D attacked and was scripted to injure LAX s manager Hctor Guerrero thus starting a rivalry between the two Cornette announced a rematch from Sacrifice for the championship to take place at the show on the May episode of Impact
TNA held a Six Woman Tag Team match pitting The Beautiful People Angelina Love and Velvet Sky and Mickie Knuckles against Gail Kim ODB and Roxxi at Slammiversary This was the main storyline in TNA s women s division which started at Sacrifice where TNA held a Ten Woman TNA Knockouts Makeover Battle Royal to become number one contender to the TNA Women s Knockout Championship The rules of the contest involved the winner getting a championship match while the runner up had her head shaven Love cost Roxxi then known as Roxxi Laveaux the match resulting in her head being shaven Kim won the bout and went on to have her title opportunity on the May episode of Impact which she lost after interference from Love On the June episode of Impact Knuckles made her TNA debut aligning with The Beautiful People in assaulting Kim ODB and Roxxi
TNA held a match to warm up the crowd known as a dark match prior to the show pitting The Motor City Machine Guns Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin against the team of Lance Hoyt and Johnny Devine The Motor City Machine Guns won the encounter
Slammiversary featured employees other than the wrestlers involved in the matches Mike Tenay and Don West were the commentators for the telecast with Frank Trigg providing for the AJ Styles versus Kurt Angle bout only Jeremy Borash and David Penzer were ring announcers for the event Andrew Thomas Earl Hebner Rudy Charles and Mark Slick Johnson participated as referees for the encounters Lauren Thompson and Borash were used as interviewers during the event Besides those who competed at the event Abyss Ace Young Eric Young George Steele Hctor Guerrero Jake Roberts Jay Lethal Johnny Devine Kamala Karen Angle Koko B Ware Raisha Saeed Rhaka Khan Salinas Scott Steiner SoCal Val Sonjay Dutt and Tomko all appeared on camera either in backstage or in ringside segments The wedding of Lethal and Val took place after the second Fan Challenge The segment ended when Dutt proclaimed his love for Val in the storyline and attacked Lethal Young Steele Roberts Kamala and Ware came to Lethal s defense before Roberts placed a snake on top of an unconscious Dutt to end the segment
The TNA X Division Championship was defended by then champion Petey Williams against Kaz in the opening contest of the telecast Williams was accompanied by Rhaka Khan and Scott Steiner The duration of the bout was minutes and seconds Williams wore a protective face mask due to a broken orbital bone Khan and Steiner interfered in the bout several times Kaz was legitimately busted open during the match after Williams bashed him in the face with a steel pipe Williams won the encounter after performing his signature Canadian Destroyer maneuver by slamming Kaz head first into the mat to retain the TNA X Division Championship Abyss returned after this match by aiding Kaz who was being attacked by Khan Steiner and Williams
The team of The Beautiful People and Mickie Knuckles renamed Moose fought the team of Gail Kim ODB and Roxxi in a Six Woman Tag Team match next It lasted minutes and seconds ODB won the bout for her team after running and slamming Moose against the mat back first and following with the pin
The TNA World Tag Team Championship was defended in the third match of the event by LAX against Team D Hctor Guerrero and Salinas accompanied LAX to the ring Salinas Guerrero and Team D s associate Johnny Devine all interfered in the encounter Near the end when Team D were waiting to perform their signature D tag team maneuver on Hernandez Homicide came up behind Devon and pinned him with a schoolboy pin at minutes to retain the championship
TNA held two Fan Challenge segments next with then TNA Women s Knockout Champion Awesome Kong and her manager Raisha Saeed offering fans in the crowd the chance to face Kong Kong and Saeed then chose a willing participant and if they defeated Kong they won The participants chosen for these segments were predetermined with each planted in the crowd The first encounter pitted Serena D against Kong which Kong won after slamming Serena face first into the mat with her signature Implant Buster maneuver at minutes and seconds The second was between Josie Robinson and Kong lasting minute and seconds Kong won the bout after slamming Josie back first into the mat with her signature Awesome Bomb maneuver
AJ Styles fought Kurt Angle in the sixth encounter of the show next The match lasted minutes and seconds Angle was accompanied by Tomko to the ring The referee forced Tomko to head to the backstage area due to the referee believing he would interfere Styles attempted to perform his signature Styles Clash maneuver on Angle which Angle countered into his signature Ankle Lock submission hold Styles escaped the hold causing Angle to crash into the referee knocking him out in the storyline Karen Angle then ran down to the ringside area and attempted to hand Angle a steel chair Once Angle grabbed the chair she refused to release allowing Styles to grab Angle and perform the Styles Clash by slamming Angle face first into the mat Styles then followed with the pin attempt to win the contest After the encounter Angle and Tomko assaulted Styles
The main event was a King of the Mountain match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship with Kevin Nash as Special Guest Ringside Enforcer between then champion Samoa Joe and the challengers Booker T Christian Cage Rhino and Robert Roode In a King of the Mountain match the objective is to climb a ladder and hang the championship belt on a hook above the ring In order to do so a wrestler must first qualify by either pinning or making another wrestler submit in the match A wrestler who is pinned or made to submit is this placed in a penalty box for two minutes The match is fought under no disqualification rules Booker T was the first to qualify by pinning Rhino after slamming him back first into the mat with his signature Book End maneuver Rhino was this placed in the penalty box Roode was the next to qualify after bashing a ladder Cage held with a chair into him and following with a pin Immediately afterwards Rhino pinned Roode with a roll up pin to qualify Later Joe held Booker T in his signature Coquina Clutch submission hold when Cage ascended a padded turnbuckle and jumped off onto Booker T and Joe He followed by pinning Booker T to qualify and send Booker T to the penalty box When Booker T was released from the box he attacked Nash with the title belt and then attempted to hang it Nash stopped him and then dropped Booker T back first against the mat with his signature Jackknife Powerbomb maneuver Joe was the last to qualify by pinning Roode after slamming him back and neck first into the mat with his signature Muscle Buster maneuver Joe then hung the title belt at minutes and seconds to win the competition
A total of people attended Slammiversary while the The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that people bought the event Canadian Online Explorer writer Jon Waldman rated the entire event a out of which was lower than the out of given to the edition by Jason Clevett The out of was the same rating given to the edition by Chris and Bryan Sokol The previous PPV event Sacrifice and TNA s next PPV event Victory Road both received a out of by Chris Sokol and Bob Kapur respectively Compared to rival World Wrestling Entertainment s WWE One Night Stand PPV event on June both performed equally as One Night Stand received the same rating from Matt Mackinder
Waldman felt that TNA put on a strong PPV that was in large part to little gimmickery Regarding the main event Waldman gave it a out of while the World Tag Team Championship match received a out of He gave the Six Woman Tag Team match a out of and the AJ Styles versus Kurt Angle bout a out of The X Division Championship contest was given a out of
Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter reviewed the show He felt the main event had lots of action and drama but that having to hang the belt on a hook does not make for a particularly dramatic end to a match as it seems like someone hanging a plant in the corner than beating someone to win a fight Keller said the World Tag Team Championship contest was a solid tag match with some elaborate sequences that were well executed Keller stated that the X Division Championship match was a very good opener Regarding the Styles and Angle bout Keller commented that it was a good match but short of a classic must see match in part because there were too many chinlocks mid match from Angle that took the crowd out of it
James Caldwell also of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter posted a review of the show in which he felt the main event was a slow plodding match with an anticlimactic finish Caldwell stated that the Styles versus Angle contest was a fine spotlight singles match but was a bit underwhelming when the expectations were reasonably high for two of TNA s best wrestlers in a featured singles match He went on to say that he felt it was missing something and that it seemed like the match just never moved out of second gear Caldwell felt the X Division Championship bout was a very good opening match which could have been a featured match to sell a few additional PPV buys but TNA didn t give the X Division any focus until the final show before the PPV Caldwell stated the World Tag Team Championship was just a slow plodding tag match Regarding the marriage segment during the show Caldwell said it was just a bad bad bad segment that died slowly and painfully in front of the live audience Overall Caldwell felt that TNA showcased the X Division in the opening match but needed more athleticism on the show to balance the slow plodding former WWE heavyweight wrestlers in the main event slots
After Slammiversary ended crews began to disassemble the set used for the event During this time a man named Kevin Angus Sinex was removing a light array when the scaffolding he was positioned on collapsed causing him to slam against the concrete floor below He was rushed to the Baptist DeSoto Hospital in Southaven Mississippi where he was pronounced deceased Another worker named Paul Martin was also taken to the hospital due to his thumb being cut off in the incident TNA released a statement regarding the incident the next day through their website The June episode of Impact was dedicated to Sinex with a banner at the beginning of the show stating In memory Kevin Sinex A moment of silence was held prior to the Impact tapings after Slammiversary in honor of Sinex
Several wrestlers were concerned with Kurt Angle s health going into his Slammiversary match with AJ Styles Despite the concerns Angle appeared to be out of it after the contest but was expected to be alright
Samoa Joe and Booker T started a rivalry over the TNA World Heavyweight Championship following Slammiversary On the June episode of Impact Booker T claimed that Joe did not beat him at the event due to interference from Kevin Nash This led to Nash stating that Joe could not beat Booker T in a one on one match later in the broadcast After this segment Joe announced that Booker T and he would face at Victory Road on July for the title On the July episode of Impact Sting proclaimed that he did not know which of the two would win at Victory Road but that he would be there to watch At the event Joe beat Booker T till he was bloody causing several referees and security personnel to try to stop him to no avail He was stopped when Sting interfered in the contest by bashing Joe with a baseball bat Booker T then covered Joe for an unofficial pinfall victory that was counted by Booker T s legitimate wife Sharmell The match result was ruled a no contest with Joe retaining the title
AJ Styles was joined by Christian Cage and Rhino in his feud with Kurt Angle who was joined by Team D Styles and Angle faced in a Lumberjack match on the June episode of Impact which Angle won Team D then injured both Cage and Rhino in the narrative with Rhino being knocked out on the June episode of Impact while on the June episode of Impact Cage was slammed through a glass table by Brother Ray Rhino returned from injury on the July episode of Impact challenging Team D and Angle to a Six Man Tag Team match at Victory Road while teasing at adding Full Metal Mayhem rules to the bout An online poll was held to determine the stipulation for the match resulting in Full Metal Mayhem being chosen The team of Angle and Team D were the victors at the event
After Slammiversary Kaz went on to captain Team TNA in the TNA World X Cup Tournament He competed in a Four Way Ultimate X match at Victory Road as the final round of the tournament He was unsuccessful in winning the match and gaining the appropriate points to win the tournament thus causing Team TNA Kaz Alex Shelley Chris Sabin and Curry Man to finish in second place with Team Mexico Averno Rey Bucanero ltimo Guerrero and Volador Jr being the victors in point rankings
LAX feuded with James Storm and Robert Roode over the TNA World Tag Team Championship after Slammiversary Roode and Storm formed a team known as Beer Money Incorporated and challenged LAX for the title on the June episode of Impact The match was originally won by Roode and Storm before being restarted due to interference LAX won the restart to retain the championship After the bout Roode and Storm assaulted LAX and Hctor Guerrero Management Director Jim Cornette scheduled a title defense at Victory Road between LAX and Roode and Storm under Fan s Revenge Lumberjack rules on the June episode of Impact LAX were successful in defending the title at Victory Road
King of the Mountain match
Home Made Mince Pie is a American silent short comedy produced by the Thanhouser Company The film is a comedy of circumstances in which the Gale family is going to host a dinner The focus of the humor is in a mince pie that brandy is added to in an attempt to make it more appreciable but three people each add brandy to the pie Everyone becomes tipsy upon eating the pie including the family cat and the film concludes No cast or staff credits for this film are known The film was released on September to mixed reviews in trade publications Reviewers mentioned that the film was too long and it was unbelievable that one pie split eight ways would be able to impact everyone The film is presumed lost
Though the film is presumed lost a synopsis survives in The Moving Picture World from September It states Life in a country town is often tedious and tiresome and were it not for the little dinners and teas the townsfolk are constantly given existence in some localities would be a very dreary thing indeed So the time honored get togethers of the small town are an established feature to the social calendar they are just as much a matter of necessity and as such have come to stay The Gales thought well of this established feature They made it a joyous occasion for themselves as well as their guests They were hardly an overly wealthy family and their table was never notable for an oversupply of the good things of life but whenever they gave a dinner they cast all thoughts of economy to the country winds and worked to the one end that their guests have a pleasant time
On the night before such an event neither Mamma Pappa or Daughter Gale could get those minutes solid sleep for thought that they might have overlooked some essential in the guests comfort At the first crow of the rooster they would come hopping down to the kitchen to get the larder into shape So little wonder that on occasion of the dinner here pictured when the prize dish was a splendid homemade mince pie the Gales were ever looking after the need of the said pie First Mamma Gale would tiptoe to the table whereupon it sat in solemn state and give it a stir then Pappa Gale would tiptoe over and give it a stir finally Daughter Gale would have to come over and honor it likewise Then arrived the guests The Minister and the Mrs Minister they were and some neighbors While she was receiving them the recollection came to Mamma Gale that the beloved mince pie had not received its flavoring Off she speeds to a decanter of whiskey in the kitchen She pours into the pie the right proportion of liquor and goes back to her guests Then Pappa Gale remembers that the pie has not been flavored He too excuses himself and a moment later is found pouring whiskey into the sacred mince No sooner has he ceased and returned to his guest than Daughter Gale who has just remembered about the forgotten flavoring rushes in and makes for the whiskey She pours the right proportion in too
The writer of the scenario is unknown but it was most likely Lloyd Lonergan He was an experienced newspaperman employed by The New York Evening World while writing scripts for the Thanhouser productions The film director is unknown but it may have been Barry O Neil Film historian Q David Bowers does not attribute a cameraman for this production but at least two possible candidates exist Blair Smith was the first cameraman of the Thanhouser company but he was soon joined by Carl Louis Gregory who had years of experience as a still and motion picture photographer The role of the cameraman was uncredited in productions The cast credits are unknown but many Thanhouser productions are fragmentary In late the Thanhouser company released a list of the important personalities in their films The list includes GW Abbe Justus D Barnes Frank H Crane Irene Crane Marie Eline Violet Heming Martin J Faust Thomas Fortune George Middleton Grace Moore John W Noble Anna Rosemond Mrs George Walters A surviving film still gives the possibility of identifying eight actors
The single reel comedy approximately feet long was released on September The film likely had a wide national release with advertisements in theaters known in Indiana Kansas Wisconsin and Pennsylvania The film would also be shown in Vancouver Canada and was met with praise by the audience at the Province Theatre In years after the film s release the film was approved without censorship by the Pennsylvania State Board of Censors of Moving Pictures
The The Moving Picture World reviewer found the subject to be too long but did not find it to be a fault The reviewer states A domestic comedy with a different flavor In fact with a mince pie for a basis the flavor comes to resemble brandy very strongly by the time that the cook the maid and the mistress of the house and her daughter have added the proper proportion of flavoring neither one knowing that the others have done likewise The humor in this piece centers around this pie What happened to the guests who partook of it certainly draws upon the imagination Imagine eight people not to speak of the cat getting drunk on the brandy in one mince pie We do not single out this subject as being more evidently padded than others shown on the screen this week Licensed as well as Independents were guilty and it is time that the manufacturers realize the importance of the scenario end of matters The mince pie episode was well done which is the faint praise that we do not like to mete out to anyone Walton of The Moving Picture News was not amused by the plot and stated To me the last scene had no humor It was only the necessary ending to the beginning True humor does not emanate from cognac The New York Dramatic Mirror stated This is the old story of too many cooks and it is quite funny after the first scenes are out of the way The early part of the film takes too much time with trivial details leading up to the final situation A weak point in the story is the fact that the pie is cut into eight small pieces making it difficult to believe in its remarkable power Two pies would have been as easy to make as one and would have been more convincing The character parts are all well taken although the cook would have been better if she had not seized so many opportunities to talk directly at the camera
Back Off Boogaloo is a song by English musician Ringo Starr released as a non album single in March Starr s former Beatles bandmate George Harrison produced the recording which took place in London shortly after the two had appeared together at Harrison s Concert for Bangladesh shows in August The single was a follow up to Starr s hit song It Don t Come Easy and continued his successful run as a solo artist Back Off Boogaloo peaked at number in Britain and Canada and number on America s Billboard Hot It remains Starr s highest charting single in the United Kingdom
The title for the song was inspired by English singer songwriter Marc Bolan Some commentators have suggested that the lyrics were directed at Paul McCartney reflecting Starr s disdain for the music McCartney had made as a solo artist over the previous two years Back Off Boogaloo demonstrates the influence of glam rock on Starr who directed a documentary film Born to Boogie about Bolan s band T Rex around this time Described by one author as a high energy in your face rocker the song features a prominent slide guitar part by Harrison and contributions from musicians Gary Wright and Klaus Voormann
Starr re recorded Back Off Boogaloo for his album Stop and Smell the Roses in a collaboration with American singer Harry Nilsson that incorporates lyrics from Beatles songs such as With a Little Help from My Friends Good Day Sunshine and Baby You re a Rich Man The original version has appeared on Starr s compilation albums Blast from Your Past and Photograph The Very Best of Ringo Starr and as a bonus track on his remastered studio album Goodnight Vienna Since his return to touring in Starr has performed Back Off Boogaloo regularly in concert with the various incarnations of his All Starr Band
Ringo Starr identified his initial inspiration for Back Off Boogaloo as having come from Marc Bolan the singer and guitarist with English glam rock band T Rex In a interview with Mojo editor Paul Du Noyer Starr described Bolan as a dear friend who used to come into the office when I was running Apple Movies a big office in town and the hang out for myself Harry Nilsson and Keith Moon Over dinner one evening at Starr s home outside London Bolan had used the word boogaloo so often that it stuck in Starr s mind after which the beat and melody for the song came to him overnight When discussing the composition on VH Storytellers in May Starr explained Bolan was an energised guy He used to speak Back off boogaloo ooh you boogaloo Do you want some potatoes Ooh you boogaloo Starr also recalled having to take the batteries out of his children s toys that night in order to power a tape recorder and make a recording of the new song
The lyrics to the middle eight of Back Off Boogaloo came to Starr while watching London Weekend Television s football show The Big Match The program s host Jimmy Hill often referred to a footballer s playing as tasty a catchphrase that Starr incorporated into his song lyrics
And give me something tasty
Everything you try to do
You know it sure sounds wasted
Commentators have interpreted the song and particularly this statement as an attack by Starr on his former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney Starr has denied any such interpretation instead claiming that the song was inspired by Bolan and nothing more Beatles biographer Robert Rodriguez writes Starr had publicly criticised McCartney s solo albums McCartney and Ram on release and author Bruce Spizer paraphrases the message of the middle eight as a plea for Paul to produce better music The mention of sound ing wasted could also be a reference to McCartney s overindulgence with cannabis Rodriguez suggests A further example of Starr s allegedly anti McCartney message exists in the song s first verse
Don t pretend that you are dead
Get yourself up off the cart
The same commentators suggest that here Starr could be referring to the Paul Is Dead hoax The latter rumour circulated during September and October of that year while McCartney hid away on his Scottish farm disconsolate after John Lennon had told him and Starr that he wanted a divorce from the Beatles
In addition to these supposed messages in Back Off Boogaloo observers have viewed the song title as Starr s rebuke to McCartney to abandon his legal stand against the Beatles and Apple Corps which was placed in receivership in March after a High Court judge found in McCartney s favour Author Keith Badman writes that Boogaloo had long been cited as Paul s nickname from his former bandmates Starr Lennon and George Harrison While acknowledging that in subsequent years Starr might have chosen to minimise any ill feeling towards McCartney Rodriguez notes that the lyrics just happened to fit perfectly into the us vs Paul mindset following the Beatles break up to the extent that Back Off Boogaloo was as damning as Early had been conciliatory When tailoring his composition I m the Greatest for Starr to record on the album Ringo Lennon referenced the song title with the lines Now I m only thirty two And all I want to do is boogaloo
Although T Rex devotees in the words of Starr biographer Alan Clayson claimed that Bolan had ghost written Back Off Boogaloo Starr later acknowledged that Harrison co wrote the song by adding some chords and finishing the melody As on Starr s hit single It Don t Come Easy Harrison was not credited for his songwriting contribution Starr originally offered Back Off Boogaloo to fellow Liverpudlian Cilla Black to record but she declined hoping instead to record another new Starr Harrison composition Photograph
Having earmarked the song as his next single Starr recorded Back Off Boogaloo in September following his appearance at the Harrison organised Concert for Bangladesh in New York The sessions took place at Apple Studio in central London with Harrison producing as he had on It Don t Come Easy The recording reflects the influence of glam rock on Starr through what authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter term its big drum sound and repetitious nature with a line up comprising Starr vocals drums percussion Harrison guitars Gary Wright piano and Klaus Voormann bass saxophone
Rodriguez describes Starr s martial sounding opening as a rare showcase for his own drumming while Harrison biographer Simon Leng writes of a roaring series of Harrison slide breaks that brought to mind Duane Allman Further overdubs included contributions from three backing vocalists led by American soul singer Madeline Bell
For the single s B side Starr had already written and recorded Blindman the theme song for the Ferdinando Baldi directed Spaghetti Western of the same name filming for which Starr had interrupted in order to perform at the Concert for Bangladesh Starr produced the track with Voormann The sessions for Blindman took place at Apple on August with Badfinger guitarist Pete Ham assisting Starr and Voormann Like the film Blindman the song is held in low regard by critics Spizer describes it as a muddy sounding dirge with little to recommend
Apple Records issued the single on March in Britain as Apple R with a US release taking place three days later as Apple It was Starr s first release since It Don t Come Easy a year before During this period his priority had been to develop a career as an actor in films such as Motels and Blindman Further aligning himself with Britain s glam rock movement Starr made his directorial debut with Born to Boogie a film starring Bolan that included Starr s footage of a T Rex concert held at Wembley on March With Back Off Boogaloo NME critic Bob Woffinden noted Starr s success in establishing himself in the two years since the Beatles break up and wrote that the single confirmed that he and Harrison dark horses both were the ones who had managed their solo careers more purposefully and intelligently compared with McCartney and Lennon
The song was a hit in the US reaching number on the Billboard Hot and achieved Starr s best position on the UK Singles Chart where it reached number A promotional video for Back Off Boogaloo was shot on March at Lennon s Tittenhurst Park residence while Starr was looking after the property The video which shows Starr walking around an outdoor structure and followed by a Frankenstein like monster was directed by Tom Taylor and financed by Caravel Films A similar monster appeared on the single s picture sleeve holding a cigarette
Alan Clayson writes of reviewers criticising Back Off Boogaloo for being repetitious leading Starr to respond in a interview Play me a pop song that isn t On release Chris Welch wrote in Melody Maker A Number One hit could easily be in store for the maestro of rock drums There s a touch of the Marc Bolans in this highly playable rhythmic excursion It s hypnotic and effective ideal for jukeboxes and liable to send us all mad by the end of the week Woffinden described the single as every bit as ebullient as It Don t Come Easy although slightly inferior while Mike DeGagne of AllMusic views it as a song where t he jovial spirit of Ringo Starr shines through In a article for the NME Charles Shaar Murray highlighted Back Off Boogaloo as a great radio and juke box tune
Among Beatle biographers Simon Leng terms it a rocking soccer crowd chant that suited Starr s talents well and Bruce Spizer praises the track as a high energy in your face rocker propelled by Ringo s thundering drums and George s stinging slide guitar In the publication NME Originals Beatles The Solo Years Paul Moody listed Back Off Boogaloo first among Starr s ten solo gems and described it as Good time rock ndroll to match the Faces Guitar World editor Damian Fanelli includes the song on his list of Harrison s ten best post Beatles Guitar Moments saying of the recording the main event is clearly Harrison s slightly wild wacky and very bouncy slide guitar solo which includes an alternate melody line that s even catchier than the melody Ringo is singing
Re releases for Back Off Boogaloo include Starr s greatest hits album Blast from Your Past and along with Blindman as a bonus track on the reissue of his Goodnight Vienna album Back Off Boogaloo also appeared on his compilation Photograph The Very Best of Ringo Starr the collector s edition of which included his video for the song
Starr recorded a new version of Back Off Boogaloo for his album on Boardwalk Records Stop and Smell the Roses The song was produced by Starr s friend singer Harry Nilsson and features a musical arrangement by Van Dyke Parks Similar to Nilsson s cover of the Beatles You Can t Do That the remake incorporates lyrics from a number of the band s songs in this case With a Little Help from My Friends Help Lady Madonna Good Day Sunshine and Baby You re a Rich Man as well as Starr s It Don t Come Easy In a further reference to his past the version of Back Off Boogaloo opens with the same guitar riff that Harrison had played on It Don t Come Easy ten years before
Starr taped the basic track at Evergreen Recording Studios in Los Angeles on November with additional recording taking place on December at Nassau s Compass Point Studios Among the large cast of musicians supporting Starr were Nilsson vocals Jim Keltner drums Jane Getz piano Dennis Budimir and Richie Zito guitars and a four piece horn section led by saxophonist Jerry Jumonville
Starr overdubbed his vocals on December four days before the murder of John Lennon who had been due to record his contributions to Stop and Smell the Roses in January Contrasting with his success as a solo artist in the album continued Starr s run of commercial and critical failures since Rodriguez writes that m ost people either love or hate the revamping of Back Off Boogaloo
Starr has performed Back Off Boogaloo in concert with his All Starr Band beginning with the band s debut tour of North America in July September The song was dropped from the concert setlist early in that tour however in favour of the Lennon McCartney composition I Wanna Be Your Man Live versions of Back Off Boogaloo have appeared on the multi disc compilation The Anthology So Far and King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Ringo His New All Starr Band The latter version was recorded during a US tour in August at which point the All Starr line up was Starr vocals Mark Rivera saxophone Ian Hunter guitar Roger Hodgson and Howard Jones keyboards Greg Lake bass and Sheila E drums
Starr also played the song live with Ringo and the Roundheads a band he formed to promote his studio album Vertical Man A version recorded on May that year at Sony Music Studios New York appeared on Starr s VH Storytellers live album and video released in October The personnel on this performance included Starr vocals Joe Walsh and Mark Hudson guitars Jack Blades bass and Simon Kirke drums Another live version with the Roundheads recorded for PBS Television s Soundstage in August was issued on Ringo Starr Live at Soundstage
The following musicians played on the original version of Back Off Boogaloo
Ringo Starr vocals drums percussion backing vocals
George Harrison slide guitars acoustic guitar
Madeline Bell Lesley Duncan Jean Gilbert backing vocals
Where the Streets Have No Name is a song by Irish rock band U It is the opening track from their album The Joshua Tree and was released as the album s third single in August The song s hook is a repeating guitar arpeggio using a delay effect played during the song s introduction and again at the end Lead vocalist Bono wrote the lyrics in response to the notion that it is possible to identify a person s religion and income based on the street on which they lived particularly in Belfast During the band s difficulties recording the song producer Brian Eno considered erasing the song s tapes to have them start from scratch
Where the Streets Have No Name was praised by critics and became a commercial success peaking at number thirteen in the US number fourteen in Canada number ten in the Netherlands and number four in the United Kingdom The song has remained a staple of their live act since the song debuted in on The Joshua Tree Tour The song was performed on a Los Angeles rooftop for the filming of its music video which won a Grammy Award for Best Performance Music Video
The music for Where the Streets Have No Name originated from a demo that guitarist The Edge composed the night before the group resumed The Joshua Tree sessions In an upstairs room at Melbeach House his newly purchased home The Edge used a four track tape machine to record an arrangement of keyboards bass guitar and a drum machine Realising that the album sessions were approaching the end and that the band were short on exceptional live songs The Edge wanted to conjure up the ultimate U live song so he imagined what he would like to hear at a future U show if he were a fan After finishing the rough mix he felt he had come up with the most amazing guitar part and song of his life With no one in the house to share the demo with The Edge recalls dancing around and punching the air in celebration
Although the band liked the demo it was difficult for them to record the song Bassist Adam Clayton said At the time it sounded like a foreign language whereas now we understand how it works The arrangement with two time signature shifts and frequent chord changes was rehearsed many times but the group struggled to get a performance they liked According to co producer Daniel Lanois that was the science project song I remember having this massive schoolhouse blackboard as we call them I was holding a pointer like a college professor walking the band through the chord changes like a fucking nerd It was ridiculous Co producer Brian Eno estimates that half of the album sessions were spent trying to record a suitable version of Where the Streets Have No Name The band worked on a single take for weeks but as Eno explained that particular version had a lot of problems with it and the group continued trying to fix it up Through all of their work they had gradually replaced each instrument take until nothing remained from the original performance
So much time had been spent on screwdriver work that Eno thought it would be best to start from scratch His idea was to stage an accident and have the song s tapes erased He said that this was not to force abandonment of the song but rather that it would be more effective to start again with a fresh performance At one point Eno had the tapes cued up and ready to be recorded over but this erasure never took place according to engineer Flood fellow engineer Pat McCarthy returned to the control room and upon seeing Eno ready to erase the tapes dropped the tray of tea he was carrying and physically restrained Eno
The studio version of the song was compiled from several different takes It was one of several songs mixed by Steve Lillywhite in the final months of recording The Joshua Tree Drummer Larry Mullen Jr later said of the song It took so long to get that song right it was difficult for us to make any sense of it It only became a truly great song through playing live On the record musically it s not half the song it is live
Where the Streets Have No Name is played at a tempo of beats per minute The introduction and outro are played in a time signature while the remainder of the song is in a common signature The songs opens with an instrumental section starting with chorale like sustained synthesiser notes The guitar fades in after seconds this part consists of a repeated chiming six note arpeggio A dotted eighth delay effect is used to play each note in the arpeggio twice thus creating a rich sound The bass and drums enter at
The introduction following a I IV I IV vi V I chord progression creates a wall of sound as described by Mark Butler against which the vocals emerge after nearly two minutes The guitar part played for the remainder of the song features The Edge strumming percussive sixteenth notes The bass and drums continue in regular eighth and sixteenth notes respectively while Bono s vocal performance in contrast varies greatly in its timbre he sighs he moans he grunts he exhales audibly he allows his voice to crack as well as timing by his usage of rubato to slightly offset the notes he sings from the beat
This development reaches a climax during the first chorus at the line burning down love A G F D the melody progresses through a series of scale degrees that lead to the highest note in the song the A at burning In later choruses Bono sings blown by the wind with the same melody stretching the same note even longer After the third chorus the song s outro is played the instrumentation reverting to the same state as it was in the introduction with a six note guitar arpeggio played against sustained synthesiser notes
The lyrics were inspired by a story that Bono heard about the streets of Belfast Northern Ireland where a person s religion and income are evident by the street they live on He contrasted this with the anonymity he felt when visiting Ethiopia saying the guy in the song recognizes this contrast and thinks about a world where there aren t such divisions a place where the streets have no name To me that s the way a great rock n roll concert should be a place where everyone comes together Maybe that s the dream of all art to break down the barriers and the divisions between people and touch upon the things that matter the most to us all Bono wrote the lyrics while on a humanitarian visit to Ethiopia with his wife Ali Hewson he first wrote them down on an airsickness bag while staying in a village
According to him the song is ostensibly about Transcendence elevation whatever you want to call it Bono who compared many of his lyrics prior to The Joshua Tree to sketches said that Where the Streets Have No Name is more like the U of old than any of the other songs on the LP because it s a sketch I was just trying to sketch a location maybe a spiritual location maybe a romantic location I was trying to sketch a feeling
The open ended nature of the lyrics has led to many interpretations Journalist Michael Campbell believed the lyrics send a message of hope and wish for a world that is not divided by class wealth race or any other arbitrary criterion With regard to the place Bono was referring to in the song he said I m not sure really about that I used to think it was Belfast Journalist Niall Stokes believes the title was influenced by Bono s and his wife Ali s visit to Ethiopia as volunteer aid workers Bono has expressed mixed opinions about the open ended lyrics I can look at it now and recognize that the song has one of the most banal couplets in the history of pop music But it also contains some of the biggest ideas In a curious way that seems to work If you get any way heavy about these things you don t communicate But if you re flip or throwaway about it then you do That s one of the paradoxes I ve come to terms with
Originally the third single from The Joshua Tree was meant to be the song Red Hill Mining Town but Where the Streets Have No Name was released instead in August The single was released on inch inch cassette and CD single formats Three B sides were featured on the single including Race Against Time Silver and Gold and Sweetest Thing except for the inch release which only featured the latter two tracks The inch single featured Race Against Time on side A of the record despite being a B side and the cassette single featured all four tracks on both sides of the tape Although not as successful as the album s first two singles the song did chart well In the US the song peaked at number on the Billboard Hot and number on the Album Rock Tracks charts The song reached number four on the UK Singles Chart and it topped the Irish Singles Chart
The video begins with an aerial shot of a block in Los Angeles and clips of radio broadcasts are heard with disc jockeys stating that U is planning on performing a concert downtown and expecting crowds of people Police show up to the set and inform the band s crew of the security issue that the film shoot is causing due to the large number of people who are coming to watch the performance Two minutes into the video U are seen on the roof of a liquor store at the corner of th Ave and S Main St and perform Where the Streets Have No Name to a large crowd of people standing in the streets surrounding the building Towards the end of the song the police tell the crew that the performance is about to be shut down and eventually police walk onto the roof while the crowd are booing the police
The video for Where the Streets Have No Name was directed by Meiert Avis and produced by Michael Hamlyn and Ben Dossett The band attracted over people during the video s filming which took place on the rooftop of a liquor store in Downtown Los Angeles on March The band s performance on a rooftop in a public place was a reference to The Beatles final concert as depicted in the film Let It Be
During the shoot U played an eight song set which included four performances of Where the Streets Have No Name Prior to filming a week was spent reinforcing the roof of the liquor store to ensure it would not collapse if it were to be intruded by a group of fans A backup generator was put on the roof so the shooting could continue in the event that the authorities shut off the power on the primary generator which happened during filming
The depiction of the police attempting to shut down the video shoot due to safety concerns actually happened during filming just as seen in the video Hamlyn was almost arrested following a confrontation with the police According to Avis the events depicted in the video show what actually happened that day almost in real time and that getting busted was an integral part of the plan Band manager Paul McGuinness revealed in that much of the confrontation with the police was exaggerated the group were hoping to get shut down by the authorities in order to dramatize the music video but the police continually gave them extensions for shooting the video In the background of the video is a sign for The Million Dollar Hotel which was rebuilt to create some interest in case no one showed up at the film shoot Although the video is of a live performance the audio used is from the studio recorded version of the song The video won the Grammy Award for Best Performance Music Video at the Grammy Awards
Race Against Time was released on the inch cassette and CD versions of the single The song developed from the band s interest in urban funk and was described by The Edge as a kind of Afro rhythmic piece and a study in rhythm The bass riff in the song inspired by the bodhrn was played by The Edge but stemmed from some of Clayton s unused bass parts Mullen s drum part was recorded in a single take The song is primarily an instrumental piece but does contain some lyrics inspired by Bono s trip to Ethiopia after Live Aid and his witnessing firsthand the famine in occurrence these lyrical references include Bono singing in an Ethiopian language and following it with the phrase Race against time Bono said of the song It reminds me of the desert The desert is so empty but it aches with a strange kind of fullness John Hutchinson of Musician magazine described the song as having an African flavour and as being reminiscent of Peter Gabriel The track was used in the Miami Vice episode Child s Play and is the only one of the single s B sides that was never played live
Silver and Gold was written in support of the Artists United Against Apartheid project which protested the South African apartheid In Bono participated in Steven Van Zandt s anti apartheid Sun City project and spent time with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones When Richards and Jagger played blues Bono was embarrassed by his lack of familiarity with the genre as most of U s musical knowledge began with punk rock in their youth in the mid s Bono realised that U had no tradition and he felt as if they were from outer space This inspired him to write the blues influenced song Silver and Gold which he recorded with Richards and Ronnie Wood It was re recorded by U for the Where the Streets Have No Name single while the band returned to Dublin during in May during a break between the first and second legs of The Joshua Tree Tour The song was described by Musician as tough and raw with Bono in husky and confident voice underpinned by a sinuous bass line and with The Edge demonstrating his newfound prowess in blues based guitar Silver and Gold was played live on The Joshua Tree Tour several times one performance of which was featured on the band s album and rockumentary Rattle and Hum Both the studio recording and the Sun City versions were later featured on the bonus disc of the th anniversary edition of The Joshua Tree The studio version was also included on the limited edition B sides bonus disk of the band s first compilation album The Best of
Sweetest Thing was written by Bono as an apology to his wife for forgetting her birthday The song opens with a short piano piece before the rest of the band begins to play Some of Bono s lyrics have been described as reminiscent of John Lennon The Edge described it as a beautiful song which is pop as it should be not produced out of existence but pop produced with a real intimacy and purity also noting that It s very new for us It was re recorded with some lyrical alterations and released in as a single in its own right for The Best of Hot Press editor Niall Stokes stated that this track along with Race Against Time is an indicator of what U might have made instead of The Joshua Tree
Upon the release of The Joshua Tree critics praised Where the Streets Have No Name Steve Morse of The Boston Globe noted the bell like tones from the Edge fram e a search for heaven and along with the subsequent track on the album I Still Haven t Found What I m Looking For these songs showed how the group were pilgrims still on a quest not preachers who claim to have found answers The Bergen Record echoed these sentiments saying the tracks demonstrated how the band was on a personal and spiritual quest Rolling Stone called it assertive rock in their review of The Joshua Tree The San Diego Union Tribune said of Where the Streets Have No Name the music charges like someone fleeing for life The Washington Post said the track is a bit oblique lyrically but the implications are clear in Bono s resolute delivery Dave the Edge Evan s quavering guitar Adam Clayton s cathedral bass and Larry Mullen s rolling thunder drums
NME lauded the song as the opening track by saying the album starts by spitting furiously The publication praised Bono s impassioned singing and The Edge s guitar playing which transformed the instrument into something more than an endlessly abused piece of wood The review commented that the last ten seconds are breathtakingly beautiful The Rocket wrote that the song builds a wall of sound that Bono s vocals cut through with a wail of desperation as the lyrics agonize the need for personal spirituality The reviewer compared the opening riff to Simple Minds Ghostdancing Reviewing The Joshua Tree Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic called the song an epic opener The service s Steve Huey in a review of the song praised its insistent propulsive rhythmic drive and anthemic chorus qualities he singled out for making it a fan favorite He called the song the perfect album opener crediting the slow build of its arrangement toward a climactic peak Huey also called Bono s delivery passionate and grandiose and his commitment to the material unshakable He believed the combination of his vocals and the band s sonic power is what gave U its tremendous force
Where the Streets Have No Name made its concert debut on April in Tempe Arizona on the opening night of The Joshua Tree Tour It has since been played at nearly every full length concert that U has headlined totaling over performances as of The song is widely regarded as one of the group s most popular live songs Bono said of it We can be in the middle of the worst gig in our lives but when we go into that song everything changes The audience is on its feet singing along with every word It s like God suddenly walks through the room
On The Joshua Tree Tour Where the Streets Have No Name was most often used to open concerts Fans and critics responded favourably to the song in a live setting The San Diego Union Tribune wrote that From the lofty sonic opening strains of the song this audience was up ecstatic and inflamed NME wrote that the song is one such occasion where the power afforded their songs is scary noting that during the song s opening the arena ERUPTS In other reviews the song was called uplifting exhilarating and powerful Out of the shows during The Joshua Tree Tour Streets was played at all except of the concerts During the Lovetown Tour which took place in and the beginning of Streets was only left out of the set list at one of the concerts
The song was performed at every show on the Zoo TV Tour Concerts from this tour were elaborate multimedia spectacles that Bono performed as a variety of characters but for the end of the main set the group reverted to playing classics including Where the Streets Have No Name straight Some of these performances of the song were accompanied by footage of the group in the desert from The Joshua Tree s photo shoot The video was speeded up for humorous effect NME described the effect as giving it a silly Charlie Chaplin quality and Bono often acknowledged his younger self on the video screens This video would make a return during performances on the and legs of the U Tour Some of the Zoo TV performances of the song had a more electronic dance music arrangement that bore a resemblance to the Pet Shop Boys synthpop cover of the song titled Where the Streets Have No Name I Can t Take My Eyes off You Bono parodied this by occasionally adopting the deadpan vocal style used in the Pet Shop Boys cover Critics welcomed the song in the group s setlist The Independent said the song induces instant euphoria as U do what they re best at slipping into epic rock mode playing music made for the arena In two other local newspaper reviews critics praised the song s inclusion in a sequence of greatest hits
For the PopMart Tour of U returned to the electronic dance arrangement they occasionally played on the Zoo TV Tour The set s massive video screen displayed a video that Hot Press described as an astonishing style trip into the heart of a swirling psychedelic tunnel that sucks the audience in towards a horizontal monolith Near the end of the song peace doves were shown on the screen and bright beams of light flanking the set s golden arch were projected upwards Hot Press said the effect transformed the stadium into a UFO landing site
Shortly before the third leg of the Elevation Tour the September attacks occurred in New York City and Washington DC During the band s first show in New York City following the attacks the band performed Where the Streets Have No Name and when the stage lights illuminated the audience the band saw tears streaming down the faces of many fans The experience was one inspiration for the song City of Blinding Lights The band paid tribute to the victims during their performance of the song at the Super Bowl XXXVI halftime show on February The performance featured the names of the September victims projected onto a large white banner behind the band U s appearance was later ranked number on Sports Illustrated s list of Top Super Bowl Halftime Shows
For the Vertigo Tour the group originally considered dropping the song from their setlists but Mullen and Clayton successfully argued against this All of the Vertigo Tour concerts featured a performance of the song which were accompanied by the stage s LED video curtains displaying African flags On the tour s opening night this reminded Bono that he had originally written the lyrics in an Ethiopian village He thought this visual accompaniment made the song come full circle saying And here it was nearly twenty years later coming back to Africa all the stuff about parched lands and deserts making sense for the first time The song was also played at the preview screening of the band s concert film U D at the Cannes Film Festival At the Glastonbury Festival The Edge accompanied rock band Muse for a live cover version of the track later playing it with U while headlining Glastonbury in
Live performances of Where the Streets Have No Name appear in the concert video releases Rattle and Hum Zoo TV Live from Sydney and PopMart Live from Mexico City as well as the respective audio releases of the latter two concerts Zoo TV Live and Hasta la Vista Baby U Live from Mexico City A second version from the PopMart Tour was featured on Please PopHeart Live EP and later on the US Please single A live recording from Boston during the Elevation Tour was featured in the concert film Elevation Live from Boston and on the Walk On and Electrical Storm singles The concert video and album U Go Home Live from Slane Castle Ireland featured another performance from the Elevation Tour and later performances were featured in the concert films Vertigo Live from Chicago and U D Vertigo Tour and U at the Rose Bowl U Tour The digital album Live from the Point Depot contains a performance from the Lovetown Tour only available as part of The Complete U digital box set
In Q magazine named Where the Streets Have No Name the th most exciting tune ever The following year Q ranked the song at number in a special edition titled Best Songs Ever Three years later the magazine s readers voted the track the rd greatest song in history Rolling Stone ranked the song at number on its list of the Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time In a poll by fan site U approximately of respondents named Where the Streets Have No Name as their favourite song from The Joshua Tree ranking it as the most popular song from the album In American sports network ESPN used the track among other U songs in commercials for the FIFA World Cup with the South African Soweto Gospel Choir adding vocals to the song The advertisement titled Robben Island portrays South African political prisoners during the apartheid era forming a soccer team There are plans to bring a recording of the Soweto supported performance to retail Composer John Mackey used the introductory guitar theme in his piece for wind ensemble Aurora Awakes The song s introduction was used by the Vancouver Canucks hockey team at the start each of their home games when the players take to the ice The Baltimore Ravens also use the song as they enter M T Bank Stadium before home games The Marquette Golden Eagles men s basketball team uses this song in their entrance video before all home games at the BMO Harris Bradley Center The song is also used by the Wisconsin Badgers football team for their entrance video at Camp Randall Stadium prior to all home games The Kansas Jayhawks men s basketball team uses the song during their starting lineups at Allen Fieldhouse
The Nazarov cyclization reaction often referred to as simply the Nazarov cyclization is a chemical reaction used in organic chemistry for the synthesis of cyclopentenones The reaction is typically divided into classical and modern variants depending on the reagents and substrates employed It was originally discovered by Ivan Nikolaevich Nazarov in while studying the rearrangements of allyl vinyl ketones
As originally described the Nazarov cyclization involves the activation of a divinyl ketone using a stoichiometric Lewis acid or protic acid promoter The key step of the reaction mechanism involves a cationic electrocyclic ring closure which forms the cyclopentenone product See Mechanism below As the reaction has been developed variants involving substrates other than divinyl ketones and promoters other than Lewis acids have been subsumed under the name Nazarov cyclization provided that they follow a similar mechanistic pathway
The success of the Nazarov cyclization as a tool in organic synthesis stems from the utility and ubiquity of cyclopentenones as both motifs in natural products including jasmone the aflatoxins and a subclass of prostaglandins and as useful synthetic intermediates for total synthesis The reaction has been used in several total syntheses and several reviews have been published
The mechanism of the classical Nazarov cyclization reaction was first demonstrated experimentally by Shoppe to be an intramolecular electrocyclization and is outlined below Activation of the ketone by the acid catalyst generates a pentadienyl cation which undergoes a thermally allowed conrotatory electrocyclization as dictated by the Woodward Hoffman rules This generates an oxyallyl cation which undergoes an elimination reaction to lose a hydrogen Subsequent tautomerization of the enolate produces the cyclopentenone product
As noted above variants that deviate from this template are known what designates a Nazarov cyclization in particular is the generation of the pentadienyl cation followed by electrocyclic ring closure to an oxyallyl cation In order to achieve this transformation the molecule must be in the s trans s trans conformation placing the vinyl groups in an appropriate orientation The propensity of the system to enter this conformation dramatically influences reaction rate with substituted substrates having an increased population of the requisite conformer due to allylic strain Coordination of an electron donating substituent by the catalyst can likewise increase the reaction rate by enforcing this conformation
Similarly substitution directed inward restricts the s trans conformation so severely that E Z isomerization has been shown to occur in advance of cyclization on a wide range of substrates yielding the trans cyclopentenone regardless of initial configuration In this way the Nazarov cyclization is a rare example of a stereoselective pericyclic reaction whereas most electrocyclizations are stereospecific The example below uses triethylsilyl hydride to trap the oxyallyl cation so that no elimination occurs See Interrupted cyclizations below
Along this same vein allenyl vinyl ketones of the type studied extensively by Marcus Tius of the University of Hawaii show dramatic rate acceleration due to the removal of hydrogens obviating a large amount of steric strain in the s cis conformer
Though cyclizations following the general template above had been observed prior to Nazarov s involvement it was his study of the rearrangements of allyl vinyl ketones that marked the first major examination of this process Nazarov correctly reasoned that the allylic olefin isomerized in situ to form a divinyl ketone before ring closure to the cyclopentenone product The reaction shown below involves an alkyne oxymercuration reaction to generate the requisite ketone
Research involving the reaction was relatively quiet in subsequent years until in the mid s when several syntheses employing the Nazarov cyclization were published Shown below are key steps in the syntheses of Trichodiene and Nor Sterepolide the latter of which is thought to proceed via an unusual alkyne allene isomerization that generates the divinyl ketone
The classical version of the Nazarov cyclization suffers from several drawbacks which modern variants attempt to circumvent The first two are not evident from the mechanism alone but are indicative of the barriers to cyclization the last three stem from selectivity issues relating to elimination and protonation of the intermediate
Strong Lewis or protic acids are typically required for the reaction eg TiCl BF MeSOH These promoters are not compatible with sensitive functional groups limiting the substrate scope
Despite the mechanistic possibility for catalysis multiple equivalents of the promoter are often required in order to effect the reaction This limits the atom economy of the reaction
The elimination step is not regioselective if multiple hydrogens are available for elimination various products are often observed as mixtures This is highly undesirable from an efficiency standpoint as arduous separation is typically required
Elimination destroys a potential stereocenter decreasing the potential usefulness of the reaction
Protonation of the enolate is sometimes not stereoselective meaning that products can be formed as mixtures of epimers
The shortcomings noted above limit the usefulness of the Nazarov cyclization reaction in its canonical form However modifications to the reaction focused on remedying its issues continue to be an active area of academic research In particular the research has focused on a few key areas rendering the reaction catalytic in the promoter effecting the reaction with more mild promoters to improve functional group tolerance directing the regioselectivity of the elimination step and improving the overall stereoselectivity These have been successful to varying degrees
Additionally modifications focused on altering the progress of the reaction either by generating the pentadienyl cation in an unorthodox fashion or by having the oxyallyl cation intercepted in various ways Furthermore enantioselective variants of various kinds have been developed The sheer volume of literature on the subject prevents a comprehensive examination of this field key examples are given below
The earliest efforts to improve the selectivity of the Nazarov cyclization took advantage of the silicon effect in order to direct the regioselectivity of the elimination step This chemistry was developed most extensively by Professor Scott Denmark of the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in the mid s and utilizes stoichiometric amounts of iron trichloride to promote the reaction With bicyclic products the cis isomer was selected for to varying degrees
The silicon directed Nazarov cyclization reaction was subsequently employed in the synthesis of the natural product Silphinene shown below The cyclization takes place before elimination of the benzyl alcohol moiety so that the resulting stereochemistry of the newly formed ring arises from approach of the silyl alkene anti to the ether
Drawing on the substituent effects compiled over various trials of the reaction Professor Alison Frontier of the University of Rochester developed a paradigm for polarized Nazarov cyclizations in which electron donating and electron withdrawing groups are used to improve the overall selectivity of the reaction Creation of an effective vinyl nucleophile and vinyl electrophile in the substrate allows catalytic activation with copper triflate and regioselective elimination In addition the electron withdrawing group increases the acidity of the proton allowing selective formation of the trans epimer via equilibration
It is often possible to achieve catalytic activation using a donating or withdrawing group alone although the efficiency of the reaction yield reaction time etc is typically lower
By extension any pentadienyl cation regardless of its origin is capable of undergoing a Nazarov cyclization There have been a large number of examples published where the requisite cation is arrived at by a variety of rearrangements One such example involves the silver catalyzed cationic ring opening of allylic dichloro cylopropanes The silver salt facilitates loss of chloride via precipitation of insoluble silver chloride
In the total synthesis of rocaglamide epoxidation of a vinyl alkoxyallenyl stannane likewise generates a pentadienyl cation via ring opening of the resultant epoxide
Once the cyclization has occurred an oxyallyl cation is formed As discussed extensively above the typical course for this intermediate is elimination followed by enolate tautomerization However these two steps can be interrupted by various nucleophiles and electrophiles respectively Oxyallyl cation trapping has been developed extensively by Fredrick G West of the University of Alberta and his review covers the field The oxyallyl cation can be trapped with heteroatom and carbon nucleophiles and can also undergo cationic cycloadditions with various tethered partners Shown below is a cascade reaction in which successive cation trapping generates a pentacyclic core in one step with complete diastereoselectivity
Enolate trapping with various electrophiles is decidedly less common In one study the Nazarov cyclization is paired with a Michael reaction using an iridium catalyst to initiate nucleophilic conjugate addition of the enolate to nitrostyrene In this tandem reaction the iridium catalyst is required for both conversions it acts as the Lewis acid in the Nazarov cyclization and in the next step the nitro group of nitrostyrene first coordinates to iridium in a ligand exchange with the carbonyl ester oxygen atom before the actual Michael addition takes place to the opposite face of the R group
The development of an enantioselective Nazarov cyclization is a desirable addition to the repertoire of Nazarov cyclization reactions To that end several variations have been developed utilizing chiral auxiliaries and chiral catalysts Diastereoselective cyclizations are also known in which extant stereocenters direct the cyclization Almost all of the attempts are based on the idea of torquoselectivity selecting one direction for the vinyl groups to rotate in turn sets the stereochemistry as shown below
Silicon directed Nazarov cyclizations can exhibit induced diastereoselectivity in this way In the example below the silyl group acts to direct the cyclization by preventing the distant alkene from rotating towards it via unfavorable steric interaction In this way the silicon acts as a traceless auxiliary The starting material is not enantiopure but the retention of enantiomeric excess suggests that the auxiliary directs the cyclization
Tius s allenyl substrates can exhibit axial to tetrahedral chirality transfer if enantiopure allenes are used The example below generates a chiral diosphenpol in yield and enantiomeric excess
Tius has additionally developed a camphor based auxiliary for achiral allenes that was employed in the first asymmetric synthesis of roseophilin The key step employs an unusual mixture of hexafluoro propanol and trifluoroethanol as solvent
The first chiral Lewis acid promoted asymmetric Nazarov cyclization was reported by Varinder Aggarwal and utilized copper II bisoxazoline ligand complexes with up to ee The enantiomeric excess was unaffected by use of mol of the copper complex but the yield was significantly decreased
Extensions of the Nazarov cyclization are generally also subsumed under the same name For example an unsaturated ketone can undergo a similar cationic conrotatory cyclization that is typically referred to as an iso Nazarov cyclization reaction Other such extensions have been given similar names including homo Nazarov cyclizations and vinylogous Nazarov cyclizations
Because they overstabilize the pentadienyl cation electron donating substiuents often severely impede Nazarov cyclization Building from this several electrocyclic ring openings of alkoxy cyclopentanes have been reported These are typically referred to as retro Nazarov cyclization reactions
Nitrogen analogues of the Nazarov cyclization reaction known as imino Nazarov cyclization reactions have few instances there is one example of a generalized imino Nazarov cyclization reported shown below and several iso imino Nazarov reactions in the literature Even these tend to suffer from poor stereoselectivity poor yields or narrow scope The difficulty stems from the relative over stabilization of the pentadienyl cation by electron donation impeding cyclization
Horrible Bosses is a American black comedy film directed by Seth Gordon written by Michael Markowitz John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein based on a story by Markowitz It stars Jason Bateman Charlie Day Jason Sudeikis Jennifer Aniston Colin Farrell Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx The plot follows three friends played by Bateman Day and Sudeikis who decide to murder their respective overbearing abusive bosses portrayed by Spacey Aniston and Farrell
Markowitz s script was bought by New Line Cinema in and the film spent six years in various states of pre production with a variety of actors attached to different roles By Goldstein and Daley had rewritten the script and the film finally went into production
The film premiered in Los Angeles on June and received a wide release on July The film exceeded financial expectations accruing over million in the first three days making it the number two film in the United States during its opening weekend and going on to become the highest grossing black comedy film of all time in unadjusted dollars breaking the record previously set by The War of the Roses in The film grossed over million worldwide during its theatrical run
The film opened to positive critical reception with several critics praising the ensemble cast with each lead being singled out for their performances across reviews The plot received a more mixed response some reviewers felt that its dark humorous premise was explored well while others felt the jokes were racist homophobic and misogynistic A sequel Horrible Bosses was released on November
Nick Hendricks Bateman and Dale Arbus Day are friends who despise their bosses Nick works at a financial firm for the sadistic David Harken Spacey who implies the possibility of a promotion for Nick for months only to award it to himself Dale is a dental assistant being sexually harassed by his boss Dr Julia Harris Aniston she threatens to tell his fiancee Stacy Lindsay Sloane that he had sex with her unless he actually has sex with her Nick and Dale s accountant friend Kurt Buckman Sudeikis enjoys working for Jack Pellitt Donald Sutherland at a chemical company but after Jack unexpectedly dies of a heart attack the company is taken over by Jack s cocaine addicted son Bobby Farrell whose apathy and incompetence threaten the future of the company
At night over drinks Kurt jokingly suggests that their lives would be happier if their bosses were no longer around Initially hesitant they eventually agree to kill their employers In search of a hitman the trio meet Dean Motherfuckah Jones Foxx an ex con who agrees to be their murder consultant Jones suggests that Dale Kurt and Nick kill each other s bosses to hide their motive while making the deaths look like accidents
The three reconnoiter Bobby s house and Kurt steals Bobby s phone They next go to Harken s house where Kurt and Nick go inside while Dale waits in the car Harken returns home and confronts Dale for littering but then has an allergy attack from the peanut butter on the litter Dale saves Harken by stabbing him with an EpiPen Nick and Kurt think Dale is stabbing Harken to death and flee with Kurt accidentally dropping Bobby s phone in Harken s bedroom The next night Kurt watches Julia s home but she seduces and has sex with him Nick and Dale reluctantly wait outside Bobby s and Harken s houses respectively to commit the murders despite neither of them wanting to Harken discovers Bobby s cellphone in his bedroom and uses it to find his address suspecting his wife Rhonda Julie Bowen is having an affair He drives over and kills Bobby with Nick as a secret witness
Nick flees at high speed setting off a traffic camera The trio meet to discuss their reservations about continuing with their plan They are arrested by the police who believe the camera footage makes them suspects in Bobby s murder Lacking evidence the police are forced to let the trio go free The trio consult with Jones again but learn that he never actually killed anyone having been imprisoned for bootlegging the film Snow Falling on Cedars Jones suggests that they get Harken to confess and secretly tape it The three accidentally crash Harken s surprise birthday party where Nick and Dale get Harken to confess to the murder before realizing that Kurt who has the audio recorder is elsewhere having sex with Rhonda Harken threatens to kill all three for attempting to blackmail him They flee by car but Harken gives chase and repeatedly rams their vehicle Believing they have committed a crime the car s navigation system operator remotely disables Kurt s car allowing Harken to catch and hold them at gunpoint Harken shoots himself in the leg as he boasts about his plan to frame them for murdering Bobby and attempting to kill him to get rid of the witness
The police arrest Nick Dale and Kurt but the navigation system operator Gregory reveals that it is his companies policy to record all conversations for quality assurance Gregory plays the tape that has Harken confessing he murdered Pellitt Harken is sentenced to years to life in prison while the friends get their charges waived Nick is promoted to president of the company under a sadistic CEO Kurt retains his job under a new boss and Dale blackmails Julia into ending her harassment by convincing her to sexually harass a supposedly unconscious patient while Jones secretly records the act
Jason Bateman as Nick Hendricks
An executive at a financial firm who is manipulated into jumping through hoops in order to get a promotion that his boss never intended to give him Markowitz wrote the role specifically for Bateman
Charlie Day as Dale Arbus
A dental assistant who is sexually harassed by his boss Described as a hopeless romantic in love with his fiance Ashton Kutcher was in talks for the role at two different points in the lengthy production Day was considered for the role following his co starring performance with Sudeikis in the film Going the Distance Reuters reported that industry insiders believed his performance overshadowed the main stars
Jason Sudeikis as Kurt Buckman
An account manager at a chemical company dealing with a new drug addicted boss after his beloved former boss dies Sudeikis was cast in May
Jennifer Aniston as Dr Julia Harris DDS
Markowitz based the character on a former boss claiming she was very sexually aggressive with everybody When writing the script Markowitz intended for the role to go to Aniston He stated but the aforementioned boss looked more like Cruella de Vil It was like flirting with a cobweb So I decided for the sake of the movie let s go with Jennifer Aniston The actress insisted on wearing a brown wig for the role wanting to look different from other characters she had played
Colin Farrell as Bobby Pellitt
Described as a weaselly scion and a corrupt and incompetent jerk who s in charge of things but clearly has no idea what he s doing Farrell explained the motivation he gave to the character stating This guy thinks he s God s gift to women God s gift to intellect to humor to the club scene to everything It s all part of his grandiose sense of self esteem which is probably masking a deeper sense of being a disappointment to his father and being riddled with envy over the relationship his father had with Kurt and all kinds of other things With Pellit Seth gave me complete license to act as pathologically screwed up as possible Farrell contributed significantly to the appearance of his character suggesting the comb over hairstyle pot belly and an affinity for Chinese dragons
Kevin Spacey as David Harken
President of Comnidyne Industries Tom Cruise Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jeff Bridges had been approached by New Line Cinema to take the role described as a psychopathic master manipulator with an attractive wife Spacey signed up for the role in June The part was considered integral to the film Gordon commented that the character was an amalgamation of several real bosses rather than one single person to avoid being sued
Jamie Foxx as Dean Motherfuckah Jones
The character had the more colorful name Cocksucker Jones but it was changed at Foxx s request with producer Jay Stern commenting that Foxx felt it was over the line The current name was said to be subject to further change prior to the release of the film Foxx contributed to his character s appearance suggesting full scalp tattoos and a retro clothing style Foxx described the appearance as a guy who maybe went to jail for a minute and now he s living in his own time capsule When he got out he went right back to the clothes he thought were hot when he went in
During the six year development of the film several actors were in negotiations to star including Owen Wilson Vince Vaughn Matthew McConaughey Ryan Reynolds Dax Shepard and Johnny Knoxville
Donald Sutherland portrays Jack Pellitt Bobby s father and Kurt s boss On July Isaiah Mustafa was confirmed as joining the cast Mustafa was quoted as saying It s a smaller role He appears as Officer Wilkens Julie Bowen appears in the film as Rhonda Harken s wife Bowen stated that her character may or may not be a hussy the character described as intentionally making her husband jealous Ioan Gruffudd has a cameo as a male prostitute erroneously hired as a hitman Lindsay Sloane appears as Dale s fiancee Stacy P J Byrne plays Kenny Sommerfeld a former investment manager now scrounging for drinks while Wendell Pierce and Ron White play a pair of cops Bob Newhart makes a cameo as sadistic Comnidyne CEO Louis Sherman John Francis Daley a screenwriter on the film cameos as Nick s co worker Carter
Markowitz s script for Horrible Bosses was sold at auction to New Line Cinema by Ratner s production company Rat Entertainment in for a six figure amount Ratner initially was interested in directing but became occupied with directing the comedy Tower Heist Frank Oz and David Dobkin were in talks to direct Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley rewrote the script in and the project went into production with Seth Gordon directing
Production designer Shepherd Frankel specifically set out to create distinctly different environments for the three employees and their respective bosses homes and offices Nick and Harken s workplace is the Comnidyne bullpen which was designed to enhance the discomfort and anxiety of lower level employees clustered in the center of the room where every movement is monitored by the boss from his corner office The design team met with financial strategists and management companies to learn about the architecture of their office layouts to visually represent the experience of starting from a low ranking position in a cubicle and aspiring to an office Costume designer Carol Ramsey worked with Frankel and set decorator Jan Pascale to match Harken s suit to that of the surrounding cold grey and blue color palette of his office Harken s home was described as equally lacking in warmth as the office but more lavishly decorated and for show including an intentionally oversized portrait of him with his trophy wife
Designing Julia s office was described as a challenge infusing a sensual vibe into a dental office Frankel approached the design through Julia s mentality stating She s a Type A professional at the top of her game who likes to play cat and mouse so it s a completely controlled environment with apertures and views into other rooms so she always knows what s going on It s highly designed with rich wallpaper and tones sumptuous artwork and subtle lighting all very disarming till you step into her private office The blinds close the door locks and you think It s the Temple of Doom Similarly approaching the character s home the design allowed for wide windows which face onto a public street which afford her the opportunity to put on the kind of show she couldn t get away with at work
Bobby s environments were designed with more contrast the character being new to the work area Frankel described the contrast as the company reflects Jack Pellitt s human touch whereas Bobby Pellitt s home is a shameless shrine to himself and his hedonistic appetites Frankel continued It features a mishmash of anything he finds exotic and erotic mostly Egyptian and Asian motifs with an s Studio vibe a makeshift dojo lots of mirrors and a massage table Some parts of the house design were provided by Farrell and Gordon s interpretation of the character and his infatuation with martial arts and his delusions of prowess
Filming of Horrible Bosses took place in and around Los Angeles The production team attempted to find locations that people haven t already seen a hundred times in movies and on TV aiming for the film to appear as if it could be taking place anywhere in America where people are trying to pursue the American dream but getting stopped by a horrible boss Comnidyine was represented by an office building in Torrance California with the crew building the set on a vacant floor For Pellitt Chemical the production team found a perfect landscape of pipes and containers in Santa Fe Springs surrounding an unoccupied water cleaning and storage facility To take advantage of the surrounding imagery the warehouse required an extensive series of overhauls including cutting windows into concrete walls and creating new doorways to allow for visuals of the warehouse exterior and provide a setting for the final scene of Sutherland s character A TGI Friday s in Woodland Hills Los Angeles was used as a bar frequented by Nick Dale and Kurt while the bar scene where they meet with Jones was staged in downtown Los Angeles
The film was shot digitally using the Panavision Genesis camera Gordon encouraged the actors to improvise though Aniston claimed to not have taken advantage of the offer as much as her co stars stating My dialogue was just so beautifully choreographed that there wasn t much that I needed to do
The soundtrack was composed by award winning composer Christopher Lennertz with music contributed by Mike McCready of Pearl Jam Stefan Lessard of Dave Matthews Band and Money Mark a collaborator with the Beastie Boys McCready Lessard and Mark worked with musicians Matt Chamberlain David Levita Aaron Kaplan Victor Indrizzo Chris Chaney Davey Chegwidden and DJ Cheapshot to develop the music Major contributions were provided by Mark on keyboard McCready and Levita on guitar Chaney and Lessard on bass Indrizzo on drums and DJ Cheapshot on turntables
Lennertz recorded the soundtrack at The Village recording studio in West Los Angeles and Capitol Records Lennertz attempted to remain authentic to the characters progression from average worker to calculated killer To achieve this aim he decided against recording digitally instead recording the tracks on two inch analog tape intending each musical cue to sound as if it was emanating from a vinyl record He explained The idea was to put together a band that would record the score together the same way that they would make an album It isn t over produced or shiny and digital in any way It s brash noisy and full of bravado and swagger I knew that if we could harness some of this sonic magic in the score then the toughness and confidence of the music would play against Bateman Sudeikis and Charlie Day to really emphasize and elevate the humor in the situations that transpire Lennertz continued We tracked through tape before Pro Tools to get that fat sound and made every choice based on feel rather than perfection We even used the same Wurlitzer that Money Mark played on Beck s classic Where It s At At the end of the day Seth Gordon and I wanted to produce a score that is as irreverent and full of attitude as the movie itself I think we did it and most of all everyone had a blast in the process
Horrible Bosses The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released in physical and digital formats on July by WaterTower Music The soundtrack consists of tracks with a runtime of minutes
The world premiere of Horrible Bosses took place on June at Grauman s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood California
Horrible Bosses grossed million in the North America and million in other territories for a worldwide gross of million against its budget of million
Horrible Bosses was released on July in the United States and Canada across theaters It grossed M on the first day giving it the second largest opening gross for an original R rated comedy of the summer behind Bad Teacher M For the opening weekend the film took in a total of an average of per theater making it the number two film for the weekend behind Transformers Dark of the Moon M the second highest grossing opening weekend for an original R rated comedy again behind Bad Teacher M and the highest grossing opening weekend ever for a dark black comedy film overtaking the The Stepford Wives M The opening weekend audience was male and of the audience were over years of age The second weekend July saw a further theaters added for a total of Box office revenue dropped by a respectable taking M for a total gross of M in ten days The film ranked third for the weekend It remained in the top five films during its third week dropping and leaving thirty theaters from the previous weekend to take in M for a gross of M in days On July with M after days Horrible Bosses surpassed The War of the Roses M to become the highest grossing dark black comedy film in unadjusted dollars
Horrible Bosses was released on July in the United Arab Emirates and on July in Estonia Latvia Lebanon and Lithuania grossing for the opening weekend and accruing a total of in the first days On the weekend of July the film opened in the United Kingdom Greece Israel South Africa Norway and East Africa
Horrible Bosses received generally positive reviews from critics On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a rating of based on reviews with an average rating of The site s critical consensus reads It s nasty uneven and far from original but thanks to a smartly assembled cast that makes the most of a solid premise Horrible Bosses works Review aggregate Metacritic gave the film a score of out of based on critics indicating mixed or average reviews
Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four calling it well cast and commending it for playing to each actor s strengths Ebert gave particular praise to Spacey labeling him superb and Aniston judging her performance to be a surprise and a return to form stating she has acute comic timing and hilariously enacts alarming sexual hungers Ebert called Horrible Bosses cheerful and wicked Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly reacted positively calling the film a bouncy well built delightfully nasty tale of resentment desperation and amoral revenge and complimented the casting of the protagonists and antagonists The AV Club s Nathan Rabin also praised the cast stating that the picture succeeds almost entirely on the chemistry of its three leads who remain likeable even while resorting to homicide adding the acting more than compensates for the film s other failings Rabin singled out Day s performance as a potent illustration of how a brilliant character actor with a spark of madness can elevate a ramshackle lowbrow farce into a solid mainstream comedy through sheer force of charisma Edward Douglas of ComingSoonnet credited director Seth Gordon with having assembled the perfect cast claiming the six leads kill in every scene but echoed Nathan Rabin s sentiments that Day is the real standout Douglas summarized the picture as dark fun that works better than expected due to a well developed script an impeccable cast and a director who knows how to put the two together A O Scott of The New York Times stated the timing of the cast is impeccable and appreciated that the script did not attempt to cut its coarseness with a hypocritical dose of sweetness or respectability The review concluded that in the ways that count and even when it shouldn t Horrible Bosses works
USA Today s Scott Bowles awarded the film three out of four stars labeling it a surprising comedy that rivals Bridesmaids as the funniest film of the summer if not the year Bowles added that the characters are so likable giving particular credit to Sudeikis though also adding praise for the performances of Bateman and Day The dialogue was also lauded by Bowles which commented that Seth Gordon has a deft touch with water cooler talk even when the water cooler might be spiked with poison Leonard Maltin of indieWire considered Day to have had the breakout role and offered praise to the performances of the cast but lamented the lack of screen time for Farrell s character Maltin concluded the movie has just enough raunchiness to identify it as a comedy just enough cleverness to admire and just the right camaraderie among its three male stars which turns out to be the movie s greatest strength Rolling Stone s Peter Travers gave kudos to the killer cast with specific credit given to Bateman and Day but was critical of the movie stating it wussies out on a sharp premise and that it is a hit and miss farce that leaves you wishing it was funnier than it is The Guardian s Philip French called Horrible Bosses a lumbering misogynistic affair but admitted I laughed frequently probably to the detriment of my self respect Nicholas Barber of The Independent gave a positive review complimenting Gordon for not allowing the actors improvisation to be detrimental to the pacing but felt the movie was not as dark as its premise required saying what edginess the film does have comes instead from the inordinate quantity of swearing plus a smattering of homophobia and misogyny
Salon s Andrew O Hehir offered a mixed response characterizing the film as a lot funnier in theory than in practice but it won t ruin your Saturday night Salon appreciated the effortless comic chemistry between Sudeikis Bateman and Day and singled out Bateman Aniston and Spacey for their performances O Hehir was however critical of the perceived homophobia sexism and racism The Hollywood Reporter s Kirk Honeycutt responded negatively stating the jokes failed to be funny stating Seth Gordon shows no flair for turning the absurdities and cartoonish characters in the script into anything more than a collection of moments in search of laughs Karina Longworth of The Village Voice was critical of the premise which she felt lacked any legitimate rage against the characters bosses stating there s every sign that even without these particular emasculators Dale Kurt and Nick would still be for lack of a better word total pussies Longworth felt that the humor was rarely actually laugh out loud funny and never truly dark or daring She particularly criticized the all white male protagonists and a plot she deemed racist and filled with stereotypes Justin Chang of Variety praised the performance of the ensemble cast but considered the plot to be predictably moronic vulgar and juvenile Chang echoed the sentiments of The Village Voice in lamenting that the film failed to pursue the premise to darker more daring territory and faulted it for falling back on over the top comic exaggeration
The film received several award nominations including a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor for Colin Farrell and three nominations from the Comedy Awards including Comedy Actor for Bateman Comedy Actress for Aniston and best Comedy Film Farrell and Aniston were both nominated for Best On Screen Dirt Bag at the MTV Movie Awards with Aniston claiming the award Farrell also received a nomination for Best On Screen Transformation
On July FX obtained the rights to the network premiere of the film
Horrible Bosses was released on DVD and Blu ray Disc in the United States on October The DVD version sold an estimated units in the United States during its first week earning approximately million It was the number best selling DVD of the week finishing behind Green Lantern and the number Blu ray disc film behind Green Lantern and The Lion King As of November it has sold an estimated million units and earned million
The DVD contains the theatrical cut of the film and deleted scenes The Blu ray Disc edition contains the Blu ray Disc the DVD and a digital version of the film in a single pack The Blu ray Disc version is an unrated extended cut the Totally Inappropriate Edition with a runtime of minutes compared to the theatrical minutes The Blu ray Disc contains deleted scenes and four featurettes My Least Favorite Career Surviving a Horrible Boss Being Mean Is So Much Fun and The Making of the Horrible Bosses Soundtrack Both the theatrical and extended cuts are presented in the film s original aspect ratio of with DTS HD Master Audio sound Beginning with the Blu ray Disc release of Horrible Bosses and Green Lantern Warner Bros included a code that allows the owner to access a version of the film via UltraViolet a cloud storage service which allows streaming or downloading to a variety of devices
Seth Gordon confirmed in July that talks were underway for a sequel after the financial success of the film in the United States saying Yeah we ve definitely discussed it It s done well in the States the film has so that s becoming a more concerted effort now we re trying to figure out what the sequel could be On January it was confirmed that a sequel was moving forward and that Goldstein and Daley would be returning to write the script New Line was reported to be negotiating with Gordon to return as director with Bateman Day and Sudeikis also expected to return to their roles On February it was confirmed that Goldstein and Daley were in the process of writing the new script In March Goldstein and Daley confirmed that they had submitted multiple draft scripts for the sequel and that production had moved towards finalizing the budget Later in the same month Bateman Day and Sudeikis were confirmed to be reprising their roles with Foxx negotiating to return The film will again be produced by Brett Ratner and Jay Stern In August it was announced that Gordon would not be returning to direct because of scheduling conflicts and that the studio was actively searching for a replacement In September Sean Anders was announced as Gordon s replacement with John Morris joining the production as a producer The pair had previously performed a rewrite on Goldstein s and Daley s sequel script Filming had been scheduled to begin in summer but began in November Foxx Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Spacey reprised their roles with Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine joining the cast
The Rajneeshee assassination plot was a conspiracy by a group of high ranking followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh later known as Osho to assassinate Charles Turner the then United States Attorney for the District of Oregon Rajneesh s personal secretary and second in command Ma Anand Sheela Sheela Silverman assembled the group after Turner was appointed to investigate illegal activity at Rajneeshpuram Turner investigated charges of immigration fraud and sham marriages and later headed the federal prosecution of the Rajneeshee bioterror attack in The Dalles Oregon
The conspirators included Ma Anand Sheela Sally Anne Croft Chief Financial Officer of Rajneeshpuram Susan Hagan head of security at Rajneeshpuram Catherine Jane Stork who bought weapons and silencers and volunteered to be the actual murderer Ann Phyllis McCarthy fourth in command of Rajneeshpuram and co conspirators Alma Potter Carol Matthews Phyllis Caldwell and Richard Kevin Langford The conspirators obtained false identification to purchase handguns out of state stalked Turner and planned to murder him near his workplace in Portland Oregon The assassination plot was never carried out and was only discovered later as a result of the investigation by federal law enforcement into the bioterror attack in The Dalles and other illegal acts by the Rajneeshpuram leadership
Prosecution of the conspirators began in when a federal grand jury brought indictments against several of the key players Some had fled the country and extradition proceedings against the perpetrators and subsequent prosecution and conviction was not completed for sixteen years The final conspirator was convicted in when Catherine Jane Stork agreed to return to the United States from Germany in order to be allowed to visit her ill son in Australia Eight perpetrators received sentences ranging from five years probation to five years in federal prison and an additional member of the Rajneesh commune pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy Rajneesh was never prosecuted in relation to the conspiracy and left the United States after pleading guilty to immigration fraud and agreeing not to reenter the country without permission from the US Attorney General
Seven followers called Rajneeshees of charismatic leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh now known as Osho were convicted of a conspiracy to assassinate Charles Turner and an additional unindicted eighth member of the Rajneesh commune pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy The perpetrators were high ranking followers within the Rajneeshee organization Prosecutors in the case stated that the perpetrators had planned to murder Turner after he was appointed to head an investigation into the group s activities in Rajneeshpuram Oregon Turner s investigation focused on sham marriages organized by the group as well as other illegal activities including immigration fraud and he later headed the federal prosecution relating to the Rajneeshee bioterror attack in The Dalles Oregon Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer was also involved in investigations of the group working alongside Turner
In May Rajneesh s personal secretary and second in command Sheela Silverman Ma Anand Sheela gathered the leader s key followers and formed a group of conspirators in order to plan the assassination of Turner as well as several dissidents among their organization Sheela stated that Turner s grand jury investigation threatened the existence of the commune and exposed Rajneesh and several of his disciples to criminal prosecution Sheela hoped that by murdering Turner they would be able to thwart the federal immigration investigation which could have resulted in deportation of Rajneeshee leaders Three former leaders of the commune including Ma Anand Sheela Dianne Yvonne Onang Ma Anand Puja a registered nurse from the Philippines who managed the Rajneeshee medical corporation and former treasurer of Rajneesh Foundation International and Catherine Jane Stork Ma Shanti Bhadra of Australia put together a hit list which included US Attorney Charles Turner and Oregon Attorney General David Frohnmayer
Susan Hagan Ma Anand Su a top official in the Rajneeshpuram hierarchy was also a participant in the assassination conspiracy Hagan was in charge of the security force at Rajneeshpuram ran the Rajneesh Investment Corporation and supervised construction on the commune Other conspirators in the assassination plot included Ann Phyllis McCarthy Ma Yoga Vidya president of the Rajneesh commune and Alma Potter Ma Dhyan Yogini Ma Anand Sheela s bodyguard and traveling companion Potter was manager of the Hotel Rajneesh in Portland Oregon and a member of the commune s security force The Oregonian reported that nine people were on the hit list including Turner Frohnmayer former assistant attorney general Karen H Green Wasco County planning director Daniel C Durow Wasco County commissioner James L Comini investigative journalist for The Oregonian Leslie L Zaitz former member Helen C Byron Ma Idam Shunyo who had been awarded US million in a lawsuit against Rajneesh Foundation International her daughter Barbara J Byron Makima and Rajneesh s former secretary Laxmi Thakarsi Kuruwa Ma Yoga Laxmi
Catherine Jane Stork volunteered to be the follower who would actually murder Turner and bought guns and silencers Stork was known to fellow followers as Ma Shanti Bhadra and was also one of the three Big Mammas in Rajneeshpuram Sally Anne Croft known by followers as Ma Prem Savita an accountant and the group s Chief Financial Officer provided money for the purchase of weapons related to the plot Phyllis Caldwell Ma Deva Ritka described in a federal affidavit how members of the murder conspiracy obtained handguns referring to Catherine Jane Stork and Sally Anne Croft Shanti B went down to Jesus Grove and Savita gave us several thousand dollars to use to buy guns Jesus Grove referred to a group of trailers where all the leaders of the Rajneesh commune resided except for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
Ma Anand Sheela and three other Rajneesh followers traveled to New York in the spring of to acquire false identification According to a federal indictment the perpetrators of the assassination plot used a false birth certificate to purchase guns Two members of the group then traveled to Texas to purchase handguns Caldwell stated she and Catherine Jane Stork flew to Texas to purchase guns there They purchased five guns in Texas but encountered difficulty purchasing handguns in Texas with out of state identification and traveled to New Mexico instead Caldwell said they called back to the commune but the women were instructed not to come back without the guns
In New Mexico they obtained false identification and purchased several pistols Their intention was to purchase guns which were difficult to trace Caldwell said it was easy to obtain guns in New Mexico we found it was pretty easy to buy guns All you had to do was show some identification and it was easy to get Caldwell said she and Stork went to a university library to find the identity of someone dying very young next went to public records and asked for a copy of a birth certificate and described how we got a rent receipt book and just made up a rent receipt And then we were able to go to several different gun shops in Albuquerque with those two bits of identification and buy five different guns and bullets said Caldwell They were able to obtain one Colt caliber revolver and four Ruger caliber Security Six Magnum revolvers The conspirators smuggled the guns into Oregon by packing them in luggage and putting the luggage on a Greyhound Lines bus Caldwell said that she and Stork traveled by bus back to the Rajneesh commune so as to avoid airport metal detectors
After obtaining guns the conspirators returned to Portland Oregon They rented out an apartment in Portland to serve as their base of operations for the assassination of Turner Rajneesh follower Carol Matthews Ma Prem Samadhi used a fake name during the planning of the assassination plot in an attempt to obtain the home address of Charles Turner According to federal prosecutors Matthews obtained a college yearbook of Turner s and learned his car s license plate number and his parking location Court records state that Matthews and an unindicted co conspirator gave voter registration officials fake identities and told officials they were conducting a voter survey on President Reagan s economic plan in order to obtain Turner s route number and post office box number The two tried repeating the story with members of the US Postal Service but the postal officials did not give them Turner s address They then drove around Turner s neighborhood and were able to find his home by locating a sign in front of his residence that said Turner Matthews had pictures of Turner s residence developed these were later obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI during an investigation of the Rajneesh commune and verified after being shown to Turner
Members of the group of conspirators watched Turner s office home and car and discussed methods to assassinate him hoping that his death would hinder the efforts of the federal investigation into Rajneeshpuram Their plan was to shoot Turner in the garage of the federal office building where he worked in Portland Oregon but the conspirators also debated whether to murder Turner in downtown Portland or closer to his home After spending multiple nights watching Turner s house the conspirators decided on the parking garage because they felt it would be too risky to murder him on the drive to or from work or in front of his home Turner had a reserved parking spot in a federal garage underneath Terry Schrunk Plaza in Portland Oregon In an affidavit given to the FBI conspirator Alma Peralta described how the perpetrators decided on the federal parking garage as the location Shanti Bhadra Catherine Jane Stork said this seems like a good place to bump this fellow off
The conspirators practiced different ways of murdering Turner According to informant statements to law enforcement one of the conspirators was to pretend there was car trouble and the others would then approach Turner with their guns Informants later told law enforcement officials that the conspirators intended to hide out at an international network of Rajneesh communes if the plan was successful According to The Oregonian the assassinations were not carried out because Ma Anand Sheela became distracted by political power plays within the Rajneesh commune and other members of the organization who were trying to remove her from her position within the group
On February Congressman James H Weaver gave a speech in the United States House of Representatives in which he asserted that the Rajneeshees were involved in the bioterror attack in Oregon At a series of press conferences in September Rajneesh accused several of his recently departed lieutenants of involvement in this and other crimes including the poisoning of Mike Sullivan a Jefferson County district attorney and asked state and federal authorities to investigate his allegations The assassination plot was uncovered by federal law enforcement as a result of the ensuing investigation into activities at Rajneeshpuram Turner was never physically harmed and had retired by
The Oregonian was informed in October by federal law enforcement officials that Leslie L Zaitz an investigative journalist who had written a part series on the Rajneesh movement in Oregon was on a hit list which also included Turner and Oregon Attorney General David Frohnmayer Assistant US Attorney Robert Weaver prosecuted the case the charges were first detailed at an October bond hearing in North Carolina after Rajneesh and his followers were arrested at an airport in Charlotte Weaver said in court that followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had plotted to assassinate Turner and Frohnmayer He said these allegations were reasons why releasing Rajneesh and his followers from jail would be a clear and present danger to public officials The guns purchased by the Rajneesh followers for the assassination plot had reportedly been dumped in a lake at Rancho Rajneesh the lake was searched by US Navy divers Scuba divers searched the lake for two days but did not find the guns
Joseph Greene a US immigration agent testified in court that FBI agents had learned of the assassination plot from a member of the organization who was in a witness protection program Greene said that members involved in the assassination plot included Ma Anand Sheela Dianne Yvonne Onang and Alma Peralta The assassination plot was investigated by the FBI and the Oregon State Police Informants told law enforcement that Ma Anand Sheela hoped Turner s death would prevent an Immigration and Naturalization Service investigation which she thought could lead to Rajneesh s arrest and deportation from the United States Weaver stated These attempts to assassinate public officials were because they were presenting an immigration case that might result in imprisonment of Rajneesh There were not simply plans but at least one assassination attempt said Weaver at the hearing
A grand jury investigation led by Turner brought charges of widespread immigration fraud against members of Rajneeshpuram Wiretapping crimes were discovered after Ma Anand Sheela had fled the commune in September In December followers of Rajneesh were indicted on wiretapping charges
Chief criminal assistant US attorney Baron C Sheldahl was assigned to prosecute the charges of federal wiretapping and a special team from the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division was tasked with prosecuting the murder conspiracy charges Four of the perpetrators were arrested in September Catherine Jane Stork and Richard Kevin Langford were arrested in West Germany Ann Phyllis McCarthy was arrested in South Africa and Susan Hagan was arrested in England In September Alma Peralta pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder Peralta who had served as Ma Anand Sheela s bodyguard and confidante agreed to testify against the other defendants in the murder conspiracy Under the terms of Peralta s plea agreement she received a sentence of two years in federal prison Carol Matthews was arrested in Baden Baden Germany in October on charges of wiretapping and conspiracy to murder Turner where she was held along with three other Rajneeshees At the time of her arrest Matthews was found in possession of a false British passport and had been traveling under the fake name of Daphene Fosberry Indictments were brought against Ma Anand Sheela and six other co conspirators by a federal grand jury in November
In April Carol Matthews and Richard Kevin Langford Swami Anugiten were extradited from Germany to the United States in order to appear in federal court in Portland Oregon Law enforcement officials from the United States Marshals Service traveled to Frankfurt Germany and took custody of the Matthews and Langford at Rhine Main Airport On April Matthews and Langford appeared in federal court in Oregon and both pleaded innocent to charges of conspiracy to commit murder and carrying out wiretapping On April Richard Kevin Langford pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in the murder conspiracy plot against Turner and in exchange he received a sentence of five years in federal prison and the dismissal of other charges against him relating to firearms and wiretapping Langford agreed to testify against the other members of the murder conspiracy Langford wrote on his plea agreement form In meetings were held at the Rancho Rajneesh at which time the possible killing of the United States Attorney for Oregon was discussed I participated in a number of these meetings and agreed with others to work toward that object Prosecutor Timothy J Reardon III stated that Langford had been a member of the Rajneesh commune in Oregon since it began in and that the government was able to prove he joined the murder conspiracy at a point in time after May Reardon said that Langford was a member of a group called the Circle of which was the personal security force that guarded Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and that he had served as a weapons instructor and policeman at the commune Langford told US District Judge Malcom F Marsh that he had suggested that guns for the murder conspiracy could be bought in Texas instructed the conspiractors about silencers took responsibility for the weapons while they were in the commune and disposed of them when members of the murder conspiracy decided to flee the US for Europe In July Carol Matthews entered a guilty plea and was convicted in federal court she was sentenced to five years in prison
Catherine Jane Stork was convicted of the attempted murder of Rajneesh s physician Dr George Meredith Swami Devaraj in and served almost three years in jail After her release agents from the FBI uncovered the plot to assassinate Turner but Stork had already fled to Germany She was indicted by a federal grand jury in In the German government refused to extradite Stork back to the United States In June US prosecutors filed affidavits in the murder conspiracy case with the Higher Regional Court in Karlsruhe Germany as part of an attempt to extradite Catherin Jane Stork from Germany to the US The affidavits stated that all of the members in the murder conspiracy plot also belonged to a group of Rajneesh followers at the Oregon commune known as the and were trained in commando tactics using Uzi semiautomatic rifles and handguns David Berry Knapp known to Rajneesh followers as Swami Krishna Deva stated in an FBI affidavit that the murder conspiracy was motivated by Ma Anand Sheela s tremendous anger towards Turner
Ma Anand Sheela served months in a minimum security federal prison for charges related to assault attempted murder arson wiretapping and the bioterror attack in The Dalles and moved to Switzerland after her release from prison in The assassination conspiracy was discovered after Sheela had left the United States and as of she was still wanted by federal law enforcement for her role in the plot and risked extradition if she crossed the Swiss border Switzerland declined an extradition request from the United States and instead tried her in a Swiss court Sheela was found guilty of criminal acts preparatory to the commission of murder in and sentenced to time already served
Sally Anne Croft and Susan Hagan were extradited from Britain in and were convicted by a jury decision on July for their roles in the assassination plot They had unsuccessfully attempted to appeal their extradition from Britain to Home Secretary Michael Howard During their trial the prosecution presented twenty nine witnesses including former followers of Rajneesh who placed both women in planning meetings where they discussed murdering Turner David Berry Knapp the former mayor of Rajneeshpuram testified for the government in the case and implicated Croft and Hagan in the assassination conspiracy Ava Kay Avalos Ma Ava a Rajneesh disciple testified in the Croft case and stated that she had been part of the conspirators that plotted to assassinate Turner In addition to Knapp and Avalos co conspirators Richard Kevin Langford Phyllis Caldwell and Alma Peralta testified in the case pursuant to conditional plea or immunity agreements Both women were sentenced to five years in prison Croft and Hagan did not testify during their trial We hashed over everything evidence notes evidence notes I think we did an absolutely fabulous job said one of the jurors At the sentencing for Croft and Hagan the federal Judge Malcolm Marsh described them as people of obvious goodwill who had committed an extremely serious offense against the criminal justice system Prosecutor Tim Reardon called the conspiracy to commit assassination a deadly serious crime aimed at the heart of the criminal justice system Croft and Hagan were released from imprisonment at FCI Dublin California in April and returned to Britain
In December Ann Phyllis McCarthy pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to one year in jail and a fine of USD McCarthy had served as fourth in command of Rajneeshpuram and was known by Rajneesh s followers as Ma Yoga Vidya Turner called the one year prison sentence laughable In court statements McCarthy stated I cannot forgive myself for not being tougher at the time and called her time with the group psychological torture
In February Stork became the last perpetrator sentenced in the political assassination plot after ten months of negotiations with Oregon prosecutors Stork offered to turn herself in and return to the United States after learning of her son s terminal brain tumor Prior to sentencing the court allowed her to travel to Australia to visit her son In addition to charges of conspiracy to commit murder Stork also pleaded guilty to the purchase of weapons in violation of federal firearms law An Oregon judge sentenced her to five years probation and three months time already served in a German jail Turner thought she should have received a harsher sentence and commented This was a lying in wait conspiracy to murder me a presidential appointee and for a long time I slept with a loaded gun beside my bed Though Stork could have faced life in prison US District Judge Judge Malcolm F Marsh thought she had seen the error of her ways A federal prosecutor in the case described Stork as the MVP of the conspiracy and said she was the designated assassin that was set to murder Turner After her sentencing Stork stated I actually conspired to kill Mr Turner it is up to me alone to face this terrible truth No person has the right to do what I did I m truly sorry Stork returned to Germany after her sentencing
In an affidavit Timothy J Reardon III lead prosecutor for the United States Department of Justice in the case stated Ma Anand Sheela had told members of the murder conspiracy that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had personally authorized the necessary murder of specific enemies of the Rajneesh commune Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh paid a fine of US agreed to plead guilty to immigration fraud and was deported from the United States He agreed to leave the United States and not return unless given permission first from the United States Attorney General Joseph T McCann writes in Terrorism on American Soil Nevertheless he was never prosecuted for any of the more serious crimes perpetrated by cult members including the salmonella poisoning
Conspiracy to assassinate a United States Attorney
Wiretapping and other charges testified in assassination case
Die Another Day is the twentieth spy film in the James Bond series and the fourth and final film to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI agent James Bond The film follows Bond as he leads a mission to North Korea during which he is betrayed and after seemingly killing a rogue North Korean colonel is captured and imprisoned Fourteen months later Bond is released as part of a prisoner exchange Surmising that someone within the British government betrayed him he attempts to earn redemption by tracking down his betrayer and killing a North Korean agent he believes was involved in his torture
Die Another Day produced by Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli and directed by Lee Tamahori marked the James Bond franchise s th anniversary The series began in with Sean Connery starring as Bond in Dr No Die Another Day includes references to each of the preceding films
The film received mixed reviews Some critics praised the work of Lee Tamahori while others criticised the film s heavy use of computer generated imagery which they found unconvincing and a distraction from the film s plot Nevertheless Die Another Day was the highest grossing James Bond film up to that time if inflation is not taken into account
MI officer James Bond agent infiltrates a North Korean military base where Colonel Tan Sun Moon is illegally trading weapons for African blood diamonds After Moon s assistant Zao discovers that Bond is a British agent the colonel attempts to kill Bond and a hovercraft chase ensues which ends with Moon s apparent death Bond survives but is captured by North Korean soldiers and imprisoned by the Colonel s father General Moon
After months of captivity and torture Bond is traded for Zao in a prisoner exchange He is sedated and taken to meet M who informs him that his status as a Agent is suspended under suspicion of having leaked information under duress Bond is convinced that he has been set up by a double agent in the British government and decides to avenge his betrayal After escaping from the custody of MI he discovers that he is in Hong Kong where he learns from a Chinese agent that Zao is in Cuba
In Havana Bond meets NSA agent Giacinta Jinx Johnson and follows her to a gene therapy clinic where patients can have their appearances altered through DNA restructuring Bond locates Zao inside the clinic and attempts to kill him but Zao escapes He leaves behind a pendant which leads Bond to a cache of diamonds identified as conflict diamonds but bearing the crest of the company owned by British billionaire Gustav Graves
At Blades Club in London Bond meets Graves along with his assistant Miranda Frost who is also an undercover MI agent After a fencing exercise and a literal sword fight Bond is invited by Graves to Iceland for a scientific demonstration Shortly afterwards M restores Bond s Double status and offers assistance in the investigation
At his ice palace in Iceland Graves unveils a new orbital mirror satellite Icarus which is able to focus solar energy on a small area and provide year round sunshine for crop development During the night Jinx infiltrates Graves command centre but is captured by Graves and Zao Bond rescues her and later discovers that Colonel Moon is still alive Moon has used the gene therapy technology to change his appearance assuming the identity of Gustav Graves
Bond confronts Graves but Frost arrives to reveal herself as the traitor who betrayed Bond in North Korea forcing to escape from Graves facility Bond then returns in his Aston Martin Vanquish to rescue Jinx who has been captured once again Zao pursues him in his own vehicle both cars driving inside the rapidly melting ice palace Bond kills Zao by shooting an ice chandelier onto him and then revives Jinx after she has drowned
Bond and Jinx pursue Graves and Frost to the Korean peninsula and stow away on Graves cargo plane Graves reveals his true identity to his father and the purpose of the Icarus satellite to cut a path through the Korean Demilitarized Zone with concentrated sunlight allowing North Korean troops to invade South Korea and reunite the peninsula by force Horrified General Moon tries to stop the plan but he is murdered by his own son
Bond attempts to shoot Graves but he is prevented by one of the soldiers on board In their struggle a gunshot pierces the fuselage causing the plane to descend rapidly Bond engages Graves in a fist fight and Jinx attempts to regain control of the plane Frost attacks Jinx forcing her to defend herself in a sword duel After the plane passes through the Icarus beam and is further damaged Jinx kills Frost Graves attempts to escape by parachute but Bond opens the parachute causing Graves to be pulled out of the plane and into one of its engines killing him and disabling the Icarus beam Bond and Jinx then escape from the disintegrating plane in a helicopter from the cargo hold carrying away Graves stash of diamonds in the process
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond an MI agent
Halle Berry as Giacinta Jinx Johnson an NSA agent
Toby Stephens as Gustav Graves a British entrepreneur alter ego of Colonel Moon
Rosamund Pike as Miranda Frost undercover MI agent and double agent
Rick Yune as Zao a North Korean terrorist working for Moon
Judi Dench as M the head of MI
Will Yun Lee as Colonel Moon a rogue North Korean army colonel later uses his alter ego
Kenneth Tsang as General Moon Colonel Moon s father
John Cleese as Q MI s quartermaster and armourer
Colin Salmon as Charles Robinson M s Deputy Chief of Staff
Ho Yi as the Hotel manager and Chinese special agent Mr Chang In early drafts of the script it was Wai Lin Michelle Yeoh who aided Bond in Hong Kong but the idea fell through and Chang was created to replace her
Rachel Grant as Peaceful Fountains of Desire a Chinese agent working for Mr Chang undercover as a masseuse
Emilio Echevarra as Raoul the manager of a Havana cigar factory and a British sleeper
Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny M s secretary
Michael Gorevoy as Vladimir Popov Gustav Graves personal scientist
Lawrence Makoare as Mr Kil one of Gustav Graves henchmen
Michael Madsen as Damian Falco Jinx s superior in the NSA
Vincent Wong as General Li
Joaquin Martinez as an elderly cigar factory worker
Deborah Moore as an airline hostess Moore is the daughter of former Bond Roger Moore
Madonna as Verity a fencing instructor cameo
Principal photography of Die Another Day began on January at Pinewood studios The film was shot primarily in the United Kingdom Iceland and Cdiz Spain Other locations included Pinewood Studios Stage and Maui Hawaii in December Laird Hamilton Dave Kalama and Darrick Doerner performed the pre title surfing scene at the surf break known as Jaws in Peahi Maui while the shore shots were taken near Cdiz and Newquay Cornwall Scenes inside Graves diamond mine were also filmed in Cornwall at the Eden Project The scenes involving the Cuban locations of Havana and the fictional Isla de Los Organos were filmed at La Caleta Spain
The scenes featuring Berry in a bikini were shot in Cdiz The location was reportedly cold and windy and footage has been released of Berry wrapped in thick towels between takes to avoid catching a chill Berry was injured during filming when debris from a smoke grenade flew into her eye The debris was removed in a minute operation
Gadgets and other props from every previous Bond film and stored in Eon Productions archives appear in Q s warehouse in the London Underground Examples include the jetpack in Thunderball and Rosa Klebb s poison tipped shoe in From Russia with Love Q mentions that the watch he issues Bond is your th I believe a reference to Die Another Day being the th Eon produced Bond film In London the Reform Club was used to shoot several places in the film including the lobby and gallery at the Blades Club MI Headquarters Buckingham Palace Green Park and Westminster Svalbard Norway and Jkulsrln Iceland were used for the car chase on the ice with additional scenes filmed at Jostedalsbreen National Park Norway and RAF Little Rissington Gloucestershire Manston Airport in Kent was used for the scenes involving the Antonov cargo plane scenes The scene in which Bond surfs the wave created by Icarus when Graves was attempting to kill Bond was shot on the blue screen The waves along with all the glaciers in the scene are computer generated
The hangar interior of the US Air Base in South Korea shown crowded with Chinook helicopters was filmed at RAF Odiham in Hampshire UK as were the helicopter interior shots during the Switchblade sequence These latter scenes though portrayed in the air were actually filmed entirely on the ground with the sky background being added in post production using blue screen techniques Although the base is portrayed in the film as a US base all the aircraft and personnel in the scene are British in real life In the film Switchblades one person gliders resembling fighter jets in shape are flown by Bond and Jinx to stealthily enter North Korea The Switchblade was based on a workable model called PHASST Programmable High Altitude Single Soldier Transport Kinetic Aerospace Inc s lead designer Jack McCornack was impressed by director Lee Tamahori s way of conducting the Switchblade scene and commented It s brief but realistic The good guys get in unobserved thanks to a fast cruise good glide performance and minimal radar signature It s a wonderful promotion for the PHASST
The soundtrack was composed by David Arnold and released on Warner Bros Records He again made use of electronic rhythm elements in his score and included two of the new themes created for The World Is Not Enough The first originally used as Renard s theme is heard during the mammoth Antonov cue on the recording and is written for piano The second new theme used in the Christmas in Turkey track of The World Is Not Enough is reused in the Going Down Together track
The title song for Die Another Day was co written and co produced by Mirwais Ahmadzai and performed by Madonna who also had a cameo in the film as Verity a fencing instructor This is the first Bond title sequence to directly reflect the film s plot since Dr No all the other previous Bond titles are stand alone set pieces The concept of the title sequence is to represent Bond trying to survive months of torture at the hands of the North Koreans Critics opinions of the song were sharply divided it was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording but also for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song of while Madonna herself won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her cameo In a MORI poll for the Channel programme James Bond s Greatest Hits the song was voted th out of and also came in as an overwhelming number one favourite among those under the age of
MGM and Eon Productions granted Mattel the license to sell a line of Barbie dolls based around the franchise Mattel announced that the Bond Barbies will be at her stylish best clad in evening dress and red shawl Lindy Hemming created the dress which is slashed to the thigh to reveal a telephone strapped to Barbie s leg The doll was sold in a gift set with Barbie s boyfriend Ken posing as Bond in a tuxedo designed by the Italian fashion house Brioni
Revlon also collaborated with the makers of Die Another Day to create a cosmetics line based around the character Jinx The limited edition Colour Collection was launched on November to coincide with the film s release The product names were loaded with puns and innuendo with shades and textures ranging from the warm to cool and frosted
Die Another Day had its world premiere on November at the Royal Albert Hall in London Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were guests of honour making it the second Bond film premiere to be attended by the Queen the first one being You Only Live Twice in The Royal Albert Hall had a make over for the screening and had been transformed into an ice palace Proceeds from the premire about were donated to the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund of which the Queen is patron On the first day ticket sales reached million Die Another Day was the highest grossing James Bond film until the release of Casino Royale It earned million worldwide becoming the sixth highest grossing film of
Die Another Day became a controversial subject in eastern Asia The North Korean government disliked the portrayal of their state as brutal and war hungry The South Koreans boycotted theatres where it was released on December as they were offended by the scene in which an American officer issues orders to the South Korean army in the defence of their homeland and by a lovemaking scene near a statue of the Buddha The Jogye Buddhist Order issued a statement that the film was disrespectful to our religion and does not reflect our values and ethics The Washington Post reported growing resentment in the nation towards the United States An official of the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that Die Another Day was the wrong film at the wrong time
The amount of product placement in the film was a point of criticism specifically from various news outlets such as the BBC Time and Reuters who all used the pun Buy Another Day Reportedly companies paying million had their products featured in the film a record at the time although USA Today reported that number to be as high as million By choice the number of companies involved in product placement was dropped to eight for the next Bond film Casino Royale in
Rotten Tomatoes listed Die Another Day with a rating Metacritic gave the film a out of rating representing mixed or average reviews Michael Dequina of Film Threat praised the film as the best of the series to star Pierce Brosnan and the most satisfying installment of the franchise in recent memory Larry Carroll of CountingDowncom praised Lee Tamahori for having magnificently balanced the film so that it keeps true to the Bond legend makes reference to the classic films that preceded it but also injects a new zest to it all Entertainment Weekly magazine also gave a positive reaction saying that Tamahori a true filmmaker has re established the series pop sensuality Dana Stevens of The New York Times called the film the best of the James Bond series since The Spy Who Loved Me Kyle Bell of Movie Freaks stated in his review that the first half of Die Another Day is classic Bond but that Things start to go downhill when the ice palace gets introduced
However Die Another Day was strongly criticised by some reviewers who felt that the film relied too heavily on gadgets and special effects with the plot being neglected James Berardinelli of Reelviewsnet said This is a train wreck of an action film a stupefying attempt by the filmmakers to force feed James Bond into the mindless xXx mold and throw years of cinematic history down the toilet in favor of bright flashes and loud bangs Of the action sequences he said Die Another Day is an exercise in loud explosions and excruciatingly bad special effects The CGI work in this movie is an order of magnitude worse than anything I have seen in a major motion picture Coupled with lousy production design Die Another Day looks like it was done on the cheap Gary Brown of the Houston Community Newspapers also described the weak point of the film as the seemingly non stop action sequences and loud explosions that appear to take centre stage while the Bond character is almost relegated to second string Roger Moore remarked I thought it just went too far and that s from me the first Bond in space Invisible cars and dodgy CGI footage Please
Die Another Day was written into a novel by the then current official James Bond writer Raymond Benson based on the screenplay by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade Fan reaction to it was above average After its publication Benson retired as the official James Bond novelist and a new series featuring the secret agent s adventures as a teenager by Charlie Higson was launched in As the novelisation was published after Benson s final original novel The Man with the Red Tattoo it was the final literary work featuring Bond as originally conceived by Ian Fleming until the publication of Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks in to mark the th anniversary of Fleming s birth
Speculation arose in of a spin off film concentrating on Jinx which was scheduled for a November December release It was originally reported that MGM was keen to set up a film series that would be a winter olympics alternative to James Bond In the late s MGM had originally considered developing a spin off film based on Michelle Yeoh s character Wai Lin in s Tomorrow Never Dies However despite much speculation of an imminent movie on October Variety reported that MGM had completely pulled the plug on this project to the dismay of Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson of Eon Entertainment who were reported to be clearly furious about the decision MGM were keen to instead move on with the next film Casino Royale
Rakie Olufunmilayo Ayola born May is a Welsh actress best known for her role as Kyla Tyson in the BBC medical drama Holby City She first rose to prominence in the lead role of the Jeanette Winterson screenplay Great Moments in Aviation Ayola has worked in theatre film and television appearing in a number of Shakespearean theatrical performances Hollywood films The i Inside and Sahara and British television shows including Soldier Soldier EastEnders Sea of Souls and Doctor Who She appeared in Holby City from its eighth to eleventh series from to and in starred in the CBBC musical comedy My Almost Famous Family
Ayola is an advocate of increased ethnic representation in the entertainment industry and in founded her own production company producing the short film Persephone s Playground for the Cannes film festival in order to further her campaign In Ayola was shortlisted for the Female Performance in TV award in the Screen Nation Awards receiving Honourable Mention in the same category in and a further shortlisted nomination in She is married to fellow actor Adam Smethurst with whom she has two daughters
Ayola was born in Cardiff Wales in May to a Sierra Leonean mother and a Nigerian father She was raised by her mother s cousin and his wife in Ely Cardiff Ayola s heritage means she is Yoruba by descent although she does not speak the language Ayola studied at Windsor Clive Primary and Glan Ely High School and was a member of the Orbit Youth Theatre South Glamorgan Youth Theatre South Glamorgan Youth Choir and the National Youth Theatre of Wales She left high school before sitting her A Levels in order to pursue her ambition of becoming an actress She explains I ve always wanted to act I decided at I wanted to make my living acting but even if I couldn t I d be in an amateur theatre company She then went on to attend the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama studying for a three year acting diploma Her first acting role was for the Welsh Eisteddfod when still at primary school playing a lady in waiting at the court of King Arthur Ayola has stated that it was Barbra Streisand s performance in Hello Dolly that inspired her to act as a child though credits her adoptive mother with encouraging her to act professionally Ayola s first job was selling jeans on Bessemer Road Market in Cardiff She worked as a chambermaid whilst attending drama school and six weeks prior to graduation was offered a job with the Made in Wales theatre company which enabled her to obtain her union card
Ayola began her career in the theatre performing in a number of Shakespearean plays including Twelfth Night A Midsummer Night s Dream The Tempest The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth She states of this Shakespeare keeps coming my way I love the fact that I get to play people who are much more articulate than I ll ever be Ayola has performed in Twelfth Night in the lead roles of both Olivia and Viola She explains The role of Viola didn t sit that well with me for some reason but Olivia makes more sense She has also appeared in modern performances assuming the title role of Dido Queen of Carthage at the Globe Theatre in London in which she described as a dream of a part She has deemed her dream role to be that of Isabella in Measure for Measure as she once lost out on the part and would like to prove herself capable of playing it
Ayola s first film appearance was in the film Great Moments in Aviation written by Jeanette Winterson in which she starred alongside Jonathan Pryce and John Hurt Variety magazine s David Rooney said of her performance In the film s most naturalistic turn Ayola is a constant pleasure to watch Unforced and appealing she often succeeds in pulling the fanciful fireworks momentarily back down to Earth Ayola recalls having been daunted at the prospect of working alongside so many established names but has deemed it to have been a wonderful experience Her subsequent film credits are romantic comedy The Secret Laughter of Women set in Nigeria and starring Colin Firth thriller The i Inside filmed in Sully Hospital Cardiff and starring Ryan Phillippe and Sahara filmed in Morocco whilst Ayola was pregnant with her first child starring Penlope Cruz Ayola says of her film career I really like doing film but I ve not done enough big films though to really know the difference between film and television
Ayola s first prolific television role was in the ITV drama Soldier Soldier in which she starred throughout its third series in as soldier s wife Bernie Roberts Ayola credits her chemistry with co star Akim Mogaji who played her on screen husband Luke Roberts for winning her her audition She went on to appear in Gone With the Wind sequel Scarlett and star in Welsh soap opera Tiger Bay She has spoken critically of the way the BBC treated the soap moving it around the schedules and declining to commission a second series She acted alongside Pauline Quirke in both Maisie Raine and Being April deeming Quirke to be a fantastic actress and one she would work alongside again like a shot In Ayola appeared at the National Theatre in Helen Edmundson s adaptation of Leo Tolstoy s War and Peace In she became a presenter of the BBC Wales arts programme Double Yellow alongside poet Owen Sheers and performance artist Mark Rees She posed nude but for a pair of yellow rubber gloves to promote the show s launch and was highly critical of the BBC when the show was cancelled midway through its second series She has since concluded that the kind of audience they would like to bring in with shows like Double Yellow aren t really into watching TV but at the time was outspoken against the show s cancellation stating
Ayola s other notable television appearances include the BBC psychological thriller Green Eyed Monster soap opera EastEnders Waking the Dead London s Burning Offenders Murder in Mind The Canterbury Tales and Sea of Souls In she starred in the Doctor Who episode Midnight playing an intergalactic Hostess alongside David Tennant s Tenth Doctor In Ayola starred in the CBBC musical comedy My Almost Famous Family She stated The script made me laugh out loud when I read it I also like the fact that there were a lot of politically correct boxes being ticked but the writers and producer haven t been restrained by that So instead of bowing to this altar they ve said Okay we have this family that s half black half white half American half British We have a mix of boys and girls one character who s mixed raced and deaf but we re not going to be restrained by any of that We re not going to tiptoe around Martha s disability or anything I liked that It wasn t some sort of reverential hands off approach to what we re presenting She has also been cast in the film Dredd
From February to December Ayola starred in BBC medical drama Holby City as nurse Kyla Tyson She had previously appeared in Holby City s sister show Casualty and had made an appearance in Holby City s fifth series as patient Marianne Lawson She was approached about returning to the show in a more permanent role by BBC casting director Julie Harkin After a series of three meetings a year after the birth of her first child she agreed to assume the role of Kyla despite being nervous about signing such a long contract stating I ve been someone who s loved the uncertainty of acting I ve loved that one month it s Sahara in Morocco and the next I m doing a stage play then it s a six part telly thing But last summer I started thinking it would be really nice not to have to look for a job every couple of weeks It would be nice just to stay put for a while If I m going to be a working mum I d rather just be one rather than be one intermittently And then Holby came along so I m very grateful
Ayola signed a three year contract to play Kyla and described herself as very similar to her character speaking positively about her working relationship with co stars Jaye Jacobs and Sharon D Clarke as well as the dream storylines her character was given She said of the show
I really love Holby and I m surprised how much What thrills me about Holby is that you get back what you put in The powers that be are only as interested in you as they think you are in the job For me it s about more than turning up and saying the lines It s about understanding it and trying to make it better That s actually a lot of fun What s great is nobody says Just shut up They want you to work at it I surprise myself sometimes because after two and a half years sometimes I see friends on the side of a poster and I think do I want to do something else but I really like this job I never get that awful dread feeling when you really don t want to go into work
In October Ayola announced that she would be departing from Holby City in order to have a second child stating I ve had a great time and I ll miss it I made the decision purely because I was pregnant but I wasn t really ready to put down the character of Kyla I m very sorry to have to let her go
Throughout her career Ayola has been outspoken on the subject of racial discrimination in the entertainment industry Describing her motivation she states I am not an overtly political person I just want fairness Ayola believes that black actors receive less recognition than their white counterparts explaining If you get a show with six stars and one is black you are more likely to see interviews with the five white actors They are not being sold as a reason to watch She believes that her career would have taken her in a different direction were she not of ethnic origin stating I could not have played any of the roles I have played on TV if I was white I am very aware of where the glass ceiling is and it s still very low and expectations are still very low She has noted having casting directors accept the notion of characters being both black and Welsh to be a particular problem explaining that I get offered a lot of very different roles but they re never Welsh The one time I was asked to play a Welsh character on screen was in Tiger Bay for BBC Wales but I know if that series had been called Radyr Park or Cyncoed Close I wouldn t have been in it In Ayola founded a production company and directed a short film entitled Persephone s Playground She presented the film at the Cannes film festival using it as part of her campaign for increased black representation in theatre films and television The project however was largely unsuccessful with Ayola stating it just made me decide that if there s anything I don t want to do it s produce films because I m rubbish at it I was so bad with the budget that I just said yes to everything and then had to worry about how to pay for things at the end In Ayola offered her support to the Action for Southern Africa campaign Dignity Period aiming to provide affordable sanitary protection to Zimbabwean women
Ayola was nominated and shortlisted for the Female Performance in TV award in the Screen Nation Awards for her role as Kyla Tyson in Holby City She received Honourable Mention for the same role the following year and was shortlisted again in In WalesOnline voted Ayola the th sexiest woman in Wales saying of her One of our favourite thesps she s black beautiful and the term yummy mummy should have been made for her She placed th in with the Western Mail noting the last years have only seen Rakie become more beautiful and more successful Ayola placed th in the awards in
Ayola describes herself as optimistic cynical lazy naive and honest She spends her free time watching television the theatre cinema concerts indoor wall climbing and keeping fit with yoga and aerobics She has a collection of Troll dolls which she keeps under her bath Ayola has an interest in travel and has visited Peru and Kenya among other destinations She has expressed a desire to visit Brazil and Argentina and has a romantic notion of travelling around Europe in a camper van Ayola often speaks of her pride in her Welsh upbringing describing herself as an Ely girl through and through She was made a Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in
During a production of Hamlet Ayola met her future husband fellow actor Adam Smethurst son of Love Thy Neighbour star Jack Smethurst They met again two years later during a production of Twelfth Night and went on to become a couple The pair married in May and Ayola gave birth to their first daughter in July that year Their second daughter was born in January
Ayola has undertaken the following roles from her screen and televisual debut in to the present day
Senj no Valkyria Unrecorded Chronicles Japanese lit Valkyria of the Battlefield commonly referred to as Valkyria Chronicles III outside Japan is a tactical role playing video game developed by Sega and MediaVision for the PlayStation Portable Released in January in Japan it is the third game in the Valkyria series Employing the same fusion of tactical and real time gameplay as its predecessors the story runs parallel to the first game and follows the Nameless a penal military unit serving the nation of Gallia during the Second Europan War who perform secret black operations and are pitted against the Imperial unit Calamaty Raven
The game began development in carrying over a large portion of the work done on Valkyria Chronicles II While it retained the standard features of the series it also underwent multiple adjustments such as making the game more forgiving for series newcomers Character designer Raita Honjou and composer Hitoshi Sakimoto both returned from previous entries along with Valkyria Chronicles II director Takeshi Ozawa A large team of writers handled the script The game s opening theme was sung by May n
It met with positive sales in Japan and was praised by both Japanese and western critics After release it received downloadable content along with an expanded edition in November of that year It was also adapted into manga and an original video animation series Due to low sales of Valkyria Chronicles II Valkyria Chronicles III was not localized but a fan translation compatible with the game s expanded edition was released in MediaVision would return to the franchise with the development of Valkyria Azure Revolution for the PlayStation
As with previous Valkyira Chronicles games Valkyria Chronicles III is a tactical role playing game where players take control of a military unit and take part in missions against enemy forces Stories are told through comic book like panels with animated character portraits with characters speaking partially through voiced speech bubbles and partially through unvoiced text The player progresses through a series of linear missions gradually unlocked as maps that can be freely scanned through and replayed as they are unlocked The route to each story location on the map varies depending on an individual player s approach when one option is selected the other is sealed off to the player Outside missions the player characters rest in a camp where units can be customized and character growth occurs Alongside the main story missions are character specific sub missions relating to different squad members After the game s completion additional episodes are unlocked some of them having a higher difficulty than those found in the rest of the game There are also love simulation elements related to the game s two main heroines although they take a very minor role
The game s battle system the BliTZ system is carried over directly from Valkyira Chronicles During missions players select each unit using a top down perspective of the battlefield map once a character is selected the player moves the character around the battlefield in third person A character can only act once per turn but characters can be granted multiple turns at the expense of other characters turns Each character has a field and distance of movement limited by their Action Gauge Up to nine characters can be assigned to a single mission During gameplay characters will call out if something happens to them such as their health points HP getting low or being knocked out by enemy attacks Each character has specific Potentials skills unique to each character They are divided into Personal Potential which are innate skills that remain unaltered unless otherwise dictated by the story and can either help or impede a character and Battle Potentials which are grown throughout the game and always grant boons to a character To learn Battle Potentials each character has a unique Masters Table a grid based skill table that can be used to acquire and link different skills Characters also have Special Abilities that grant them temporary boosts on the battlefield Kurt can activate Direct Command and move around the battlefield without depleting his Action Point gauge the character Reila can shift into her Valkyria Form and become invincible while Imca can target multiple enemy units with her heavy weapon
Troops are divided into five classes Scouts Shocktroopers Engineers Lancers and Armored Soldier Troopers can switch classes by changing their assigned weapon Changing class does not greatly affect the stats gained while in a previous class With victory in battle experience points are awarded to the squad which are distributed into five different attributes shared by the entire squad a feature differing from early games method of distributing to different unit types
The game takes place during the Second Europan War Gallian Army Squad also known as The Nameless are a penal military unit composed of criminals foreign deserters and military offenders whose real names are erased from the records and thereon officially referred to by numbers Ordered by the Gallian military to perform the most dangerous missions that the Regular Army and Militia will not do they are nevertheless up to the task exemplified by their motto Altaha Abilia meaning Always Ready The three main characters are No Kurt Irving an army officer falsely accused of treason who wishes to redeem himself Ace No Imca a female Darcsen heavy weapons specialist who seeks revenge against the Valkyria who destroyed her home and No Riela Marcellis a seemingly jinxed young woman who is unknowingly a descendant of the Valkyria Together with their fellow squad members these three are tasked to fight against a mysterious Imperial unit known as Calamity Raven consisting of mostly Darcsen soldiers
As the Nameless officially do not exist the upper echelons of the Gallian Army exploit the concept of plausible deniability in order to send them on missions that would otherwise make Gallia lose face in the war While at times this works to their advantage such as a successful incursion into Imperial territory other orders cause certain members of the nd great distress One such member Gusurg becomes so enraged that he abandons his post and defects into the ranks of Calamity Raven attached to the ideal of Darcsen independence proposed by their leader Dahau At the same time elements within Gallian Army Command move to erase the Nameless in order to protect their own interests Hounded by both allies and enemies and combined with the presence of a traitor within their ranks the nd desperately move to keep themselves alive while at the same time fight to help the Gallian war effort This continues until the Nameless s commanding officer Ramsey Crowe who had been kept under house arrest is escorted to the capital city of Randgriz in order to present evidence exonerating the weary soldiers and expose the real traitor the Gallian General that had accused Kurt of Treason
Partly due to these events and partly due to the major losses in manpower Gallia suffers towards the end of the war with the Empire the Nameless are offered a formal position as a squad in the Gallian Army rather than serve as an anonymous shadow force This is short lived however as following Maximilian s defeat Dahau and Calamity Raven move to activate an ancient Valkyrian super weapon within the Empire kept secret by their benefactor Without the support of Maximilian or the chance to prove themselves in the war with Gallia it is Dahau s last trump card in creating a new Darcsen nation As an armed Gallian force invading the Empire just following the two nations cease fire would certainly wreck their newfound peace Kurt decides to once again make his squad the Nameless asking Crowe to list himself and all under his command as killed in action Now owing allegiance to none other than themselves the nd confronts Dahau and destroys the Valkyrian weapon Each member then goes their separate ways in order to begin their lives anew
Concept work for Valkyria Chronicles III began after development finished on Valkyria Chronicles II in early with full development beginning shortly after this The director of Valkyria Chronicles II Takeshi Ozawa returned to that role for Valkyria Chronicles III Development work took approximately one year After the release of Valkyria Chronicles II the staff took a look at both the popular response for the game and what they wanted to do next for the series Like its predecessor Valkyria Chronicles III was developed for PlayStation Portable this was due to the team wanting to refine the mechanics created for Valkyria Chronicles II and they had not come up with the revolutionary idea that would warrant a new entry for the PlayStation Speaking in an interview it was stated that the development team considered Valkyria Chronicles III to be the series first true sequel while Valkyria Chronicles II had required a large amount of trial and error during development due to the platform move the third game gave them a chance to improve upon the best parts of Valkyria Chronicles II due to being on the same platform In addition to Sega staff from the previous games development work was also handled by MediaVision The original scenario was written Kazuki Yamanobe while the script was written by Hiroyuki Fujii Koichi Majima Kishiko Miyagi Seiki Nagakawa and Takayuki Shouji Its story was darker and more somber than that of its predecessor
The majority of material created for previous games such as the BLiTZ system and the design of maps was carried over Alongside this improvements were made to the game s graphics and some elements were expanded such as map layouts mission structure and the number of playable units per mission A part of this upgrade involved creating unique polygon models for each character s body In order to achieve this the cooperative elements incorporated into the second game were removed as they took up a large portion of memory space needed for the improvements They also adjusted the difficulty settings and ease of play so they could appeal to new players while retaining the essential components of the series gameplay The newer systems were decided upon early in development The character designs were done by Raita Honjou who had worked on the previous Valkyria Chronicles games When creating the Nameless Squad Honjou was faced with the same problem he had had during the first game the military uniforms essentially destroyed character individuality despite him needing to create unique characters the player could identify while maintaining a sense of reality within the Valkyria Chronicles world The main color of the Nameless was black As with the previous Valkyria games Valkyria Chronicles III used the CANVAS graphics engine The anime opening was produced by Production IG
The music was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto who had also worked on the previous Valkyria Chronicles games When he originally heard about the project he thought it would be a light tone similar to other Valkyria Chronicles games but found the themes much darker than expected An early theme he designed around his original vision of the project was rejected He redid the main theme about seven times through the music production due to this need to reassess the game The main theme was initially recorded using orchestra then Sakimoto removed elements such as the guitar and bass then adjusted the theme using a synthesizer before redoing segments such as the guitar piece on their own before incorporating them into the theme The rejected main theme was used as a hopeful tune that played during the game s ending The battle themes were designed around the concept of a modern battle divorced from a fantasy scenario by using modern musical instruments constructed to create a sense of atonality While Sakimoto was most used to working with synthesized music he felt that he needed to incorporate live instruments such as orchestra and guitar The guitar was played by Mitsuhiro Ohta who also arranged several of the later tracks The game s opening theme song If You Wish for Moshimo Kimi ga Negauno Nara was sung by Japanese singer May n Its theme was the reason soldiers fought in particular their wish to protect what was precious to them rather than a sense of responsibility or duty Its lyrics were written by Seiko Fujibayashi who had worked on May n on previous singles
In September a teaser website was revealed by Sega hinting at a new Valkyria Chronicles game In its September issue Famitsu listed that Senj no Valkyria would be arriving on the PlayStation Portable Its first public appearance was at the Tokyo Game Show TGS where a demo was made available for journalists and attendees During the publicity story details were kept scant so as not to spoil too much for potential players along with some of its content still being in flux at the time of its reveal To promote the game and detail the story leading into the game s events an episodic Flash visual novel written by Fujii began release in January The game was released January During an interview the development team said that the game had the capacity for downloadable content DLC but that no plans were finalized Multiple DLC maps featuring additional missions and recruitable characters were released between February and April An expanded edition of the game Valkyria Chronicles III Extra Edition released on November Packaged and sold at a lower price than the original Extra Edition game with seven additional episodes three new three chosen by staff from the game s DLC and one made available as a pre order bonus People who also owned the original game could transfer their save data between versions
Unlike its two predecessors Valkyria Chronicles III was not released in the west According to Sega this was due to poor sales of Valkyria Chronicles II and the general unpopularity of the PSP in the west An unofficial fan translation patch began development in February players with a copy of Valkyria Chronicles III could download and apply the patch which translated the game s text into English Compatible with the Extra Edition the patch was released in January
On its day of release in Japan Valkyria Chronicles III topped both platform exclusive and multi platform sales charts By early February the game sold units coming in second overall to The Last Story for the Wii By the end of the year the game had sold just over units
Famitsu enjoyed the story and were particularly pleased with the improvements to gameplay Japanese gaming site Game Watch Impress despite negatively noting its pacing and elements recycled from previous games was generally positive about its story and characters and found its gameplay entertaining despite off putting difficulty spikes Gamernet writer Naohiko Misuosame in a Play Test article based on the game s PSN demo felt that Valkyria Chronicles III provided a profound feeling of closure for the Valkyria Chronicles series He praised its gameplay despite annoying limitations to aspects such as special abilities and positively noted its shift in story to a tone similar to the first game
PlayStation Official Magazine UK praised the story s blurring of Gallia s moral standing art style and most points about its gameplay positively noting the latter for both its continued quality and the tweaks to balance and content Its one major criticism were multiple difficulty spikes something that had affected the previous games Heath Hindman of gaming website PlayStation Lifestyle praised the addition of non linear elements and improvements or removal of mechanics from Valkyria Chronicles II in addition to praising the returning gameplay style of previous games He also positively noted the story s serious tone Points criticized in the review were recycled elements awkward cutscenes that seemed to include all characters in a scene for no good reason pacing issues and occasional problems with the game s AI
In a preview of the TGS demo Ryan Geddes of IGN was left excited as to where the game would go after completing the demo along with enjoying the improved visuals over Valkyria Chronicles II Kotaku s Richard Eisenbeis was highly positive about the game citing is story as a return to form after Valkyria Chronicles II and its gameplay being the best in the series His main criticisms were its length and gameplay repetition along with expressing regret that it would not be localized
Kurt and Riela were featured in the Nintendo DS crossover Project X Zone representing the Valkyria series MediaVision would return to the series to develop Valkyria Azure Revolution with Ozawa returning as director Azure Revolution is a role playing video game for the PlayStation that forms the beginning of a new series within the Valkyria franchise
Valkyria Chronicles was adapted into a two episode original video animation series in the same year of its release Titled Senj no Valkyria Taga Tame no Js lit Valkyria of the Battlefield The Wound Taken for Someone s Sake it was originally released through PlayStation Network and Qriocity between April and May The initially planned release and availability period needed to be extended due to a stoppage to PSN during the early summer of that year It later released for DVD on June and August with separate Black and Blue editions being available for purchase The anime is set during the latter half of Valkyria Chronicles III detailing a mission by the Nameless against their Imperial rivals Calamity Raven The anime was first announced in November It was developed by A Pictures produced by Shinji Motoyama directed by Nobuhiro Kond and written by Hiroshi nogi Sakimoto s music for the game was used in the anime
The anime s title was inspired by the principle purpose of the Nameless to suffer in battle for the goals of others A subtitle attached to the project during development was The Road to Kubinka which referenced the Kubinka Tank Museum in Moscow The game s main theme was how the characters regained their sense of self when stripped of their names and identities along with general themes focused on war and its consequences While making the anime the production team were told by Sega to make it as realistic as possible with the consequence that the team did extensive research into aspects such as what happened when vehicles like tanks were overturned or damaged Due to it being along the same timeline as the original game and its television anime adaptation the cast of Valkyria Chronicles could make appearances which pleased the team The opening theme Akari Light Tomoshibi TOMOSHIBI was sung by Japanese singer Faylan The ending theme Someday the Flowers of Light Will Bloom Itsuka Saku Hikari no Hana was sung by Minami Kuribayashi Both songs lyrics were written by their respective artists
Two manga adaptations were produced following each of the game s main female protagonists Imca and Riela They were Senj no Valkyria Namo naki Chikai no Hana lit Valkyria of the Battlefield The Flower of the Nameless Oath illustrated by Naoyuki Fujisawa and eventually released in two volumes after being serialized in Dengeki Maoh between and and Senj no Valkyria Akaki Unmei no Ikusa Otome lit Valkyria of the Battlefield The Valkyrie of the Crimson Fate illustrated by Mizuki Tsuge and eventually released in a single volume by Kadokawa Shoten in
The Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal also known as US Arsenal Building is a building located in MacArthur Park in downtown Little Rock Arkansas Built in it was part of Little Rock s first military installation Since its decommissioning The Tower Building has housed two museums It was home to the Arkansas Museum of Natural History and Antiquities from to and the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History since It has also been the headquarters of the Little Rock sthetic Club since
The building receives its name from its distinct octagonal tower Besides being the last remaining structure of the original Little Rock Arsenal and one of the oldest buildings in central Arkansas it was also the birthplace of General Douglas MacArthur who became the supreme commander of US forces in the South Pacific during World War II It was also the starting place of the Camden Expedition In it was named as one of the top attractions in the state of Arkansas by Arkansascom
The arsenal was constructed at the request of Governor James Sevier Conway in response to the perceived dangers of frontier life and fears of the many Native Americans who were passing through the state on their way to the newly established Oklahoma Territory Thirty six acres were appropriated on the outskirts of Little Rock by Major Robert B Lee of the US Army The land had been previously used as a racetrack by the local jockey club John Wormley Walker a builder for the Federal Government supervised the construction Originally was allocated for the construction of the arsenal but proved inadequate The budget was later increased to Work began on the Tower Building in and it was the first permanent structure of the arsenal to be built Being originally constructed to store ammunition the building was designed with foot thick m exterior walls The original plans called for it to be built of stone however masonry was used instead The Arkansas Gazette referred to the structure as A splendid specimen of masonry
For several years the arsenal which was owned by the federal government served as a simple arms depot and was staffed with only a handful of soldiers But in November with the American Civil War on the horizon a company of the Second United States Artillery consisting of sixty five men was transferred to Little Rock under the command of Captain James Totten On January the state legislature decided to hold a referendum to determine if a state convention should be held to consider the issue of secession and to elect delegates to such a convention It was planned for February however events at the arsenal would not wait On January then Governor Henry Massey Rector informed Captain Totten that he and his soldiers would be permitted to remain in the possession of the Federal officers until the State by authority of the people shall have determined to sever their connection with the General Government Totten responded to this by telling the Governor that his orders came from the United States Government and began a desperate but ultimately futile dispatch of letters and telegrams asking for reinforcements although rumors were widely spread that they were already coming The first telegraph wire to span between Little Rock and Memphis had recently been completed Local attorney John M Harrel was asked to compose the first telegraph dispatched from Arkansas s capital In his message Harrel reported unconfirmed rumors that more federal troops had been sent to reinforce the Little Rock Arsenal
The United States troops at the outposts of the western frontier of the state and in the Indian nation have all been recalled from winter quarters to reinforce the garrison at Fort Smith The garrison at Fort Smith had been previously transferred to the United States Arsenal in this city Little Rock The arsenal is one of the richest depositories of military stores in the United States and is supposed to be the ultimate destination of the tropps sic ordered from the frontier
John M Harrel Telegram January
The item was intended simply as a piece of news but telegraph lines quickly spread the news throughout the state fueling procession sentiment The rumor was interpreted by some Arkansans as a call from the governor to assemble to help expel the federal troops from the arsenal By February six militia units consisting of men with a guarantee that the numbers could be increased to if the situations deemed it necessary had assembled in Little Rock Governor Rector vehemently denied ordering the troops to assemble or giving any order at all in connection with the troops Faced with the fact that the military had assembled believing they were following his orders and the consensus of the citizens of Little Rock against any armed conflict between the civilian army and federal troops Governor Rector was forced to take control of the situation On February he sent a formal demand for surrender of the arsenal to Captain Totten
This movement is prompted by the feeling that pervades the citizens of this State that in the present emergency the arms and munitions of war in the Arsenal should be under the control of the State authorities in order to their security This movement although not authorized by me has assumed such an aspect that it becomes my duty as the executive of this Sate to interpose my official authority to prevent a collision between the people of the State and the Federal troops under your command I therefore demand in the name of the State the delivery of the possession of the Arsenal and munitions of war under your charge to the State authorities to be held subject to the action of the convention to be held on the th of March next
Perhaps because Abraham Lincoln had not yet been inaugurated as President Captain Totten received no instructions from his superiors and was forced to withdraw his troops He agreed to surrender the arsenal as long as the governor agreed to three provisions
The governor would take possession of the arsenal in the name of the United States
The soldiers would be allowed safe passage in any direction carrying any personal and public property besides munitions of war
The soldiers would be allowed to march away as men leaving under orders not as conquered and surrendering soldiers
On the morning of February Rector and Totten signed an agreement placing the arsenal in the hands of state officials That afternoon the citizen militia marched to the arsenal with Governor Rector at its head All of the federal troops had left at this point except Totten who had stayed behind to listen to the Governor s speech and to hand the arsenal over in person
The Little Rock Arsenal was classified in as an arsenal of deposit meaning that it was simply a warehouse for the storage of weapons intended for the use of the state militia in times of crisis Thus there were no substantial operations for ordnance fabrication or repairs nor for the manufacture of cartridges at the time the Arsenal fell into State hands Most of these operations were started from scratch through the efforts of the Arkansas Military Board
Inside the Little Rock Arsenal after its seizure in February the Confederates inventoried some weapons musket cartridges and percussion caps as well as the four bronze cannon of Totten s battery Long arms in the Arsenal s inventory consisted of
Of this number approximately weapons were serviceable or ready for issue Note there were only percussion weapons available Disposition of the weapons found in the Arsenal is somewhat sketchy but from various records it can be surmised that the th th th and th Arkansas Infantry Regiments mustered in June were issued M M caliber flintlocks The th and th Arkansas four companies of Kelly s th Arkansas Battalion and the rd Arkansas Cavalry Regiment were issued flintlock Hall s Rifles The units comprising the infantry force of Van Dorn s Army of the West were the st and nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles were also armed with M flintlocks from the Little Rock Arsenal By the time the th and th Arkansas Infantry Regiments mustered in at Little Rock the supply of arms had been almost completely exhausted and only old junker weapons were left
Most of the equipment arms and machinery at the Little Rock Arsenal was removed to east of the Mississippi River by order of Maj Gen Earl Van Dorn in April and May and accountability for it is lost at that point By all appearances the equipment was sent down the river to Napoleon Arkansas and from there to Jackson Mississippi where it was probably destroyed during the Vicksburg campaign in the early summer of
Major General Thomas C Hindman sent to command the district of Arkansas in May found the state nearly destitute of military material Hindman established another armory at Arkadelphia and revived the Little Rock Arsenal as a collection point and depot for armaments and ammunition manufacture for small arms Hindman recorded
Machinery was made for manufacturing percussion caps and small arms and both were turned out in small quantity but of excellent quality Lead mines were opened and worked and a chemical laboratory was established and successfully operated in aid of the Ordnance Department and in the manufacture of calomel castor oil spirits of nitre the various tinctures of iron and other valuable medicines Most of these works were located at or near Arkadelphia on the Ouachita River miles south from Little Rock The tools machinery and the material were gathered piecemeal or else made by hand labor Nothing of this sort had been before attempted on Government account in Arkansas to my knowledge except for the manufacture of small arms the machinery for which was taken away by General Van Dorn and there was neither capital nor sufficient enterprise among the citizens to engage in such undertakings A further supply along with lead and caps was procured from the citizens of Little Rock and vicinity by donation purchases and impressments
This ammunition and that which I brought with me was rapidly prepared for use at the Laboratory established at the Little Rock Arsenal for that purpose As illustrating as the pitiful scarcity of material in the country the fact may be stated that it was found necessary to use public documents of the State Library for cartridge paper Gunsmiths were employed or conscripted tools purchased or impressed and the repair of the damaged guns I brought with me and about an equal number found at Little Rock commenced at once But after inspecting the work and observing the spirit of the men I decided that a garrison strong could hold out against Fitch and that I would lead the remainder about to Gen l Rust as soon as shotguns and rifles could be obtained from Little Rock instead of pikes and lances with which most of them were armed Two days elapsed before the change could be effected
The Confederate ordnance establishment at Little Rock was reactivated in August Looking around for a suitable person to head this activity General Hindman turned to the Confederate Navy and borrowed Lieutenant John W Dunnington Lt Dunnington was the commander of the gunboat CSS Ponchartrain which had been brought to Little Rock in hopes of converting it to an ironclad Dunnington was selected to head the ordnance works at Little Rock and although he continued to draw his pay from the Confederate Navy Department he was placed in charge of all Confederate ordnance activities which included artillery functions there with the rank of lieutenant colonel
Lt Col Dunnington s Returns for the month of August at Little Rock Arsenal CSA are found in Vol Chapter IV of the Captured Rebel Ordnance Records and are most enlightening as to the scope of Confederate ordnance activities at Little Rock during this crucial time According to Dunnington When I assumed command at this Post all material had been removed to Arkadelphia There were no persons employed No shops were open for repair of arms or for fabricating ammunition Material tools etc had to be procured as well as the employment of laborers Work commenced the last part of the month
The military force at Little Rock under Dunnington s command consisted of four officers himself Major John B Lockman Captain CC Green and nd Lt WW Murphy In addition to these he had enlisted men and a civilian force composed of a foreman clerks gunsmiths for repairing small arms a laboratorian laborers in the ammunition laboratory and a carpenter for making packing boxes
During the month of August the following work was performed Fabricated one pair of musket bullet moulds buck ball shot cartridges repaired muskets shotguns and rifles received and repaired ordnance stores and ordnances performed guard office and police duties inspected Posts at Camden and Arkadelphia
Lt Col Dunnington continued to build up his works at Little Rock until November when Captain Sanford C Faulkner composer of The Arkansas Traveler was placed in charge of the Arsenal Dunnington presumably returned to his naval duties and the Ponchartrain
A Summary of the Work Done for November Little Rock Arsenal shows Fabrication
shotguns and rifles repaired mostly for troops in service
pistols repaired mostly for troops in service
packages of ordnance and ordnance stores received and mostly issued to troops in service
Guard office and police duties
Perhaps the most illuminating points of the above Summary of Work and those for following months are that the standard ammunition made was buck ball indicating that the caliber smoothbores and shotguns remained the predominant caliber weapon in use and of this nearly one sixth or more of all small arms ammunition was still for flintlock weapons indicating that no less than a sixth of the Confederate troops in this vicinity were still armed with obsolete flintlock weapons
The Summaries of Work done at Little Rock Arsenal CSA continue at about the same pace and scale from August until August Appended to the Summary for August is the ominous notation During the last week in the month nearly all stores at the Arsenal have been packed and sent to Arkadelphia in obedience to orders from Chief of Ordnance District of Arkansas This then marks the beginning of the evacuation of ordnance activities from Little Rock with the city being surrendered to the advancing Federal troops of Frederick Steele s Arkansas Expedition on September
In after Little Rock fell to the Union Army and the arsenal had been recaptured General Fredrick Steele marched troops from the arsenal beginning the Camden Expedition
The arsenal was briefly seized once more by Joseph Brooks loyalists during the Brooks Baxter War of
In the building was renamed Little Rock Barracks and used as a barracks for married officers and their families The building was drastically altered the inside and outside Prior to renovation a rear basement door provided the only entrance to the building while the tower served as a hoist to move munitions between floors By front and rear porches had been added to the building as well as interior walls and stairs some of which remain today including the central staircase In Douglas MacArthur was born on the northwest upper floor of this building while his father Captain Arthur MacArthur was stationed there
In the s the federal government began closing many small arsenals around the country in favor of smaller ones built near railroads for quick deployment The arsenal commander received word from Washington that the Little Rock site must be abandoned not later than October On April the tower building and the surrounding buildings were traded to the city of Little Rock for acres km in North Little Rock under the condition that the building and land be forever exclusively devoted to the uses and purposes of a public park for acres km in Big Rock Mountain on the north side of the Arkansas River present day North Little Rock That site later became Fort Logan H Roots All of the original buildings surrounding the Tower Building were demolished
In the Little Rock sthetic Club one of the oldest women s societies west of the Mississippi River moved into the Tower Building This was prompted due to increased membership and a need for larger more permanent quarters The previous year club members working with women s organizations throughout the state raised money to furnish the Arkansas Building of the Columbian Exposition at The Chicago World s Fair At the fair s conclusion artifacts from the exhibit were displayed in the Tower Building with the sthetic Club invited to meet in the Columbian Room
Except for sthetic Club meetings the Tower Building remained largely unoccupied for almost fifty years and suffered significant deterioration The sthetic Club provided much needed financial support during the period and even paid the electric bill during the Great Depression The sthetic Club is still headquartered in the Tower Building
The building and the surrounding park were used for many public purposes throughout the early th century The Tower Building served as headquarters for the United Confederate Veterans Reunion May Over Civil War veterans the largest popular gathering in the history of the city up to that time attended and were housed in the building or camped in the park which had also become a popular camping area Later the building served as an armory for the Arkansas National Guard In the second floor of the Tower Building became Little Rock s first public library In Little Rock built a fire station in the park that building is now gone A band shell named for H H Foster also was built in the park during this time but also no longer exists In Works Progress Administration built the Museum of Fine Arts now called the Arkansas Arts Center just south of the Tower Building
The arsenal was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in Due to its association with the Camden Expedition of the arsenal may be included in the Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark designated in
In the Tower Building was renovated due to the efforts of the sthetic Club Little Rock philanthropist Frederick W Allsop and the Works Progress Administration It became the new home of The Arkansas Museum of Natural History and Antiquities which had been located in Little Rock City Hall The museum remained in the tower building for approximately fifty five years The area surrounding the Tower Building had been known as Arsenal Park when the first decommissioned and then later renamed City Park Due to the efforts of Bernie Babcock however the city finally named it MacArthur Park in in honor of Douglas MacArthur
In the Museum of Science and Natural History merged with the Little Rock Children s Museum which had been located in Union Station to form the Arkansas Museum of Discovery The new museum was relocated to a historic building in the Little Rock River Market District The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History opened on May in the Tower Building The new museum s goal is to educate and inform visitors about the military history of Arkansas preserve the Tower Building honor servicemen and servicewomen of the United States and commemorate the birthplace of Douglas MacArthur
Cicely Mary Barker June February was an English illustrator best known for a series of fantasy illustrations depicting fairies and flowers Barker s art education began in girlhood with correspondence courses and instruction at the Croydon School of Art Her earliest professional work included greeting cards and juvenile magazine illustrations and her first book Flower Fairies of the Spring was published in Similar books were published in the following decades
Barker was a devout Anglican and donated her artworks to Christian fundraisers and missionary organizations She produced a few Christian themed books such as The Children s Book of Hymns and in collaboration with her sister Dorothy He Leadeth Me She designed a stained glass window for St Edmund s Church Pitlake and her painting of the Christ Child The Darling of the World Has Come was purchased by Queen Mary
Barker was equally proficient in watercolour pen and ink oils and pastels Kate Greenaway and the Pre Raphaelites were the principal influences on her work She claimed to paint instinctively and rejected artistic theories Barker died in Though she published Flower Fairy books with spring summer and autumn themes it wasn t until that a winter collection was assembled from her remaining work and published posthumously
Barker was born the second daughter and youngest child of Walter Barker a partner in a seed supply company and an amateur artist and his wife Mary Eleanor Oswald Barker on June at home at Waddon Road in Croydon Surrey England Barker was an epileptic as a child and cared for at home by her parents Later her sister and elder by two years Dorothy Oswald Barker continued the care
The family of four was moderately well off and belonged to the lower end of the upper middle class A nanny a governess and a cook to prepare special meals for Barker were hired She spent much time in bed at home amusing herself with painting books and a nursery library that included the works of Kate Greenaway and Randolph Caldecott two artists who exerted strong influences on her later art
Barker took correspondence courses in art probably until about In at years she entered an evening class at the Croydon School of Art and attended the school into the s In time she received a teaching position
In Raphael Tuck Sons bought four of Barker s little drawings for half a sovereign and published them as postcards In October she won second prize in the Croydon Art Society s poster competition and shortly afterward was elected the youngest member of the Society The art critic for the Croydon Advertiser remarked Her drawings show a remarkable freedom of spirit She has distinct promise
Following her father s death in June the seventeen year old Barker submitted art and poetry to My Magazine Child s Own Leading Strings and Raphael Tuck annuals in an effort to support both her mother and sister Her sister Dorothy taught kindergarten in two private schools before opening a kindergarten at home She brought in some money for the family s support while supervising the household
Fairies became a popular theme in art and literature in the early th century following the releases of The Coming of the Fairies by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Peter Pan by JM Barrie and the fairy themed work of Australian Ida Rentoul Outhwaite Queen Mary made such themes even more popular by sending Outhwaite postcards to friends during the s In Barker produced a postcard series depicting elves and fairies
In Barker sent her flower fairy paintings to various publishers Blackie paid for paintings with accompanying verses but it wasn t until publication of Flower Fairies of the Summer in that Barker received royalties for her work Mary Violet Clayton Calthrop wife of author Dion Clayton Calthrop wrote in April about Barker and Flower Fairies of the Spring She has such exquisite taste besides draughtsmanship
In the family moved into a four level semi detached Victorian house at The Waldrons Barker had a studio built in the garden and her sister conducted a kindergarten in a room at the back of the house The family lived frugally and attended both St Edmund s and St Andrew s in Croydon low churches for the less privileged Barker sometimes incorporated portraits of her fellow parishioners in her religious works She was described by Canon Ingram Hill as one of the pillars of St Andrew s
The children in the kindergarten modelled for the Flower Fairies until the kindergarten closed in In an interview in Barker said My sister ran a kindergarten and I used to borrow her students for models For many years I had an atmosphere of children about me I never forgot it She also painted the children of relatives as well as Gladys Tidy the Barkers young housekeeper who posed for the Primrose Fairy in The plants were painted from life and if a specimen was not readily at hand Kew Gardens staff would provide her the specimens needed Barker designed and built the Flower Fairy costumes and based each on the flowers and leaves of the particular plant to be illustrated The costumes were kept in a trunk in her studio along with wings made of twigs and gauze Each was broken down after an illustration was completed and the parts recycled for other costumes She often referred to Dion Clayton Calthrop s English Costume
In the late s Barker began to doubt she was doing enough for the church and considered focusing solely on sacred works Family and friends recommended she continue secular and sacred works which she did
Barker continued to attend evening classes at the Croydon Art School between the s and the s eventually receiving a teaching position She took sketching trips to Amberley and Storrington in Sussex and to Cornwall and the southern coast with family and friends She visited and stayed with artist Margaret Tarrant in Gomshall Surrey and with family in Ugglebarnby Near Whitby North Yorkshire
In the Barker s live in maid retired and Dorothy Barker closed her school at the back of the house in The Waldrons She continued to supervise the household and to give both her mother and sister the care they needed Dorothy and her sister collaborated upon only two books Our Darling s First Book and the Christian themed He Leadeth Me In Dorothy Barker died of a heart attack Barker was unable to pursue her art to any significant extent following her sister s death as all the care of her aged mother devolved upon her but she did manage to begin planning a stained glass window design in her sister s memory for St Edmund s Pitlake
Barker s mother died in and in Barker moved from The Waldrons to Duppas Avenue in Croydon She restored a maisonette in Storrington Sussex England bequeathed by her friend Edith Major and named it St Andrew s After taking up residence her health began to deteriorate She was in and out of nursing and convalescent homes and tended by relatives and friends
Barker died at Worthing Hospital on February aged years Two funeral services were held one in Storrington Church and one in Barker s maisonette Her ashes were scattered in Storrington churchyard In Frederick Warne a division of Penguin Books since acquired the Flower Fairies properties
Barker worked principally in watercolor with pen and ink but she was equally competent in black and white in oils and in pastels She carried a sketchbook with her for capturing interesting children She once indicated I have always tried to paint instinctively in a way that comes naturally to me without any real thought or attention to artistic theories
Kate Greenaway was a childhood favorite and an influence on her art Barker s child subjects wear nostalgic clothing as Greenaway s children do though Barker s children are less melancholy and less flat in appearance due perhaps to advances in printing technology Barker studied flowers with an analytical eye and was friend to children s illustrator Margaret Tarrant Along with Greenaway illustrator Alice B Woodward also influenced Barker s work
The Pre Raphaelites were a strong lifelong influence on Barker She once indicated I am to some extent influenced by them not in any technical sense but in the choice of subject matter and the feeling and atmosphere they could achieve She admitted a fondness for the early paintings of John Everett Millais and the wonderful things of Edward Burne Jones
Barker s sketches drawings and paintings of children were given to friends or to the parents of the subjects donated to charitable institutions and church sponsored events or exhibited through various art organizations She illustrated magazine covers dust jackets and produced series of postcards for Raphael Tuck and other publishers such as Picturesque Children of the Allies Seaside Holidays and Shakespeare s Boy and Girl Characters Her own Old Rhymes for All Times and The Lord of the Rushie River a tale about a girl who lives among swans on a riverbank were critically well received Set about Groundsel and Necklaces tells of a girl named Jenny who rescues her family from poverty through the agency of the fairies The story features an old Scrooge like man called Mr Petercoo and tonally suggests a Dickensian social consciousness Simon the Swan intended as a sequel to Rushie River was outlined in with Groundsel but only developed in It was published posthumously in and is critically considered less successful than Groundsel
Barker was a devout Christian and produced religious themed works throughout her life She published eight postcards and five guardian angel birthday cards for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in and in respectively Christmas cards were designed for The Girls Friendly Society over a year period and the first three designs sold out a combined printing of in An original design for the society called The Darling of the World Has Come was purchased by Queen Mary for in The Croydon Art Society hung Barker s booklet cover design for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in its November exhibition
Religious themed books include The Children s Book of Hymns and He Leadeth Me the latter written in collaboration with her sister Major religious works include the triptychs in oil The Feeding of the Five Thousand for the chapel in Llandaff House a home for destitute women at Penarth Wales and The Parable of the Great Supper for St George s Chapel Waddon The Feeding has since disappeared and only a black and white photograph dated reproduces the work In she completed oil panels on the subject of the seven sacraments for the baptismal font at St Andrew s South Croydon She designed baptismal rolls for the wall behind the font in and In she completed the x ft oil painting Out of Great Tribulation for the Memorial Chapel of Norbury Methodist Church Following the death of her sister in Barker began designs for a stained glass memorial window depicting Christ preparing to wash the feet of his disciples Her last religious themed work it was installed in St Edmund s Pitlake in
Picturesque Children of the Allies J Salmon
National Mission Society for the Preservation of Christian Knowledge
Shakespeare s Boy Characters C W Faulkner
Shakespeare s Girl Characters C W Faulkner
Elves and Fairies S Harvey
Guardian Angel Society for the Preservation of Christian Knowledge
Christmas cards Girls Friendly Society s s
Christmas cards US Barton Colton s s
Flower Fairies of the Spring Blackie
Spring Songs with Music Blackie
Flower Fairies of the Summer Blackie
Child Thoughts in Picture and Verse by M K Westcott Blackie
Flower Fairies of the Autumn Blackie
Summer Songs with Music Blackie
The Book of the Flower Fairies Blackie
Autumn Songs with Music Blackie
Old Rhymes for All Times Blackie
The Children s Book of Hymns Blackie rep
Our Darling s First Book written in collaboration with Dorothy Barker Blackie
The Little Picture Hymn Book Blackie
Rhymes New and Old Blackie
A Flower Fairy Alphabet Blackie
A Little Book of Old Rhymes Blackie
He Leadeth Me written in collaboration with Dorothy Barker Blackie
A Little Book of Rhymes New and Old Blackie
The Lord of the Rushie River Blackie
Flower Fairies of the Trees Blackie
When Spring Came In at the Window Blackie
A Child s Garden of Verses Robert Louis Stevenson Blackie
Flower Fairies of the Garden Blackie
Groundsel and Necklaces Blackie reprinted as Fairy Necklaces
Flower Fairies of the Wayside Blackie
Flower Fairies of the Flowers and Trees Blackie
The Flower Fairy Picture Book Blackie
The Sand the Sea and the Sun Gibson
Flower Fairies of the Winter Blackie
Flower Fairies of the Seasons Bedrick Blackie
A Little Book of Prayers and Hymns Frederick Warne
A Flower Fairies Treasury Frederick Warne
Wild Cherry Makes A Wish collaboration with Pippa Le Quesne Frederick Warne
How to find Flower Fairies Frederick Warne
Return to Fairyopolis Frederick Warne
A New Epiphany Society for the Preservation of Christian Knowledge
Cradle roll design St Edmund s Pitlake
Banner design St Mary s Sanderstead
The Feeding of the Five Thousand reredos triptych chapel at Penarth Wales
The Parable of the Great Supper triptych St George s chapel Waddon
The Seven Sacraments baptismal font panels St Andrew s Croydon
St John the Baptist central banner panel Abesford church
Lettering sword and shield mount for a list of men and woman serving in the Forces St Andrews Croydon
Baptismal rolls St Andrews Croydon
The font in St Andrew s Church South Croydon
Out of Great Tribulation memorial chapel Norbury Medthodist church
I Am Among You As He That Serveth stained glass window design St Edmund s Pitlake
The Gambia women s national football team represents the Gambia in international football competition The team however has not competed in a match recognised by FIFA the sport s international governing body despite that organised women s football has been played in the country since The Gambia has two youth teams an under side that has competed in FIFA U Women s World Cup qualifiers and an under side that withdrew from regional qualifiers for an under World Cup The development of a national team faces challenges similar to those across Africa although the national football association has four staff members focusing on women s football
In few countries had women s national football teams While the sport gained popularity worldwide in later decades the Gambia s national team only played its first game in That game was not FIFA recognised As of March the team was unranked by FIFA and as of the following month the Gambia had not played in a FIFA sanctioned match The team has not participated in major regional and international tournaments including the Women s World Cup the African Women s Championship or the All Africa Games
The country did not have a FIFA recognised youth national team until when the Gambia under women s team competed in Confederation of African Football qualifiers for the FIFA U World Cup to be held in Azerbaijan in September The Gambia had fielded an under team of players narrowed from an initial pool of young women Two girls from the SOS Children s Village Bakoteh were chosen as a members of the team The Gambia first played Sierra Leone in a pair of qualifying matches for the tournament Gambia won the first match in Banjul the Gambia s capital The return match was delayed in for hours and played in Makeni The Gambia beat Sierra Leone to qualify for the final round The Gambia then beat Tunisia at home and won in Tunisia Adama Tamba and Awa Demba scored the Gambia s goals Tunisia s only goal was a Gambian own goal The win qualified Gambia for the Azerbaijan World Cup
The Gambia also has an under team that was to play in the African Women s U Championship in The Gambia s first match was against Morocco but the team withdrew from the competition
The development of women s football in Africa faces several challenges including limited access to education poverty amongst women inequalities and human rights abuses targeting women Funding is another issue impacting the game in Africa where most financial assistance comes from FIFA and not national football associations Another challenge is the retention of football players Many women footballers leave the continent to seek greater opportunity in Europe or the United States
Gambia s national football association was founded in and became affiliated with FIFA in Football is the most popular women s sport in the country and was first played in an organized system in A national competition was launched in the same year FIFA started an education course on football for women Competition was active on both the national and scholastic levels by There are four staffers dedicated to women s football in the Gambia Football Association and representation of women on the board is required by the association s charter
The plain maskray or brown stingray Neotrygon annotata is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae It is found in shallow soft bottomed habitats off northern Australia Reaching cm in in width this species has a diamond shaped grayish green pectoral fin disc Its short whip like tail has alternating black and white bands and fin folds above and below There are short rows of thorns on the back and the base of the tail but otherwise the skin is smooth While this species possesses the dark mask like pattern across its eyes common to its genus it is not ornately patterned like other maskrays
Benthic in nature the plain maskray feeds mainly on caridean shrimp and polychaete worms and to a lesser extent on small bony fishes It is viviparous with females producing litters of one or two young that are nourished during gestation via histotroph uterine milk This species lacks economic value but is caught incidentally in bottom trawls which it is thought to be less able to withstand than other maskrays due to its gracile build As it also has a limited distribution and low fecundity the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN has listed it as Near Threatened
The first scientific description of the plain maskray was authored by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation CSIRO researcher Peter Last in a issue of Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria The specific name annotatus comes from the Latin an not and notatus marked and refers to the ray s coloration The holotype is a male cm in across caught off Western Australia several paratypes were also designated Last tentatively placed the species in the genus Dasyatis noting that it belonged to the maskray species group that also included the bluespotted stingray then Dasyatis kuhlii In Last and William White elevated the kuhlii group to the rank of full genus as Neotrygon on the basis of morphological and molecular phylogenetic evidence
In a phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA the plain maskray and the Ningaloo maskray N ningalooensis were found to be the most basal members of Neotrygon The divergence of the N annotata lineage was estimated to have occurred Ma Furthermore the individuals sequenced in the study sorted into two genetically distinct clades suggesting that N annotata is a cryptic species complex The two putative species were estimated to have diverged Ma the precipitating event was likely the splitting of the ancestral population by coastline changes
The pectoral fin disc of the plain maskray is thin and diamond shaped with narrowly rounded outer corners measuring times longer than wide The leading margins of the disc are gently concave and converge at a broad angle to the pointed tip of the snout The small eyes are placed close together and behind them are the spiracles The nostrils are elongated and have a skirt shaped flap of skin between them The small mouth bears prominent furrows at the corners and contains two slender papillae on the floor Small papillae are also found around the outside of the mouth There are five pairs of gill slits The pelvic fins are fairly large and pointed
The tail is short barely exceeding the length of the disc when intact and has a broad and flattened base leading to usually two stinging spines After the stings the tail becomes slender and bears a long ventral fin fold and a much shorter lower dorsal fin fold Most of the body lacks dermal denticles a midline row of small closely spaced thorns is present behind the spiracles and another row of thorns before the stings The dorsal coloration is grayish green becoming pinkish towards the disc margins there is a dark mask like shape around the eyes and a pair of small dark blotches behind the spiracles The tail behind the stings has alternating black and white bands of variable width ending with black at the tip The underside is plain white and the ventral fin fold is light grayish in color This species grows to cm in across and cm in long
The plain maskray inhabits the continental shelf of northern Australia from the Wellesley Islands in Queensland to the Bonaparte Archipelago in Western Australia including the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Timor and Arafura Seas There are unsubstantiated reports that its range extends to southern Papua New Guinea It is the least common of the several maskray species native to the region This species is a bottom dweller that prefers habitats with fine sediment It has been recorded from between and m and ft deep and tends to be found farther away from shore than other maskrays in its range
The plain maskray generally hunts at the surface of the bottom substrate rather than digging for prey Its diet consists predominantly of caridean shrimp and polychaete worms Small bony fishes are also eaten along with the occasional penaeid prawn or amphipod Larger rays consume a greater variety of prey and relatively more polychaete worms when compared to smaller rays This species is parasitized by the tapeworm Acanthobothrium jonesi
Like other stingrays the plain maskray is viviparous with the developing embryos sustained to term by histotroph uterine milk produced by the mother Mature females have a single functional ovary and uterus on the left Litter size is one or two the newborns measure cm in across Males and females reach sexual maturity at disc widths of cm in and cm in respectively The maximum lifespan is estimated to be years for males and years for females
The main conservation threat to the plain maskray is incidental capture by commercial bottom trawl fisheries In the present day this is mostly caused by Australia s Northern Prawn Fishery which operates throughout its range Although this species is discarded when caught it is more delicate bodied than other maskrays and is thus unlikely to survive encounters with trawling gear Historically this species may also have been negatively affected by Japanese Chinese and Taiwanese trawlers that fished intensively off northern Australia from to These factors coupled with the plain maskray s limited distribution and low reproductive rate have resulted in its being assessed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN
The Columbus Blue Jackets season was the team s th season in the National Hockey League NHL The Blue Jackets record of note was the worst record in the NHL for and the first time in franchise history they finished in last place It also marked the third straight year that they missed the playoffs Consequently they had the best chance to receive the first overall selection in the NHL Entry Draft lottery but lost out to the Edmonton Oilers and received the second pick instead
The Blue Jackets began the year with the worst start in franchise history and the worst by any team in an NHL season in years After an start Head Coach Scott Arniel was fired and replaced by Assistant Coach Todd Richards The poor season prompted several personnel changes including the trade of All Star forward Jeff Carter who was acquired with much fanfare during the off season With the prospect of another rebuild looming the Blue Jackets captain and best player Rick Nash requested to be traded though he would remain with the team for the entire season
The team was involved in a controversial loss to the Los Angeles Kings when the Staples Center clock appeared to freeze at seconds allowing the Kings time to score the tying goal before winning in overtime During the season Columbus managed only two winning streaks of three or more games One of which came towards the end of the year helping the Blue Jackets finish with points the third worst point total in franchise history
In the off season the Blue Jackets approach to building their team changed moving from a team of young developing players into one with established players The first deal General Manager Scott Howson made was the acquisition of All Star forward Jeff Carter on June The deal sent Jakub Voracek Columbus first round draft choice the eighth overall and their third round pick in the Draft to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Carter The trade received a positive response in Columbus from fans and management who felt they finally had a number one center to play alongside of their best player Rick Nash Next they traded for the negotiating rights of soon to be free agent James Wisniewski Wisniewski scored a career high points during the season splitting time between the New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens The point total was fifth highest in the league for defenseman scoring tying Tobias Enstrom The Blue Jackets came to terms with Wisniewski just an hour prior to the start of free agency signing him to a six year million deal
Columbus also traded former first round draft pick Nikita Filatov to the Ottawa Senators for a third round pick in the Draft Filatov had failed to live up to expectations in Columbus playing in only games over three seasons scoring six goals Prior to the start of the season the Blue Jackets were questioned for not signing a veteran back up to starting goaltender Steve Mason as the former Calder Memorial Trophy winner had struggled in consecutive seasons The Blue Jackets signed Mark Dekanich as the back up who had only minutes of NHL experience prior to the start of the season Columbus did sign a veteran Curtis Sanford to be their third string goaltender and to start for their American Hockey League AHL affiliate the Springfield Falcons Sanford had not played in the NHL since During training camp Dekanich suffered a high ankle sprain that was expected to keep him out of the line up for a month Additionally Sanford suffered a groin injury leaving Allen York as the back up York had only played four professional games all in the AHL entering the season
After the first five games all losses Jeff Carter suffered a broken foot that kept him out of the line up for games While Carter was injured the Blue Jackets continued to lose games In the eighth game of the year they had a chance to end the losing streak against the Ottawa Senators Columbus held a lead with under a minute to play Jason Spezza tied the game on a late power play and with just seconds remaining Milan Michalek notched the winning goal for the Senators The loss helped set a franchise record for futility with a record to start a season note The losing streak came to an end three days later with a win over the Detroit Red Wings During the game several milestones were reached James Wisniewski made his Columbus debut Ryan Johansen and John Moore scored their first career NHL goals and Grant Clitsome had a career high three assists Columbus was unable to create any momentum from the win however and continued to struggle culminating in a record which was the worst start to an NHL season for any team in years With the team struggling management attempted to shake things up by making some roster moves The first move was the acquisition of center Mark Letestu from the Pittsburgh Penguins Next they traded defenseman Kris Russell to the St Louis Blues for Nikita Nikitin As the clubs slow start continued there were rumors that Head Coach Scott Arniel would be fired and replaced with Ken Hitchcock Hitchcock had previously coached the Blue Jackets to their only playoff appearance in club history and was still under contract with the franchise through to the end of the season Before any of these rumors came to fruition the St Louis Blues asked Columbus for permission to hire Hitchcock which the Blue Jackets allowed Hitchcock began his Blues coaching career with a record in his first nine games while Columbus amassed a record to start the season
During the same time frame as the Hitchcock rumors goaltender Curtis Sanford returned from his groin injury on November He made his first start of the season against the Boston Bruins losing in a shootout Sanford continued his strong play posting a record goals against average and save percentage over his next six games Sanford started consecutive games before Steve Mason made his next start The number of starts might not have been as numerous but prior to the November game Mason was hit in the head by a shot from Rick Nash during pre game warm ups and suffered a concussion Mason returned from his concussion after two games making a start against the Vancouver Canucks Mason allowed only one goal in the game despite suffering from cramping in the third period temporarily being replaced by Sanford for just over three minutes Columbus won the game in a shootout breaking a nine game losing streak to the Canucks After the game Arniel stated that Sanford was still seen as the team s number one goaltender However Mason started four of the next six games with the Blue Jackets going during that stretch
With the losing continuing more rumors began to surface Unlike before the rumors were about player moves rather than coaching changes The majority of rumors were that the Blue Jackets would trade Rick Nash While Howson stated that he had never brought up trading Nash in discussions other teams had inquired about his availability Nash stated that if Columbus felt it would make the franchise better than he would be willing to waive his no trade clause Howson publicly stated that he had no intention of trading Nash More rumors came to light when reports attributed to Rseau des sports stated that Carter was unhappy in Columbus and demanded a trade Howson Carter and his agent all denied that a trade request was ever made and they were unsure where the reports were coming from With the trade deadline approaching speculation picked up on the Blue Jackets trading Carter Reports were that Columbus was trying to trade Carter and that he was percent available
At the halfway point of the season with the Blue Jackets barely into double digit wins with an record worst in the league and sitting points out of playoff position Columbus fired Arniel He was replaced by Assistant Coach Todd Richards on an interim basis Richards had previously coached the Minnesota Wild He recorded his first coaching victory for the Blue Jackets in his second game a win over the Phoenix Coyotes The change in coaching did not change the fortunes of the team as they reached the All Star break with a record At the break Blue Jackets owner John P McConnell sent out a letter to fans stating his understanding of their frustration He added that action would be taken around the trade deadline the Entry Draft and free agency to take the team in a new direction When speaking of the season McConnell stated disappointing is not a strong enough word and that he was committed to giving fans a team of which they can be proud of He also thanked them for their dedication and passion while reiterating that the team goal was to win consistently and compete for the Stanley Cup Days later a person protest occurred outside of Nationwide Arena Fans were upset with the Blue Jackets management and were calling for changes at the top The same day the fans protested it was announced that the franchise would host the All Star Game Columbus was without a representative for the All star Game but Ryan Johansen represented the club as a rookie participant in the Super Skills Competition In the competition Johansen participated in the Allstate Insurance NHL Breakaway Challenge a shootout themed event judged by the fans He received just of the vote and finished last
Following the break the Blue Jackets were on the road playing the Los Angeles Kings and with the score tied late in the game Kings defenseman Drew Doughty scored with just seconds remaining to win the game Upon review of the goal it was determined that the clock at Staples Center froze at seconds for over a full second which would have resulted in time expiring prior to the goal being scored Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi stated that the clock was correct and no extra time had been added due to the way the clock self corrects at various times Howson stated on the team s blog that It is an amazing coincidence that with the Kings on a power play at Staples Center and with a mad scramble around our net in the dying seconds of the third period of a hockey game that the clock stopped for at least one full second adding that Either there was a deliberate stopping of the clock or the clock malfunctioned NHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell stated that the Blue Jackets were wronged but that the outcome of the game could not be changed and that the delay was not noticed by the off ice officials or the situation room in Toronto To determine the true cause of the clock pause the NHL launched an investigation talking with the clock s manufacturer and interviewing Staples Center staff
Two weeks prior to the NHL trade deadline Columbus announced that unlike earlier in the season they would listen to trade proposals involving Rick Nash though they were not actively shopping him Howson stated that the team was open to all options for improving the team including trading Nash Speculation was that in return for Nash the Blue Jackets would ask for a combination of young proven players high end prospects and draft picks Leading up to the trade deadline the Blue Jackets dealt Antoine Vermette to the Phoenix Coyotes for two draft picks and goaltender Curtis McElhinney Despite being injured at the time the acquisition of McElhinney was believed to give Columbus the flexibility to trade Curtis Sanford The following day on February Columbus traded Jeff Carter to the Kings In the deal Columbus acquired defenseman Jack Johnson and a first round draft pick the team was given the choice of taking the pick in either or At the deadline Columbus was unable to come to terms on a deal involving Nash but they did make one more move they sent center Samuel Pahlsson to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for two fourth round draft picks and minor league defenseman Taylor Ellington Following the trade deadline Howson announced that the team had attempted to trade Nash at the player s request Nash stated that he had requested the trade after being informed that the franchise was going into another rebuilding phase He further noted that he felt that he could be a huge part of that towards bringing assets in and in his view it was the best thing for the team the organization and personally for his career After the personnel changes the Blue Jackets closed out the month with a three game losing streak
Columbus started March with a shutout against the Colorado Avalanche They proceeded to win their next game against the Phoenix Coyotes which marked the first time that the Blue Jackets posted back to back regulation victories during the season Columbus again defeated the Coyotes three days later to earn their first three game win streak of the season They extended the streak to four with a win over the Los Angeles Kings before it came to an end with a loss to the St Louis Blues It was the only four game win streak of the season for the Blue Jackets They immediately matched their four game win streak with a four game losing streak and with ten games remaining the Blue Jackets were the first team eliminated from playoff contention Shortly after being eliminated they were defeated by the Edmonton Oilers the loss clinched last place in the NHL for Columbus It was the first time in franchise history the Blue Jackets finished in th place
Three days later on March goaltender Steve Mason was injured in the morning skate when a shot from Colton Gillies hit him in the mask With Sanford again injured York made an emergency start Playing against the Detroit Red Wings York made saves including in the third period helping Columbus to a victory and giving York his first career NHL win York remained the starter and led the Blue Jackets to a second three game winning streak In his fourth start Columbus was shutout by the Coyotes despite a franchise record shots on goal losing The saves by Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith set an NHL record for a regulation shutout Mason returned to the starter s role for the final two games winning both The two victories gave Columbus points for the year their third lowest total in franchise history
The Blue Jackets struggled in shorthanded situations allowing the most power play goals in the League with and having the lowest penalty kill percentage at
Finishing with the worst record in the NHL Columbus had the best chance of receiving the first overall pick in the draft With the NHL s weighted draft lottery the Blue Jackets had a chance of drafting first overall However the lottery was won by the Edmonton Oilers who proceeded to leapfrog Columbus and secure the number one draft pick for a third consecutive year It was the fifth time that the Blue Jackets were dropped one draft position in the franchise s lottery participations
A month later on May the Blue Jackets announced that Richards would remain as head coach and signed him to a two year contract During the press conference Howson noted Our team continuously improved under Todd and he has earned the opportunity to build upon the work he started Columbus posted an record under Richards including winning seven of their final games
Since being founded as an expansion team the Blue Jackets have played in the Central Division of the Western Conference Division rivals Chicago Blackhawks Detroit Red Wings Nashville Predators and St Louis Blues all made the playoff during the season which helped Columbus finish points behind fourth place Chicago and points out of first
Divisions CE Central NW Northwest PA Pacific
bold qualified for playoffs y Won division p Won Presidents Trophy best record in NHL
Green background indicates win points
Red background indicates regulation loss points
Silver background indicates overtime shootout loss point
In ice hockey a combination of a player s goals and assists are collectively called points Penalty minutes are the total number of minutes assigned to a player for infractions assessed during the seasonPlus minus is a statistic that tracks when a player was on the ice while goals were scored both for and against their team though some in game situations will not effect the statistic Below is a listing of all player statistics for the Blue Jackets during the season
Time On Ice minutes W
Goals Against GAA Goals Against Average SA Shots Against SV
Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Blue Jackets Stats reflect time with the Blue Jackets only Traded mid season
When Mason was injured in warm ups late in the year Columbus was without an active goaltender on their roster To remedy the situation the team signed former University of Michigan goaltender Shawn Hunwick to a one day amateur tryout contract After being eliminated from the NCAA Tournament just days prior Hunwick skipped an astronomy class and drove his worn down Ford Ranger to Columbus to make the game He served as the back up to Allen York during the game and the following day he signed a contract for the remainder of the year With Mason returning from injury Hunwick was third on the team s depth chart when an injury to York allowed Hunwick to remain as the back up for the final two games of the year In the final game of the season the Blue Jackets were leading the Islanders with remaining when at the behest of his teammates Head Coach Todd Richards put Hunwick in to finish the game He did not face a shot Hunwick was the franchise record ninth player to make his NHL debut during the season Conversely Vaclav Prospal played in his th NHL game during the year
During the off season the Blue Jackets parted ways with defensemen Jan Hejda Anton Stralman Sami Lepisto and Mike Commodore Hejda who played four of his first five NHL seasons with the Blue Jackets was offered a contract by Columbus but felt that the organization undervalued him and left via free agency Columbus had offered him a three year million contract He instead signed a four year million deal with the Colorado Avalanche Stralman and Lepisto were not given qualifying offers which made them unrestricted free agents and both signed with other teams Commodore had originally signed a big contract with the Blue Jackets in but fell out of favor He was waived sent to the minors and eventually had his contract bought out In order to replace the departed players Columbus not only acquired James Wisniewski but also signed ten year NHL veteran Radek Martinek Martinek played only seven games with the Blue Jackets before suffering a concussion and missing the remainder of the season Brett Lebda was brought in to replace him
The Gregorian Tower Italian Torre Gregoriana or Tower of the Winds Italian Torre dei Venti is a round tower located above the Gallery of Maps which connects the Villa Belvedere with the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City The tower was built between and to a design by the Bolognese architect Ottaviano Mascherino who was credited with building the Apostolic Palace mainly to promote the study of astronomy for the Gregorian Calendar Reform which was commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII and promulgated in It was then also known as the Tower of Winds The tower is now called the Specola Astronomica Vaticana the Vatican Observatory Four stages of progressive development have occurred since it was first established The tower was an edifice of great value for astronomical observations made using a sundial as they provided essential confirmation of the need to reform the Julian calendar
The first stage of building of the tower as recorded by Leo XIII in his motu proprio Ut mysticam of is credited to Pope Gregory XIII Pope from to The directive was to build a tower at a suitable location in the Vatican and equip it with the greatest and best instruments of the time The design was effected after a series of meetings of the experts who had been appointed to reform the Julian calendar in use since BC to verify their proposed reforms Fr Christoph Clavius a Jesuit mathematician from the Roman College was the expert on the committee who suggested the new system for the observations The metres ft tower was then built above the museum and library flanked by the Belvedere and della Pigna courtyards The instrumentation for the observation of the sun rays falling over it consisted of a meridian line designed by Ignazio Danti of Perugia It was in the form of a circular marble plate in the centre embellished with scientific designs The tower still remains today but has undergone improvements over the centuries
The second stage of construction in the th and th centuries when the tower was under the charge of the Vatican librarian involved Mgr Filippo Luigi Gilii a clergyman of St Peter s Basilica Earlier in Pius VI gave approval to placing a Latin inscription Specula Vaticana at the entrance to the upper part of the tower which was implemented by Cardinal Zelada with plans to enhance the instrumentation system in the tower s observatory The original observatory was then set up above the second level of the tower with the agreement of Pope Pius VI Its instrumentation apart from many normal devices such as meteorological and magnetic equipment with a seismograph and a small transit and pendulum clock was noted for the Dolland Telescope The instrumentation facilitated recording of occurrences of eclipse appearance of comets Satellites of Jupiter and Mercury s transit As an addition under the patronage of Pope Pius X four rotary observatory domes were also added at strategic locations on the feet m long fortification walls more than a thousand years old Mgr Gilii highly respected as a polyglot with a knowledge of physics biology archeology and the Hebrew language was in charge of the observatory from to He carried out continuous meteorological observations twice a day at AM and PM conforming to the programme of the Mannheim Meteorological Society While the observation records for seven years were published the balance data in a manuscript form was preserved in the Vatican Library Subsequent to Gilii s death in the observatory on the tower was discontinued and the instruments were moved to the observatory at the Roman College Established in it was considered more suitable for making observations than the Vatican
The revival of the observatory on the Gregorian Tower was initiated by the Barnabite Francesco Denza with the approval of Pope Leo XIII High quality instruments were procured partly with generous donations from Hicks of London and the automatic recording instruments were procured from Richard in Paris A four inch equatorial a three inch transit instrument and four pendulum clocks with two chronometers were also procured from the observatory at Modena In the gift of a inch long telescope to Pope Leo XIII became a part of the observatory Father Denza joined the observatory in after it was upgraded with more modern instruments The same year a second tower was built some metres ft away from the main Gregorian Tower overlooking the Vatican Gardens behind St Peter s Basilica on the south west border It was built to a diameter of metres ft with a lower wall thickness of metres ft which could bear the load of a inch photographic refractor newly procured from Paris Augustinian Father Rodriguez was the expert meteorologist who held the post of director from to In Pope Leo XIII promulgating the motu proprio Ut mysticam designated the second tower as the seat of the newly established Vatican Observatory a decision which required altering the roof to provide a flat terrace for astronomical observations
The fourth stage involved remedying the problem of communicating between the two towers during the time of Pope Pius X His plans were to make the Gregorian Tower into a historical tower and to record and carry out observations at the second tower by linking the two towers along the fortified wall with a metres ft iron bridge spanning the gap At the west end of this bridge a four inch equatorial was installed on semicircular bastion The east end of the bridge above the barracks of the gendarmes had a heliograph with a camera attached used to photograph the Sun photoheliograph A new inch visual telescope called Torre Pio X was erected in the second tower As a result of these modifications the original library was moved to the Pontifical Academy Lincei and the old meteorological and seismic instruments were shifted to the Valle di Pompei observatory The new Astronomical Library was housed in two rooms of the building The two new Repsold machines were used for recording on the astrographic plates The recorded observations were published along with explanatory notes together with the last two series of the atlas of stars Charts were printed on silver bromide paper
The tower had two floors and a mezzanine On the first floor was the famous Sundial Room or Meridian Room which was initially an open loggia Pope Urban VIII had it enclosed and it was subsequently decorated with long sequences of frescoes painted between and by Simon Lagi and the two Flemish artists Paul and Matthijs Bril Today the tower has paintings by Cristoforo Roncalli and Matteino da Siena
The Sundial Room also called the Meridian Hall was once the residence of Queen Christina of Sweden then newly converted to Catholicism The room was further modified by two additions which gave it its current name a sundial and a delicate but sophisticated anemoscope which was fixed to the ceiling of the Meridian Hall These were created by Ignazio Danti the papal cosmographer in association with the Gregorian Calendar Reform The sundial consisted of a straight line in white marble running across the floor in a north south direction intended to measure the height of the Sun at noon according to the seasons of the year The observations made with the sundial provided essential confirmation of the need to reform the Julian calendar The anemoscope in contrast was a complex mechanism attached to the ceiling which was used to measure the strength and direction of the wind but soon stopped functioning The instrument may have led to the other name of the tower Tower of the Winds however an ancient observatory at Athens was also called the Tower of the Winds and might have been the source for inspiration
The interior walls and ceiling of the hall were richly decorated in some cases with gaudy frescoes of the hills and Roman countryside the Pantheons religious themes the buildings surrounding the area and naval shipwrecks with Jesus calming the storm and so forth
There s Got to Be a Way is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey from her self titled debut studio album Columbia released it as the fifth and final single from the album in the United Kingdom It was one of four songs Carey wrote with Ric Wake during their first recording session together but There s Got to Be a Way was the only composition to make the final track listing It is a socio political conscious R B pop song which addresses the existence of poverty racism and war in the world which gradually becomes more aspirational and positive as it progresses The track garnered a mixed reception upon the album s release in While Carey s vocals were praised it was seen as too political An accompanying music video highlights social injustices The song reached number on the UK Singles Chart
There s Got to Be a Way was written by Mariah Carey and Ric Wake for Carey s self titled debut studio album It was written during Carey and Wake s first recording session together They composed four songs but only There s Got to Be a Way was chosen for the final track listing Co produced by Wake and Narada Michael Walden it appears as the second of ten songs on the track listing The track was recorded and engineered by Bob Cadway at Cove City Sound Studios and The Power Station both located in New York City He was assisted by Dana Jon Chappelle It was mixed by David Frazer at Tarpan Studios in San Rafael The keyboards bass and rhythm engineering was carried out by Louis Biancaniello while Joe Franco performed the percussion Vernon Ice Black played the guitar and Rich Tancredo also performing on the keyboards Walter Afanasieff played the synth horns Carey provided her own background vocals along with Billy T Scott Jamiliah Muhammed and The Billy T Scott Ensemble The song was released as the fifth and final single from the album in the United Kingdom It is available to purchase as a CD single while the remixes are available on vinyl
There s Got to Be a Way is an R B pop music song with elements of gospel The theme of social activism can be heard in the lyrics There s got to be a way to connect this world today The song begins with Carey publicly denouncing the existence of poverty and racism in the world and she uses the bridge to shift the lyrics towards an uplifting and aspirational tone Carey suggests we should be more tolerant of each other and not resort so readily to war in the lyrics Couldn t we accept each other Can t we make ourselves aware
Music critic Robert Christgau felt that Carey was being too political in her brave young idealistic attack on war and destitution Ralph Novak David Hiltbrand and David Grogan of People wrote that it is a testimony to her talent that she does so much with so little They continued to write that Carey s tone and clarity makes There s Got to Be a Way a mesmerizing track To mark twenty five years since the release of Mariah Carey in June Billboard writer Trevor Anderson wrote a track by track review of the album in June He noted that There s Got to Be a Way follows the same melodic tone as the album s opener Vision of Love but highlighted their stark lyrical differences as the former is about social activism and the latter is about love Although he praised Carey s vocals writing that she deploys one of her best whistle notes of her career he felt that the aim for broad appeal comes at the expense of memorable lyrics
The accompanying music video begins with a shot of an empty street followed by clips of disadvantaged and poorer members of society going about their daily activities Two men play dominoes on a wooden crate outside a building a gang make fun of an elderly man hanging newspapers outside his store and an obese woman walks down the street Clips of Carey leaning against a wall and sitting on some steps looking on at what is happening are shown As the first chorus begins everyone starts to dance joyfully in the street and help those in need A gospel choir comes out of one of the buildings as the street becomes more crowded with people of all ages and backgrounds rejoicing and getting along with each other One of the shops in the background has a neon light outside the entrance which says Jesus Saves
There s Got to Be a Way Original album version
There s Got to Be a Way remix
There s Got to Be a Way remix
There s Got to Be a Way Alternative Vocal Dub Mix
Nebraska Highway N is a highway in northwestern Nebraska It has a western terminus at Wyoming Highway WYO at the Wyoming Nebraska state line The road travels eastward to N where it turns south N continues east to south of Bridgeport The road turns north ends at an intersection with US Highway US and N in Bridgeport The route was designated in before the official state highway system was created It was extended to the state line in
N starts at the Nebraska Wyoming state line in Banner County where WYO ends and travels northeast The road quickly bends east after less than one mile km and continues in a straight line For the next twenty miles km N intersects minor streets through rural farmland The route turns south at N and becomes concurrent Four miles km later N turns east ending the concurrency with N The route continues to travel through farmland for sixteen miles km where it enters Morrill County The road crosses over Pumpkin Creek four times and enters the unincorporated community of Redington Two rock formations Courthouse and Jail Rocks become visible from the road N turns north toward Bridgeport soon after The road crosses over Pumpkin Creek for the fifth time and enters into Bridgeport five miles km later The road intersects a railroad owned by BNSF Railway N turns northeast soon after and ends at the intersection of US and N In Nebraska Department of Roads NDOR calculated as many as vehicles traveling on the N N concurrency and as few as vehicles traveling east of the Banner Morrill county line This is expressed in terms of annual average daily traffic AADT a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year Only the N N concurrency is part of the National Highway System NHS a network of highways identified as being most important for the economy mobility and defense of the nation
N was unofficially designated around connecting from N to N and N in Bridgeport The route remained relatively the same as the state highway system was officially designated Before Nebraska did not have an adequate legal instrument to define the state highway system By N was renumbered to US and US was rerouted north near Bridgeport The old alignment became part of N Two years later N was renumbered to N Between a road appeared on the official state map extending from WYO to N That road became part of N by No significant changes have been made since
Atlanta was a casemate ironclad that served in the Confederate and Union Navies during the American Civil War She was converted from a Scottish built blockade runner named Fingal by the Confederacy after she made one run to Savannah Georgia After several failed attempts to attack Union blockaders the ship was captured by two Union monitors in when she ran aground Atlanta was floated off repaired and rearmed serving in the Union Navy for the rest of the war She spent most of her time deployed on the James River supporting Union forces there The ship was decommissioned in and placed in reserve Several years after the end of the war Atlanta was sold to Haiti but was lost at sea in December on her delivery voyage
Fingal was designed and built as a merchantman by J G Thomson s Clyde Bank Iron Shipyard at Govan in Glasgow Scotland and was completed early in She was described by Midshipman Dabney Scales who served on the Atlanta before her battle with the monitors as being a two masted iron hulled ship feet m long with a beam of feet m She had a draft of feet m and a depth of hold of feet m He estimated her tonnage at around tons bm Fingal was equipped with two vertical single cylinder direct acting steam engines using steam generated by one flue tubular boiler The engines drove the ship at a top speed of around knots km h mph They had a bore of inches mm and a stroke of inches mm
The ship briefly operated between Glasgow and other ports in Scotland for Hutcheson s West Highland Service before she was purchased in September by James D Bulloch the primary foreign agent in Great Britain for the Confederacy to deliver the military and naval ordnance and supplies that he had purchased To disguise his control of Fingal and the destination of her cargo Bulloch hired an English crew and captain and put out his destination as Bermuda and Nassau in the Bahamas The cargo was loaded in Greenock in early October although Bullock and the other passengers would not attempt to board until they rendezvoused with the ship at Holyhead Wales On the night October as she was slowly rounding the breakwater at Holyhead Fingal rammed and sank the Austrian brig Siccardi slowly swinging at anchor without lights Bulloch and the passengers embarked in the steamer while Bulloch dispatched a letter to his financial agents instructing them to settle damages with the brig s owners because he could not afford to take the time to deal with the affair lest he and Fingal be detained The ship reached Bermuda on November and after leaving port on November Bulloch informed the crew that the steamer s real destination was Savannah Georgia he offered to take anyone who objected to the plan to Nassau However all of the crew agreed to join in the effort to run the Union blockade Fingal was able slip safely into the Savannah estuary in a heavy fog on the night of November without sighting any blockaders
While Fingal was discharging her cargo Bulloch went to Richmond to confer with Stephen Mallory Secretary of the Navy Mallory endorsed Bulloch s plan to load Fingal with cotton to sell on the Navy Department s account to be used to purchase more ships and equipment in Europe He returned to Savannah on November and it took him almost a month to purchase a cargo and acquire enough coal He made one attempt to break through the blockade on December but it proved impossible to do as the Union controlled every channel from Savannah aided by their occupation of Tybee Island at the mouth of the Savannah River Bulloch reported to Mallory in late January that breaking out was hopeless so Mallory ordered him to turn the ship over to another officer and to return to Europe some other way
The brothers Asa and Nelson Tift received the contract to convert the blockade runner into an ironclad in early with the name of Atlanta after the city in Georgia This was largely financed by contributions from the women of Savannah Fingal was cut down to her main deck and large wooden sponsons were built out from the sides of her hull to support her casemate After the conversion Atlanta was feet m long overall and had a beam of feet m Her depth of hold was now feet m and she now had a draft of feet inches m Atlanta now displaced long tons t and her speed was estimated at knots km h mph
The armor of the casemate was angled at from the horizontal and made from two layers of railroad rails rolled into plates inches mm thick and inches mm wide The outer layer ran vertically and the inner layer horizontally Her armor was backed by inches mm of oak vertically oriented and two layers of inches mm of pine alternating in direction The bottom of the casemate was some inches mm from the waterline and its top was feet inches m above the waterline The pyramidal pilothouse was armored in the same way and had room for two men The upper portion of Atlanta s hull received two inches of armor
The rectangular casemate was pierced with eight narrow gun ports one each at the bow and stern and three along each side Each gun port was protected by an armored shutter made of two layers of iron riveted together and allowed the guns to elevate only to a maximum of to Atlanta was armed with single banded inch mm Brooke rifles on pivot mounts at the bow and stern The middle gun port on each side was occupied by a single banded inch mm Brooke rifle The caliber seven inch guns weighed about pounds kg and fired pound kg armor piercing bolts and pound kg explosive shells The equivalent statistics for the caliber inch gun were pounds kg with pound bolts and pound kg shells Atlanta was also armed with a foot m solid iron ram that was reinforced by a series of vertical steel bars In front of the ram was a spar torpedo that carried pounds kg of black powder on a wooden pole connected to an iron lever that could be raised or lowered by means of pulleys
On July under the command of Lieutenant Charles H McBlair Atlanta conducted her sea trials down the Savannah River toward Fort Pulaski The ship proved to be difficult to steer and the additional weight of her armor and guns significantly reduced her speed and increased her draft This latter was a real problem in the shallow waters near Savannah She also leaked significantly and her design virtually eliminated air circulation One report said that it was almost intolerable on board the Atlanta there being no method of ventilation and the heat was intense Scales commented in his diary What a comfortless infernal and God forsaken ship
Attempts were made to fix the problems and were at least partially successful in stopping many of the leaks The ship was commissioned on November and became the flagship of Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall commander of the naval defenses of Georgia Under pressure from Mallory to engage the blockading ships Tattnall attempted to engage them before any ironclads arrived on January but army engineers could not clear the obstacles blocking the channel in a timely manner despite early coordination being made by Tattnall to do so It took another month to actually clear the obstacles and two monitors arrived before the end of January Nonetheless Tattnall attempted to pass through the obstructions during high tide on February but high winds prevented the water from rising enough to allow the ship to do so After Atlanta successfully passed through them on March Tattnall planned to attack the Union base at Port Royal South Carolina while the monitors were attacking Charleston Deserters revealed Tatnall s plan while he was waiting at the head of Wassaw Sound and he was forced to retreat when three monitors augmented the defenses at Port Royal Dissatisfied with Tattnall s perceived lack of aggressiveness Mallory replaced Tattnall as commander of the Savannah squadron later that month with Commander Richard L Page Page in his turn was relieved in May by Commander William A Webb Atlanta remained the squadron flagship throughout this time
Webb demonstrated his aggressiveness when he attempted to sortie on the first spring tide May after taking command but Atlanta s forward engine broke down after he had passed the obstructions and the ship ran aground She was not damaged although it took over a day to pull her free He planned to make another attempt on the next full tide rejecting Mallory s idea that he wait until the nearly complete ironclad Savannah was finished before his next sortie In the meantime Rear Admiral Samuel F Du Pont commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron had ordered the monitors Weehawken and Nahant into Wassaw Sound Commander John Rodgers in Weehawken had overall command of the two ships
In the early evening of June Webb began his next attempt by passing over the lower obstructions in the Wilmington River and spent the rest of the night coaling He moved forward the next evening to a concealed position within easy reach of the monitors for an attack early the following morning Webb planned to sink one of the monitors with his spar torpedo and then deal with the other one with his guns The gunboat Isondiga and the tugboat Resolute were to accompany him to tow one or both of the monitors back to Savannah
A lookout aboard Weehawken spotted Atlanta at on the morning of June When the latter ship closed to within about miles km of the two Union ships she fired one round from her bow gun that passed over Weehawken and landed near Nahant Shortly afterward Atlanta ran aground on a sandbar she was briefly able to free herself but the pressure of the tide pushed her back onto the sandbar This time Webb was unable to get off and the monitors closed the range When Weehawken the leading ship closed to within yards m she opened fire with both of her guns The inch mm shell missed but the inch mm shell struck the ironclad above the port middle gun port penetrated her armor and broke the wooden backing behind it spraying splinters and fragments that disabled the entire gun crew and half the crew of the bow gun even though it failed to cleanly penetrate through the backing The next shot from the inch Dahlgren gun struck the upper hull and started a small leak even though it failed to penetrate the two inch armor there The next shell from the inch Dahlgren glanced off the middle starboard gun shutter as it was being opened wounding half the gun s crew with fragments The final shell was also from the inch Dahlgren and it struck the top of the pilothouse breaking the armor there and wounding both pilots in it By this time Atlanta had been able to fire only seven shots none of which hit either Union ship and was hard aground with high tide not due for another hour and a half Weehawken and Nahant were able to freely maneuver into positions from which the Atlanta s narrow gun ports would not allow her to reply and the damage already inflicted by the former ship made further resistance futile Webb surrendered his ship within minutes of opening fire before Nahant even had a chance to fire Of the ironclad s officers and enlisted men one man was killed and another sixteen were wounded badly enough to require hospitalization
Atlanta was easily pulled free by the Union ships and she reached Port Royal under her own power Not badly damaged she was repaired and bought by the Union Navy The prize money of was shared between the crews of Weehawken Nahant and the gunboat Cimarron the only ships within signaling distance The ship retained her name and was commissioned again on February rearmed with a pair of inch mm pound Parrott rifles in the bow and stern and inch pound Parrott rifles amidships The pound Parrott rifle weighed pounds kg and was calibers long The pounder weighed pounds kg and was calibers long It fired a pound kg shell a distance of yards m at an elevation of All four of her Brooke rifles are currently located in Willard Park in the Washington Navy Yard Atlanta was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and spent most of her time stationed up the James River where she could support operations against Richmond and defend against a sortie by the ironclads of the James River Squadron On May she and the gunboat Dawn fired on and dispersed Confederate cavalry that was attacking Fort Powhatan and she was deployed further upriver in February after the Battle of Trent s Reach to better blockade the Confederate ironclads at Richmond
After the end of the war in April Atlanta was decommissioned in Philadelphia on June and placed in reserve at League Island She was sold to Sam Ward on May for the price of and subsequently delivered to representatives of Haiti on December by Sydney Oaksmith a lawyer who had received an advance of on her purchase price of The ship was briefly seized by the Customs Service possibly for violations of neutrality laws as she had just loaded four large guns and a number of recruits for the forces of Sylvain Salnave President of Haiti who was embroiled in a civil war Atlanta was released and sailed for Port au Prince three days later She broke down in Delaware Bay and had to put in at Chester Pennsylvania for repairs The ship now renamed either Triumph or Triumfo departed on December and vanished en route apparently sinking with the loss of all hands either off Cape Hatteras or the Delaware Capes
Jacqueline Fernandez born August is a Sri Lankan actress former model and the winner of the Miss Universe Sri Lanka pageant As Miss Universe Sri Lanka she represented her country at the world Miss Universe pageant She graduated with a degree in mass communication from the University of Sydney and worked as a television reporter in Sri Lanka
While on a modelling assignment in India in Fernandez successfully auditioned for Sujoy Ghosh s fantasy drama Aladin which marked her acting debut Fernandez breakthrough role was in Mohit Suri s psychological thriller Murder her first commercial success This was followed by glamorous roles in the ensemble comedy Housefull and its sequel Housefull and the action thriller Race all of which were box office successes Her performance in the first of these garnered her an IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination In Fernandez played the leading lady in Sajid Nadiadwala s Kick which is one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of all time
One of the most popular actresses in India she was the recipient of the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year Female in Alongside her screen acting career Fernandez has participated in stage shows and is active in humanitarian work
Fernandez was born on August in Manama Bahrain and was raised in a multi ethnic family Her father Elroy is Sri Lankan and her mother Kim is of Malaysian descent Her grandfather on her mother s side of the family is Canadian and her great grandparents were from Goa India Her father who was a musician in Sri Lanka moved to Bahrain in the s to escape civil unrest between the Tamils and Sinhalese and subsequently met her mother who was an air hostess She is the youngest of four children with one elder sister and two elder brothers She hosted television shows in Bahrain at the age of fourteen After receiving her early education in Bahrain she pursued a degree in mass communication from the University of Sydney in Australia After graduating she worked as a television reporter in Sri Lanka She also attended the Berlitz school of languages where she learnt Spanish and improved her French and Arabic
According to Fernandez she had aspired to become an actress at a young age and fantasized about becoming a Hollywood movie star She received some training at the John School of Acting Although she was a television reporter she accepted offers in the modeling industry which came as a result of her pageant success In she was crowned the winner of the Miss Universe Sri Lanka pageant and represented Sri Lanka at the world Miss Universe pageant held in Los Angeles In a interview Fernandez described the modeling industry as a good training ground and said It is a medium that is about shedding your inhibitions knowing your body confidence In she appeared in a music video for the song O Sathi by music duo Bathiya and Santhush
In Fernandez traveled to India for a modeling assignment She studied acting under the mentorship of theatre director Barry John and successfully auditioned for Sujoy Ghosh s fantasy film Aladin her acting debut She played the love interest of Riteish Deshmukh s character a role based on the Princess Jasmine character Fernandez garnered mixed reviews for her performance Anupama Chopra of NDTV called her a plastic debutant e and Rajeev Masand of CNN IBN felt that she was easy on the eyes and appears confident but has precious little to do Although the film was a critical and commercial failure she won the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year Female
In Fernandez appeared opposite Deshmukh in the science fiction romantic comedy Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai She was cast as a girl from Venus who lands on Earth in search of love The film along with Fernandez s performance received poor reviews Rediffcom s Sukanya Verma noted She gamely makes a fool of herself whilst aping the actions of movie stars ranging from Sridevi s Naagin dance Mithun Chakravarthy s Disco Dancer moves to Big B s violent headshake in Hum Her Tara could be a keeper if only Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai wasn t so intent on turning her into a love struck Barbie Critic Anupama Chopra also criticized Fernandez calling her a pin prick on a balloon Later that year she made a cameo appearance in Sajid Khan s Housefull in the song Dhanno
Mahesh Bhatt s thriller Murder was Fernandez s first commercial success and marker a turning point in her career She took on the role of Priya a lonely model who is in a confused relationship with Arjun Bhagwat played by Emraan Hashmi Fernandez was praised for the her performance and for the boldness and sex appeal she displayed in the film Gaurav Malini of The Times of India stated that she was tastefully tempting but noted that her romance with Hashmi was literally half baked The following year Fernandez appeared in the ensemble comedy Housefull alongside Akshay Kumar John Abraham and Asin It became one of the top grossing productions of India that year and earned billion US million worldwide Fernandez received mostly negative reviews for her performance While Gaurav Malini praised her for her looks NDTV called her a blathering bimbo who find s no pleasure in her role Despite the negative reviews Fernandez received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the th IIFA Awards for her performance
Fernandez s first release of was Race an ensemble action thriller alongside Saif Ali Khan John Abraham Deepika Padukone Ameesha Patel and Anil Kapoor described as the cinematic equivalent of a trashy novel by critic Rajeev Masand She played Omisha a femme fatale a role which required her learn fencing and some acrobatics The film emerged as a commercial success with the domestic gross of more than billion US million In a particularly scathing review Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote that both Fernandez and Padukone strut around like wound up automatons that are all decked up but have nowhere to go Fernandez also appeared in an item number music video titled Jaadu Ki Jhappi for Prabhu Deva s Ramaiya Vasta Vaiya
In Fernandez appeared in Sajid Nadiadwala s directorial debut the action film Kick a remake of a Telugu film of same name She starred opposite Salman Khan playing Shaina a psychiatry student She retained her real voice for the first time in Kick While Sneha May Francis commented that she is incredibly dazzling and moves like a magic Raja Sen of Rediffcom was more critical of her dialogue delivery calling it unfortunate The film received mixed reviews from critics but with worldwide revenue of over billion US million it became the fourth highest grossing Bollywood film The film established Fernandez as one of the most popular Bollywood actresses
In Fernandez featured in Vicky Singh s Roy a romantic thriller which critic Sarita A Tanwar described as a boring exhausting and pretentious film Fernandez played dual roles Ayesha Aamir a filmmaker in a relationship with another filmmaker played by Arjun Rampal and Tia Desai a girl in love with a thief played by Ranbir Kapoor While India TV called it her best act till date critic Rajeev Masand felt that she appears miscast in a part that required greater range Roy failed to meet its box office expectations and was a commercial failure Later that year she appeared in a guest appearance for the comedy satire Bangistan
Karan Malhotra s action drama Brothers was Fernandez s next release Co starring alongside Akshay Kumar and Sidharth Malhotra Fernandez played Jenny a fearless mother struggling for her child a role which she described as challenging intense and difficult The role marked a departure from the glamorous characters that she had a reputation for portraying Film critics praised her performance though their response to the film was mixed Dhriti Sharma of Zee News called her character soft timid and promising and praised her for convincingly pull ing off a pleasing character of a street fighter s wife Film critic Subhash K Jha noted that she in a limited role gives her finest emotive shot while critic Raja Sen remarked she plays Kumar s long sobbing wife who gets so deliriously happy on seeing a text message that it may well have contained news about a Kick sequel
As of September Fernandez has several projects in various stages of production She has completed shooting for Chandran Rutnam s English Sri Lankan crime thriller According to Mathew and the horror thriller Definition of Fear which marks her Hollywood debut Fernandez has also signed on to appear in three other projects Rohit Dhawan s Dishoom opposite Varun Dhawan and John Abraham as a part of three film deal with Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment Remo D Souza s Flying Jat opposite Tiger Shroff and in an Indo Chinese film starring opposite Abhay Deol Amitabh Bachchan and Jackie Chan titled Gold Struck
Fernandez shares a close bond with her family and admits to missing being around them She says I miss them so much everyday You don t realise when you live away from home how difficult life can be At the same time staying away from them has taught me to be more responsible It has taught me so many things about myself about priorities and time management In March Fernandez turned vegetarian for a day period to observe Lent a period from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday
In Fernandez started dating Bahraini prince Hassan bin Rashid Al Khalifa whom she met at a mutual friend s party they separated in While filming Housefull in Fernandez began a romantic relationship with director Sajid Khan The relationship attracted media coverage in India and there was speculation of an impending wedding However the relationship ended in May
In addition to acting in films Fernandez has supported charitable organisations and a number of causes In on the behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals PETA she sent a letter to the Mumbai Municipal Commissioner asking for an end to horse drawn carriage rides in Mumbai In early she asked the consulate general of the Philippines William John T Perera in Colombo to hasten the transfer of an elephant from its inadequate housing at the Manila Zoo to a humane sanctuary Later that year she auctioned a breakfast in Mayfair London where she raised around for the Pratham NGO which helps children s primary education In Fernandez was named Woman Of The Year by PETA India for advocating the protection of animals The following year she auctioned her outfits on an online portal for a philanthropic cause Some of her outfits included the ones she wore in the song Party On My Mind from Race and Hangover from Kick In March she was part of Jacqueline Builds campaign that raised funds for the victims of the South Indian floods
Fernandez has participated in several concert tours and televised award ceremonies In she performed at the Temptations Reloaded in Auckland Perth and Sydney alongside Shah Rukh Khan Rani Mukerji and Madhuri Dixit She also performed at the live talent show Got Talent World Stage Live with Khan Priyanka Chopra and Varun Dhawan the following year In July Fernandez opened a restaurant in Colombo Kaema Sutra in collaboration with chef Dharshan Munidasa which specialises in contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine
In the early Fernandez became the ambassador for HTC One which she endorses in India She was the face of Indian Bridal Fashion Week IBFW of Later that year she became the spokesperson for Gareth Pugh s designed Forevermark Diamonds in Mumbai and was at the inaugural opening of the Forever store in Mumbai That year she also launched Gillette Shaving System with Arbaaz Khan and Aditya Roy Kapur While analysing Fernandez s career India TV noted Slowly and steadily Jacqueline Fernandez is climbing up the ladder of success Jacqueline is comfortably grasping every aspect of the work which an actress is required to do and is accordingly giving results On the contrary Charu Thakur of India Today criticized her acting skills but remarked that she has managed to find her feet in Bollywood now by banking on glamorous roles
In and Fernandez featured in the UK magazine Eastern Eye s World s Sexiest Asian Women list ranking twelfth She was ranked third on The Times of India s listing of the Most Desirable Woman in and after being ranked eighth seventh and fourteenth respectively in the preceding three years In Rediffcom placed her on their list of Bollywood s Best Dressed Actresses The following year she held the sixty second position in the Indian edition of the Forbes Celebrity a list based on the income and popularity of India s celebrities She has been the cover model for many Indian editions of magazines including Vogue FHM Maxim Cosmopolitan Grazia Elle Verve Harper s Bazaar Women s Health and L Officiel among others
Barry John Cullen born August is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League NHL for the Pittsburgh Penguins Hartford Whalers Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning He was a standout player for Boston University and is the school s all time leading scorer After the Buffalo Sabres selected him in the NHL Supplemental Draft but chose not to offer him a contract Cullen signed with the Flint Spirits of the International Hockey League IHL for the season where he was named the IHL s co Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player after leading the league in scoring
His career was halted in when he was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin lymphoma He attempted a brief comeback in after an month battle with the disease for which the NHL awarded him the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy before retiring to serve as an assistant coach for a year with the Lightning Cullen played in two NHL All Star Games in his career He joined his brother in the car dealership business after leaving the game and briefly operated his own dealership until forced to close during the automotive industry crisis of
Cullen was born in Puslinch Ontario on August He is one of six children of Barry and Loretta Cullen His father and uncles Brian and Ray all played in the NHL and while Cullen and his three brothers all played as well their father never pressured them preferring that they enjoy the game
He idolized his elder brother Terry who was considered a top NHL prospect until Terry s career was ended when he suffered a broken neck after being hit from behind into the boards during a college game While his brother was highly sought by American universities John received only two scholarship offers choosing to play for Boston University BU in
At the same time his mother Loretta was diagnosed with skin cancer Following her death early in his freshman year Cullen contemplated returning to his Ontario home but was convinced by his father to continue with both school and hockey He used the game to cope with the loss and dedicated every game he played to his mother s memory Cullen felt that the inspiration he drew from his mother s battle allowed him to become a better player
Cullen was a standout with BU he was named the East Coast Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year in after leading his team in scoring with points The National Hockey League passed him over however as he went unclaimed in the NHL Entry Draft He was named to the Hockey East All Star Teams in and and a National Collegiate Athletic Association East Second Team All American in He graduated as BU s all time scoring leader with points and was named to BU s Hockey East th anniversary team in
Passed over in the Entry Draft Cullen was finally selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL Supplemental Draft When the Sabres failed to offer him a contract Cullen signed with the Flint Spirits of the International Hockey League IHL for the season He led the league with points scoring goals and won the James Gatschene Memorial Trophy as league most valuable player while sharing the Gary F Longman Memorial Trophy with Ed Belfour as rookie of the year Cullen s outstanding season in Flint caught the attention of the Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins He signed a contract with the Penguins for the league minimum passing up a superior contract offer from Buffalo as he remained upset at how they released him the year before
Cullen made his NHL debut in appearing in games with the Penguins and scoring points He was given a greater role with the Penguins the following year after Mario Lemieux missed games due to a back injury and responded by scoring goals and points to finish third in team scoring Additionally he played for Team Canada at the World Championship scoring four points in ten games Cullen had his best season in As one of the team s top offensive centres he scored points in the Penguins first games and played in his first NHL All Star Game However when Lemieux returned after missing an additional games due to injury Cullen s playing time and production declined
The Penguins needs led them to complete a blockbuster trade on March Cullen was sent to the Hartford Whalers along with Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker in exchange for Hartford s all time leading scorer Ron Francis along with Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings The Penguins almost turned down the deal as they were concerned about giving up Cullen s playmaking and leadership abilities while his former teammates credited Cullen as being the primary reason they were in a playoff position at the time the trade happened After the Penguins won their first Stanley Cup that season Phil Bourque later said it broke his heart that Cullen was not able to share in that championship
In Hartford Cullen worked to overcome the team s fans disappointment at losing Francis The Hartford fans initially booed him to show their dissatisfaction with the trade He scored points in regular season games to finish the season with points combined between the Penguins and Whalers and was the team s best player in their first round loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs He initially accepted an invitation to join the Canadian team at the Canada Cup but subsequently chose not to participate as his contract had expired leading to greater insurance concerns Still without a contract when the season began Cullen missed the first four games before signing a four year deal with Hartford worth a total of million He returned to score points in games in his first full season with the Whalers and represented the team at the All Star Game
Midway through the NHL season the Whalers sent Cullen to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Toronto s second round selection at the NHL Entry Draft Cullen was excited to play for his father s old team but injuries reduced his ability to perform His most significant injury was a herniated disc in his neck that doctors initially feared would end his career A bulky neck brace allowed Cullen to return and play out his contract in Toronto When the Leafs chose not to re sign him following the season he returned to the Penguins for one season before Tony Esposito convinced him to sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning in
Cullen enjoyed immediate success with linemates Shawn Burr and Alexander Selivanov as the trio combined to score points and helped lead the Lightning to the first playoff appearance in franchise history They were eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers in five games while Cullen led the team in playoff scoring with three goals and three assists The Lightning looked to improve in Cullen was leading the team in scoring but was suffering flu like symptoms that he could not shake As Tampa was fighting for a playoff spot he played through his condition for weeks
After two months of quietly dealing with his symptoms Cullen s wife finally called team trainers and asked them to check into his illness The team took an x ray and found a large black shadow in his chest He underwent a CAT scan which revealed Cullen had a baseball sized tumor he was diagnosed as having Non Hodgkin lymphoma The diagnosis ended his season and he immediately began chemotherapy treatments that quickly reduced his cancer The tumor was gone by September but a precautionary test prior to training camp revealed that Cullen still had cancer cells in his body He missed the entire NHL season as he continued to battle the disease while his teammates wore a uniform patch with his in support throughout the year
On one day during his treatments as his wife was wheeling him down a hospital corridor Cullen went into cardiac arrest requiring doctors to use a defibrillator to revive him He underwent a bone marrow transplant that briefly reduced his immune system to the point that he could have very little human contact Another examination in April revealed that the cancer was finally gone and Cullen immediately began training for a comeback
The Lightning signed Cullen to a one year contract for the season He played his first game in nearly months on September in an exhibition game between the Lightning and Sabres at Innsbruck Austria Cullen scored the game winning goal in a victory after which he said he sat on the bench in disbelief over how he was given a second chance He was named to the roster and was greeted with a loud standing ovation by the fans in Tampa Bay when he was introduced prior to their season opening game
Cullen appeared in four of the Lightning s first eight games but it was evident that he had lost much of his speed and strength The Lightning assigned him to the IHL s Cleveland Lumberjacks but also gave him the option of retiring and taking up a position as an assistant coach He chose to accept the demotion giving himself one month to determine if he could continue playing He appeared in six games for Cleveland and in one game against the Chicago Wolves tied an IHL record when he scored seven points in a victory
However a bout of bronchitis led Cullen to fear that his cancer had returned Tests came back negative but after spending time with his family he realized that neither he nor his family were interested in returning to Cleveland Cullen announced his retirement on November and accepted the Lightning offer to become an assistant coach In recognition of his comeback attempt the NHL named him the winner of the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for dedication and perseverance while the IHL renamed its Comeback Player of the Year award the John Cullen Award
Former Lightning head coach Terry Crisp has stated publicly that Cullen was a player that stood out as something special saying John Cullen beat cancer and came back to play and helped us win
Cullen and his wife Valerie have three daughters Kennedy and twins Karlyn and Kortland Unwilling to spend so much time away from his family he left the Lightning in and settled in the Atlanta area joining his brother s car dealership in Jonesboro Georgia He had always expected to become a car dealer after his hockey career as his father uncles and brother all worked in the industry After apprenticing under his brother for five years he bought a Dodge dealership in Newnan Georgia in However he owned the dealership for less than two years before Chrysler closed him down as part of its recovery plan in response to the Automotive industry crisis of He has since returned to his brother s dealership serving as its general manager
Cullen s battle with cancer inspired Timm Harmon of the Moffitt Cancer Centre to partner with the Lightning to raise awareness and money for cancer research The NHL itself joined the cause in the winter of creating the Hockey Fights Cancer program to raise money for research Cullen has spent time promoting the initiative
Prior to marrying his wife Valerie John dated Carolyn Bessette the future wife of John F Kennedy Jr The two met while attending University in Boston
Cullen is the namesake of the John Cullen Award previously given to key IHL players
For the ironclad present at the Battle of Lissa of the same name see SMS Erzherzog Ferdinand Max
SMS Erzherzog Ferdinand Max German His Majesty s ship Archduke Ferdinand Max was a pre dreadnought battleship built by the Austro Hungarian Navy in The second ship of the Erzherzog Karl class she was launched on October She was assigned to the III Battleship Division
For most of World War I Erzherzog Ferdinand Max remained in her home port of Pola in present day Croatia except for four engagements In she formed part of the Austro Hungarian flotilla sent to protect the escape of the German ships SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau from the British held Mediterranean she advanced as far as Brindisi before being recalled to her home port Her sole combat engagement occurred in late May when she participated in the bombardment of the Italian port city of Ancona She also took part in suppressing a major mutiny among the crew members of several armored cruisers stationed in Cattaro between February She also attempted to break through the Otranto Barrage in June of that year but had to retreat when the dreadnought SMS Szent Istvn was sunk After the war Erzherzog Ferdinand Max was awarded to the United Kingdom as a war prize in
Erzherzog Ferdinand Max displaced long tons t She was feet inches m long had a beam of feet inches m and a draft of feet inches m She was manned by men She and her sisters were the last and largest pre dreadnought class built by the Austro Hungarian Navy surpassing the Habsburg class by approximately tonnes long tons She was propelled by two two shaft four cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines On trials they developed ihp kW which propelled the ship at a speed of knots km h mph
Erzherzog Ferdinand Max carried a primary armament of four centimeter in caliber guns in two twin turrets on the centerline These guns were an Austro Hungarian replica of the British cm Krupp C which was used on the Habsburgs Her secondary armament consisted of twelve centimeter in caliber guns also made by koda mounted in eight single casemates on either wing of the ship and two twin turrets on the centerline shell metres yd at maximum elevation with a muzzle velocity of metres per second ft s The gun weighed tons and could fire three rounds per minuteThe ships had a tertiary armament for protection against torpedo boats in the form of the centimetres in caliber gun also manufactured by koda Anti aircraft and airship protection was covered by the four millimeter in Vickers anti aircraft guns on the ship bought from Britain in and mounted onto Erzherzog Karl Erzherzog Ferdinand Max was also fitted with two above water centimeter in torpedo tubes although rarely used
At the outbreak of World War I Erzherzog Ferdinand Max was in the III division of the Austrian Hungarian battle fleet She was mobilized on the eve of the war along with the remainder of the fleet to support the flight of SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau The two German ships were attempting to break out of Messina which was surrounded by British troops and make their way to Turkey The breakout succeeded When the flotilla had advanced as far south as Brindisi in south eastern Italy the Austro Hungarian ships were recalled In company with other units of the Austro Hungarian navy Erzherzog Ferdinand Max took a minor part in the bombardment of Ancona on May There she and her sisters expended rounds of mm armor piercing shells at signal and semaphore stations as well as rounds of mm shells aimed at Italian gun batteries and other port installations
A major mutiny among crews of the armored cruisers stationed in Cattaro including Sankt Georg and Kaiser Karl VI began on February Two days later Erzherzog Ferdinand Max and her sisters arrived in the port and assisted with the suppression of the mutiny Following the restoration of order in the naval base the armored cruisers Sankt Georg and Kaiser Karl VI were decommissioned and Erzherzog Ferdinand Max and her sisters were stationed in Cattaro in their place On the morning of June Admiral Miklos Horthy planned a major assault on the Otranto Barrage the three Erzherzog Karls and the four Tegetthoff class battleships were to provide support for the Novara class cruisers on an assault on the Allied defenses at the Strait of Otranto The plan was intended to replicate the success of the raid conducted one year earlier Horthy s plan was to destroy the blockading fleet by luring Allied ships to the cruisers and lighter ships which were protected from the heavier guns of the battleships including the guns of the Erzherzog Karl class However on the morning of June the dreadnought Szent Istvn was torpedoed and sunk by an Italian torpedo boat Horthy felt that the element of surprise had been compromised and therefore called off the operation This was to be the last military action Erzherzog Ferdinand Max was to take part in and she and her sisters spent the rest of their career in port
Near the end of World War I the Erzherzog Karl class battleships were handed over to the newly formed State of Slovenes Croats and Serbs but Erzherzog Ferdinand Max was later transferred to Great Britain as a war reparation She was later broken up for scrap in
Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion which emerged sometime in prehistory Deities represented natural forces and phenomena and the Egyptians supported and appeased them through offerings and rituals so that these forces would continue to function according to maat or divine order After the founding of the Egyptian state around BC the authority to perform these tasks was controlled by the pharaoh who claimed to be the gods representative and managed the temples where the rituals were carried out
The gods complex characteristics were expressed in myths and in intricate relationships between deities family ties loose groups and hierarchies and combinations of separate gods into one Deities diverse appearances in art as animals humans objects and combinations of different forms also alluded through symbolism to their essential features
In different eras various gods were said to hold the highest position in divine society including the solar deity Ra the mysterious god Amun and the mother goddess Isis The highest deity was usually credited with the creation of the world and often connected with the life giving power of the sun Some scholars have argued based in part on Egyptian writings that the Egyptians came to recognize a single divine power that lay behind all things and was present in all the other deities Yet they never abandoned their original polytheistic view of the world except possibly during the era of Atenism in the th century BC when official religion focused exclusively on the impersonal sun god Aten
Gods were assumed to be present throughout the world capable of influencing natural events and the course of human lives People interacted with them in temples and unofficial shrines for personal reasons as well as for larger goals of state rites Egyptians prayed for divine help used rituals to compel deities to act and called upon them for advice Humans relations with their gods were a fundamental part of Egyptian society
The beings in ancient Egyptian tradition who might be labeled as deities are difficult to count Egyptian texts list the names of many deities whose nature is unknown and make vague indirect references to other gods who are not even named The Egyptologist James P Allen estimates that more than deities are named in Egyptian texts whereas his colleague Christian Leitz says there are thousands upon thousands of gods
The Egyptian language s terms for these beings were nr god and its feminine form nrt goddess Scholars have tried to discern the original nature of the gods by proposing etymologies for these words but none of these suggestions has gained acceptance and the terms origin remains obscure The hieroglyphs that were used as ideograms and determinatives in writing these words show some of the traits that the Egyptians connected with divinity The most common of these signs is a flag flying from a pole Similar objects were placed at the entrances of temples representing the presence of a deity throughout ancient Egyptian history Other such hieroglyphs include a falcon reminiscent of several early gods who were depicted as falcons and a seated male or female deity The feminine form could also be written with an egg as determinative connecting goddesses with creation and birth or with a cobra reflecting the use of the cobra to depict many female deities
The Egyptians distinguished nrw gods from rm people but the meanings of the Egyptian and the English terms do not match perfectly The term nr may have applied to any being that was in some way outside the sphere of everyday life Deceased humans were called nr because they were considered to be like the gods whereas the term was rarely applied to many of Egypt s lesser supernatural beings which modern scholars often call demons Egyptian religious art also depicts places objects and concepts in human form These personified ideas range from deities that were important in myth and ritual to obscure beings only mentioned once or twice that may be little more than metaphors
Confronting these blurred distinctions between gods and other beings scholars have proposed various definitions of a deity One widely accepted definition suggested by Jan Assmann says that a deity has a cult is involved in some aspect of the universe and is described in mythology or other forms of written tradition According to a different definition by Dimitri Meeks nr applied to any being that was the focus of ritual From this perspective gods included the king who was called a god after his coronation rites and deceased souls who entered the divine realm through funeral ceremonies Likewise the preeminence of the great gods was maintained by the ritual devotion that was performed for them across Egypt
The first written evidence of deities in Egypt comes from the Early Dynastic Period c BC Deities must have emerged sometime in the preceding Predynastic Period before BC and grown out of prehistoric religious beliefs Predynastic artwork depicts a variety of animal and human figures Some of these images such as stars and cattle are reminiscent of important features of Egyptian religion in later times but in most cases there is not enough evidence to say whether the images are connected with deities As Egyptian society grew more sophisticated clearer signs of religious activity appeared The earliest known temples appeared in the last centuries of the predynastic era along with images that resemble the iconographies of known deities the falcon that represents Horus and several other gods the crossed arrows that stand for Neith and the enigmatic Set animal that represents Set
Many Egyptologists and anthropologists have suggested theories about how the gods developed in these early times Gustave Jquier for instance thought the Egyptians first revered primitive fetishes then deities in animal form and finally deities in human form whereas Henri Frankfort argued that the gods must have been envisioned in human form from the beginning Some of these theories are now regarded as too simplistic and more current ones such as Siegfried Morenz hypothesis that deities emerged as humans began to distinguish themselves from and personify their environment are difficult to prove
Predynastic Egypt originally consisted of small independent villages Because many deities in later times were strongly tied to particular towns and regions many scholars have suggested that the pantheon formed as disparate communities coalesced into larger states spreading and intermingling the worship of the old local deities But others have argued that the most important predynastic gods were like other elements of Egyptian culture present all across the country despite the political divisions within it
The final step in the formation of Egyptian religion was the unification of Egypt in which rulers from Upper Egypt made themselves pharaohs of the entire country These sacred kings and their subordinates assumed the exclusive right to interact with the gods and kingship became the unifying focus of the religion
New gods continued to emerge after this transformation Some important deities like Isis and Amun are not known to have appeared until the Old Kingdom c BC Places and concepts could suddenly inspire the creation of a deity to represent them and deities were sometimes created to serve as opposite sex counterparts to established gods or goddesses Kings were said to be divine although only a few continued to be worshipped long after their deaths Some non royal humans were said to have the favor of the gods and were venerated accordingly This veneration was usually short lived but the court architects Imhotep and Amenhotep son of Hapu were regarded as gods centuries after their lifetimes as were some other officials
Through contact with neighboring civilizations the Egyptians also adopted foreign deities Dedun who is first mentioned in the Old Kingdom may have come from Nubia and Baal Anat and Astarte among others were adopted from Canaanite religion during the New Kingdom c BC In Greek and Roman times from BC to the early centuries AD deities from across the Mediterranean world were revered in Egypt but the native gods remained and they often absorbed the cults of these newcomers into their own worship
Modern knowledge of Egyptian beliefs about the gods is mostly drawn from religious writings produced by the nation s scribes and priests These people were the elite of Egyptian society and were very distinct from the general populace most of whom were illiterate Little is known about how well this broader population knew or understood the sophisticated ideas that the elite developed Commoners perceptions of the divine may have differed from those of the priests The populace may for example have mistaken the religion s symbolic statements about the gods and their actions for literal truth But overall what little is known about popular religious belief is consistent with the elite tradition The two traditions form a largely cohesive vision of the gods and their nature
Most Egyptian deities represent natural or social phenomena The gods were generally said to be immanent in these phenomena to be present within nature The types of phenomena they represented include physical places and objects as well as abstract concepts and forces The god Shu was the deification of all the world s air the goddess Meretseger oversaw a limited region of the earth the Theban Necropolis and the god Sia personified the abstract notion of perception Major gods often had many roles and were involved in several types of phenomena For instance Khnum was the god of Elephantine Island in the midst of the Nile the river that was essential to Egyptian civilization He was credited with producing the annual Nile flood that fertilized the nation s farmland Perhaps as an outgrowth of this life giving function he was said to create all living things fashioning their bodies on a potter s wheel Gods could share the same role in nature Ra Atum Khepri Horus and other deities acted as sun gods Despite their diverse functions most gods had an overarching role in common maintaining maat the universal order that was a central principle of Egyptian religion and was itself personified as a goddess But some deities represented disruption to maat Most prominently Apep was the force of chaos constantly threatening to annihilate the order of the universe and Set was an ambivalent member of divine society who could both fight disorder and foment it
Not all aspects of existence were seen as deities Although many deities were connected with the Nile no god personified it in the way that Ra personified the sun Short lived phenomena like rainbows or eclipses were not represented by gods neither were elements like fire and water or many other components of the world
The roles of each deity were fluid and each god could expand its nature to take on new characteristics As a result gods roles are difficult to categorize or define But despite their flexibility the gods had limited abilities and spheres of influence Not even the creator god could reach beyond the boundaries of the cosmos that he created and even Isis though she was said to be the cleverest of the gods was not omniscient Richard H Wilkinson however argues that some texts from the late New Kingdom suggest that as beliefs about the god Amun evolved he was thought to approach omniscience and omnipresence and to transcend the limits of the world in a way that other deities did not
The deities with the most limited and specialized domains are often called minor divinities or demons in modern writing although there is no firm definition for these terms Among these lesser deities Egyptologist Claude Traunecker draws a distinction between genies specialized patron spirits of certain places objects or activities such as the sea or marsh god Wadj Wer and the harvest goddess Renenutet and demons who have a more dangerous character Many demons are hostile causing illness and other troubles among humans Their power can also be protective they may guard certain places in the Duat the realm of the dead or advise and watch over humans Egyptians believed the landscape was full of these unpredictable divine powers Demons often act as servants and messengers to the greater gods but their position in the hierarchy is not fixed The protective deities Bes and Taweret originally had minor demon like roles but over time they came to be credited with great influence
Divine behavior was believed to govern all of nature Except for the few deities who disrupted the divine order the gods actions maintained maat and created and sustained all living things They did this work using a force the Egyptians called heka a term usually translated as magic Heka was a fundamental power that the creator god used to form the world and the gods themselves
The gods actions in the present are described and praised in hymns and funerary texts In contrast mythology mainly concerns the gods actions during a vaguely imagined past in which the gods were present on earth and interacted directly with humans The events of this past time set the pattern for the events of the present Periodic occurrences were tied to events in the mythic past the succession of each new pharaoh for instance reenacted Horus accession to the throne of his father Osiris Myths are metaphors for the gods actions which humans cannot fully understand They contain seemingly contradictory ideas each expressing a particular perspective on divine events The contradictions in myth are part of the Egyptians many faceted approach to religious belief what Henri Frankfort called a multiplicity of approaches to understanding the gods
In myth the gods behave much like humans They feel emotion they can eat drink fight weep sicken and die Some have unique character traits Set is aggressive and impulsive and Thoth patron of writing and knowledge is prone to long winded speeches Yet overall the gods are more like archetypes than well drawn characters Their behavior is inconsistent and their thoughts and motivations are rarely stated Most myths about them lack highly developed characters and plots because the symbolic meaning of the myths was more important than elaborate storytelling
The first divine act is the creation of the cosmos described in several creation myths They focus on different gods each of which may act as creator deities The eight gods of the Ogdoad who represent the chaos that precedes creation give birth to the sun god who establishes order in the newly formed world Ptah who embodies thought and creativity gives form to all things by envisioning and naming them Atum produces all things as emanations of himself and Amun according to the myths promoted by his priesthood preceded and created the other creator gods These and other versions of the events of creation were not seen as contradictory Each gives a different perspective on the complex process by which the organized universe and its many deities emerged from undifferentiated chaos The period following creation in which a series of gods rule as kings over the divine society is the setting for most myths The gods struggle against the forces of chaos and among each other before withdrawing from the human world and installing the historical kings of Egypt to rule in their place
A recurring theme in these myths is the effort of the gods to maintain maat against the forces of disorder They fight vicious battles with the forces of chaos at the start of creation Ra and Apep battling each other each night continue this struggle into the present Another prominent theme is the gods death and revival The clearest instance where a god dies is the myth of Osiris murder in which that god is resurrected as ruler of the Duat The sun god is also said to grow old during his daily journey across the sky sink into the Duat at night and emerge as a young child at dawn In the process he comes into contact with the rejuvenating water of primordial chaos Funerary texts that depict Ra s journey through the Duat also show the corpses of gods who are enlivened along with him Instead of being changelessly immortal the gods periodically died and were reborn by repeating the events of creation thus renewing the whole world But it was always possible for this cycle to be disrupted and for chaos to return Some poorly understood Egyptian texts even suggest that this calamity is destined to happen that the creator god will one day dissolve the order of the world leaving only himself and Osiris amid the primordial chaos
Gods were linked with specific regions of the universe In Egyptian tradition the world includes the earth the sky and the Duat Surrounding them is the dark formlessness that existed before creation The gods in general were said to dwell in the sky although gods whose roles were linked with other parts of the universe were said to live in those places instead Most events of mythology set in a time before the gods withdrawal from the human realm take place in an earthly setting The deities there sometimes interact with those in the sky The Duat in contrast is treated as a remote and inaccessible place and the gods who dwell there have difficulty communicating with those in the world of the living The space outside the cosmos is also said to be very distant It too is inhabited by deities some hostile and some beneficial to the other gods and their orderly world
In the time after myth most gods were said to be either in the sky or invisibly present within the world Temples were their main means of contact with humanity Each day it was believed the gods moved from the divine realm to their temples their homes in the human world There they inhabited the cult images the statues that depicted deities and allowed humans to interact with them in temple rituals This movement between realms was sometimes described as a journey between the sky and the earth As temples were the focal points of Egyptian cities the god in a city s main temple was the patron god for the city and the surrounding region Deities spheres of influence on earth centered on the towns and regions they presided over Many gods had more than one cult center and their local ties changed over time They could establish themselves in new cities or their range of influence could contract Therefore a given deity s main cult center in historical times is not necessarily his or her place of origin The political influence of a city could affect the importance of its patron deity When kings from Thebes took control of the country at start of the Middle Kingdom c BC they elevated Thebes patron gods first the war god Montu and then Amun to national prominence
In Egyptian belief names express the fundamental nature of the things to which they refer In keeping with this belief the names of deities often relate to their roles or origins The name of the predatory goddess Sekhmet means powerful one the name of the mysterious god Amun means hidden one and the name of the goddess Nekhbet who was worshipped in the city of Nekheb means she of Nekheb But many other names have no certain meaning even when the gods who bear them are closely tied to a single role The names of the sky goddess Nut and the earth god Geb do not resemble the Egyptian terms for sky and earth
The Egyptians also devised false etymologies giving more meanings to divine names A passage in the Coffin Texts renders the name of the funerary god Sokar as sk r meaning cleaning of the mouth to link his name with his role in the Opening of the Mouth ritual while one in the Pyramid Texts says the name is based on words shouted by Osiris connecting Sokar with the most important funerary deity
The gods were believed to have many names Among them were secret names that conveyed their true natures more profoundly than others To know the true name of a deity was to have power over it The importance of names is demonstrated by a myth in which Isis poisons the superior god Ra and refuses to cure him unless he reveals his secret name to her Upon learning the name she tells it to her son Horus and by learning it they gain greater knowledge and power
In addition to their names gods were given epithets like possessor of splendor ruler of Abydos or lord of the sky that describe some aspect of their roles or their worship Because of the gods multiple and overlapping roles deities can have many epithets with more important gods accumulating more titles and the same epithet can apply to many deities Some epithets eventually became separate deities as with Werethekau an epithet applied to several goddesses meaning great enchantress which came to be treated as an independent goddess The host of divine names and titles expresses the gods multifarious nature
Egyptian deities are connected in a complex and shifting array of relationships A god s connections and interactions with other deities helped define its character Thus Isis as the mother and protector of Horus was a great healer as well as the patroness of kings Such relationships were the base material from which myths were formed
Family relationships are a common type of connection between gods Deities often form male and female pairs reflecting the importance of procreation in Egyptian religious thought Families of three deities with a father mother and child represent the creation of new life and the succession of the father by the child a pattern that connects divine families with royal succession Osiris Isis and Horus formed the quintessential family of this type The pattern they set grew more widespread over time so that many deities in local cult centers like Ptah Sekhmet and their child Nefertum at Memphis and Amun Mut and Khonsu at Thebes were assembled into family triads Genealogical connections like these are changeable in keeping with the multiple perspectives in Egyptian belief Hathor as a fertility goddess could act as mother to any child god including the child form of the sun god although in other circumstances she was the sun god s daughter
Other divine groups were composed of deities with interrelated roles or who together represented a region of the Egyptian mythological cosmos There were sets of gods for the hours of the day and night and for each nome province of Egypt Some of these groups contain a specific symbolically important number of deities Paired gods can stand for opposite but interrelated concepts that are part of a greater unity Ra who is dynamic and light producing and Osiris who is static and shrouded in darkness merge into a single god each night Groups of three are linked with plurality in ancient Egyptian thought and groups of four connote completeness Rulers in the late New Kingdom promoted a particularly important group of three gods above all others Amun Ra and Ptah These deities stood for the plurality of all gods as well as for their own cult centers the major cities of Thebes Heliopolis and Memphis and for many threefold sets of concepts in Egyptian religious thought Sometimes Set the patron god of the Nineteenth Dynasty kings and the embodiment of disorder within the world was added to this group which emphasized a single coherent vision of the pantheon
Nine the product of three and three represents a multitude so the Egyptians called several large groups enneads or sets of nine even if they had more than nine members The most prominent ennead was the Ennead of Heliopolis an extended family of deities descended from the creator god Atum which incorporates many important gods The term ennead was often extended to include all of Egypt s deities
This divine assemblage had a vague and changeable hierarchy Gods with broad influence in the cosmos or who were mythologically older than others had higher positions in divine society At the apex of this society was the king of the gods who was usually identified with the creator deity In different periods of Egyptian history different gods were most frequently said to hold this exalted position Horus was the most important god in the Early Dynastic Period Ra rose to preeminence in the Old Kingdom Amun was supreme in the New and in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods Isis was the divine queen and creator goddess Newly prominent gods tended to adopt characteristics from their predecessors Isis absorbed the traits of many other goddesses during her rise and when Amun became the ruler of the pantheon he was conjoined with Ra the traditional king of the gods to become a solar deity
The gods were believed to manifest in many forms The Egyptians had complex conception of the human soul consisting of several parts The spirits of the gods were composed of many of these same elements The ba was the component of the human or divine soul that affected the world around it Any visible manifestation of a god s power could be called its ba thus the sun was called the ba of Ra A depiction of a deity was considered a ka another component of its being which acted as a vessel for that deity s ba to inhabit The cult images of gods that were the focus of temple rituals as well as the sacred animals that represented certain deities were believed to house divine bas in this way Gods could be ascribed many bas and kas which were sometimes given names representing different aspects of the god s nature Everything in existence was said to be one of the kas of Atum the creator god who originally contained all things within himself and one deity could be called the ba of another meaning that the first god is a manifestation of the other s power Divine body parts could act as separate deities like the Eye of Ra and Hand of Atum both of which were personified as goddesses
Nationally important deities gave rise to local manifestations which sometimes absorbed the characteristics of older regional gods Horus had many forms tied to particular places including Horus of Nekhen Horus of Buhen and Horus of Edfu Such local manifestations could be treated almost as separate beings During the New Kingdom one man was accused of stealing clothes by an oracle supposed to communicate messages from Amun of Pe Khenty He consulted two other local oracles of Amun hoping for a different judgment Gods manifestations also differed according to their roles Horus could be a powerful sky god or vulnerable child and these forms were sometimes counted as independent deities
Gods were combined with each other as easily as they were divided A god could be called the ba of another or two or more deities could be joined into one god with a combined name and iconography Local gods were linked with greater ones and deities with similar functions were combined Ra was connected with the local deity Sobek to form Sobek Ra with his fellow ruling god Amun to form Amun Ra with the solar form of Horus to form Ra Horakhty and with several solar deities as Horemakhet Khepri Ra Atum On rare occasion even deities of different sexes were joined in this way producing combinations like Osiris Neith and Mut Min This linking of deities is called syncretism Unlike other situations for which this term is used the Egyptian practice was not meant to fuse competing belief systems although foreign deities could be syncretized with native ones Instead syncretism acknowledged the overlap between their roles and extended the sphere of influence for each of them Syncretic combinations were not permanent a god who was involved in one combination continued to appear separately and to form new combinations with other deities But closely connected deities did sometimes merge Horus absorbed several falcon gods from various regions such as Khenty irty and Khenty khety who became little more than local manifestations of him Hathor subsumed a similar cow goddess Bat and an early funerary god Khenti Amentiu was supplanted by Osiris and Anubis
In the reign of Akhenaten c BC in the mid New Kingdom a single solar deity the Aten became the sole focus of the state religion Akhenaten ceased to fund the temples of other deities and erased the gods names and images on monuments targeting Amun in particular This new religious system sometimes called Atenism differed dramatically from the polytheistic worship of many gods in all other periods Whereas in earlier times newly important gods were integrated into existing religious beliefs Atenism insisted on a single understanding of the divine that excluded the traditional multiplicity of perspectives Yet Atenism may not have been full monotheism which totally excludes belief in other deities There is evidence suggesting that the general populace was still allowed to worship other gods in private The picture is further complicated by Atenism s apparent tolerance for some other deities like Shu For these reasons the Egyptologist Dominic Montserrat suggested that Akhenaten may have been monolatrous worshipping a single deity while acknowledging the existence of others In any case Atenism s aberrant theology did not take root among the Egyptian populace and Akhenaten s successors returned to traditional beliefs
Scholars have long debated whether traditional Egyptian religion ever asserted that the multiple gods were on a deeper level unified Reasons for this debate include the practice of syncretism which might suggest that all the separate gods could ultimately merge into one and the tendency of Egyptian texts to credit a particular god with power that surpasses all other deities Another point of contention is the appearance of the word god in wisdom literature where the term does not refer to a specific deity or group of deities In the early th century for instance E A Wallis Budge believed that Egyptian commoners were polytheistic but knowledge of the true monotheistic nature of the religion was reserved for the elite who wrote the wisdom literature His contemporary James Henry Breasted thought Egyptian religion was instead pantheistic with the power of the sun god present in all other gods while Hermann Junker argued that Egyptian civilization had been originally monotheistic and became polytheistic in the course of its history
In Erik Hornung published a study rebutting these views He points out that in any given period many deities even minor ones were described as superior to all others He also argues that the unspecified god in the wisdom texts is a generic term for whichever deity the reader chooses to revere Although the combinations manifestations and iconographies of each god were constantly shifting they were always restricted to a finite number of forms never becoming fully interchangeable in a monotheistic or pantheistic way Henotheism Hornung says describes Egyptian religion better than other labels An Egyptian could worship any deity at a particular time and credit it with supreme power in that moment without denying the other gods or merging them all with the god that he or she focused on Hornung concludes that the gods were fully unified only in myth at the time before creation after which the multitude of gods emerged from a uniform nonexistence
Hornung s arguments have greatly influenced other scholars of Egyptian religion but some still believe that at times the gods were more unified than he allows Jan Assmann maintains that the notion of a single deity developed slowly through the New Kingdom beginning with a focus on Amun Ra as the all important sun god In his view Atenism was an extreme outgrowth of this trend It equated the single deity with the sun and dismissed all other gods Then in the backlash against Atenism priestly theologians described the universal god in a different way one that coexisted with traditional polytheism The one god was believed to transcend the world and all the other deities while at the same time the multiple gods were aspects of the one According to Assmann this one god was especially equated with Amun the dominant god in the late New Kingdom whereas for the rest of Egyptian history the universal deity could be identified with many other gods James P Allen says that coexisting notions of one god and many gods would fit well with the multiplicity of approaches in Egyptian thought as well as with the henotheistic practice of ordinary worshippers He says that the Egyptians may have recognized the unity of the divine by identifying their uniform notion of god with a particular god depending on the particular situation
Egyptian writings describe the gods bodies in detail They are made of precious materials their flesh is gold their bones are silver and their hair is lapis lazuli They give off a scent that the Egyptians likened to the incense used in rituals Some texts give precise descriptions of particular deities including their height and eye color Yet these characteristics are not fixed in myths gods change their appearances to suit their own purposes Egyptian texts often refer to deities true underlying forms as mysterious The Egyptians visual representations of their gods are therefore not literal They symbolize specific aspects of each deity s character functioning much like the ideograms in hieroglyphic writing For this reason the funerary god Anubis is commonly shown in Egyptian art as a dog or jackal a creature whose scavenging habits threaten the preservation of buried mummies in an effort to counter this threat and employ it for protection His black coloring alludes to the color of mummified flesh and to the fertile black soil that Egyptians saw as a symbol of resurrection
Most gods were depicted in several ways Hathor could be a cow cobra lioness or a woman with bovine horns or ears By depicting a given god in different ways the Egyptians expressed different aspects of its essential nature The gods are depicted in a finite number of these symbolic forms so that deities can often be distinguished from one another by their iconographies These forms include men and women anthropomorphism animals zoomorphism and more rarely inanimate objects Combinations of forms such as gods with human bodies and animal heads are common New forms and increasingly complex combinations arose in the course of history Some gods can only be distinguished from others if they are labeled in writing as with Isis and Hathor Because of the close connection between these goddesses they could both wear the cow horn headdress that was originally Hathor s alone
Certain features of divine images are more useful than others in determining a god s identity The head of a given divine image is particularly significant In a hybrid image the head represents the original form of the being depicted so that as the Egyptologist Henry Fischer put it a lion headed goddess is a lion goddess in human form while a royal sphinx conversely is a man who has assumed the form of a lion Divine headdresses which range from the same types of crowns used by human kings to large hieroglyphs worn on gods heads are another important indicator In contrast the objects held in gods hands tend to be generic Male deities hold was staffs goddesses hold stalks of papyrus and both sexes carry ankh signs representing the Egyptian word for life to symbolize their life giving power
The forms in which the gods are shown although diverse are limited in many ways Many creatures that are widespread in Egypt were never used in divine iconography whereas a few such as falcons cobras and cattle can each represent many deities Animals that were absent from Egypt in the early stages of its history were not used as divine images For instance the horse which was only introduced in the Second Intermediate Period c BC never represented a god Similarly the clothes worn by anthropomorphic deities in all periods changed little from the styles used in the Old Kingdom a kilt false beard and often a shirt for male gods and a long tight fitting dress for goddesses
The basic anthropomorphic form varies Child gods are depicted nude as are some adult gods when their procreative powers are emphasized Certain male deities are given heavy bellies and breasts signifying either androgyny or prosperity and abundance Whereas most male gods have red skin and most goddesses are yellow the same colors used to depict Egyptian men and women some are given unusual symbolic skin colors Thus the blue skin and paunchy figure of the god Hapi alludes to the Nile flood he represents and the nourishing fertility it brought A few deities such as Osiris Ptah and Min have a mummiform appearance with their limbs tightly swathed in cloth Although these gods resemble mummies the earliest examples predate the cloth wrapped style of mummification and this form may instead hark back to the earliest limbless depictions of deities
In official writings pharaohs are said to be divine and they are constantly depicted in the company of the deities of the pantheon Each pharaoh and his predecessors were considered the successors of the gods who had ruled Egypt in mythic prehistory Living kings were equated with Horus and called the son of many deities particularly Osiris and Ra deceased kings were equated with these elder gods Pharaohs had their own mortuary temples where rituals were performed for them during their lives and after their deaths But few pharaohs were worshipped as gods long after their lifetimes and non official texts portray kings in a human light For these reasons scholars disagree about how genuinely most Egyptians believed the king to be a god He may only have been considered divine when he was performing ceremonies
However much it was believed the king s divine status was the rationale for his role as Egypt s representative to the gods as he formed a link between the divine and human realms The Egyptians believed the gods needed temples to dwell in as well as the periodic performance of rituals and presentation of offerings to nourish them These things were provided by the cults that the king oversaw with their priests and laborers Yet according to royal ideology temple building was exclusively the pharaoh s work as were the rituals that priests usually performed in his stead These acts were a part of the king s fundamental role maintaining maat The king and the nation he represented provided the gods with maat so they could continue to perform their functions which maintained maat in the cosmos so humans could continue to live
Although the Egyptians believed their gods to be present in the world around them contact between the human and divine realms was mostly limited to specific circumstances In literature gods may appear to humans in a physical form but in real life the Egyptians were limited to more indirect means of communication
The ba of a god was said to periodically leave the divine realm to dwell in the images of that god By inhabiting these images the gods left their concealed state and took on a physical form To the Egyptians a place or object that was sr sacred was isolated and ritually pure and thus fit for a god to inhabit Temple statues and reliefs as well as particular sacred animals like the Apis bull served as divine intermediaries in this way Dreams and trances provided a very different venue for interaction In these states it was believed people could come close to the gods and sometimes receive messages from them Finally according to Egyptian afterlife beliefs human souls pass into the divine realm after death The Egyptians therefore believed that in death they would exist on the same level as the gods and fully understand their mysterious nature
Temples where the state rituals were carried out were filled with images of the gods The most important temple image was the cult statue in the inner sanctuary These statues were usually less than life size and made of the same precious materials that were said to form the gods bodies Many temples had several sanctuaries each with a cult statue representing one of the gods in a group such as a family triad The city s primary god was envisioned as its lord employing many of the residents as servants in the divine household that the temple represented The gods residing in the temples of Egypt collectively represented the entire pantheon But many deities including some important gods as well as those that were minor or hostile were never given temples of their own although some were represented in the temples of other gods
To insulate the sacred power in the sanctuary from the impurities of the outside world the Egyptians enclosed temple sanctuaries and greatly restricted access to them People other than kings and high priests were thus denied contact with cult statues The only exception was during festival processions when the statue was carried out of the temple but still enclosed in a portable shrine People did have less direct means of interaction The more public parts of temples often incorporated small places for prayer from doorways to freestanding chapels near the back of the temple building Communities also built and managed small chapels for their own use and some families had shrines inside their homes Despite the gulf that separated humanity from the divine the Egyptians were surrounded by opportunities to approach their gods
Egyptian gods were involved in human lives as well as in the overarching order of nature This divine influence applied mainly to Egypt as foreign peoples were traditionally believed to be outside the divine order But in the New Kingdom when other nations were under Egyptian control foreigners were said to be under the sun god s benign rule in the same way that Egyptians were
Thoth as the overseer of time was said to allot fixed lifespans to both humans and gods Other gods were also said to govern the length of human lives including Meskhenet who presided over birth and Shai the personification of fate Thus the time and manner of death was the main meaning of the Egyptian concept of fate although to some extent these deities governed other events in life as well Several texts refer to gods influencing or inspiring human decisions working through a person s heart the seat of emotion and intellect in Egyptian belief Deities were also believed to give commands instructing the king in the governance of his realm and regulating the management of their temples Egyptian texts rarely mention direct commands given to private persons and these commands never evolved into a set of divinely enforced moral codes Morality in ancient Egypt was based on the concept of maat which when applied to human society meant that everyone should live in an orderly way that did not interfere with the well being of other people Because deities were the upholders of maat morality was connected with them For example the gods judged humans moral righteousness after death and by the New Kingdom a verdict of innocence in this judgment was believed to be necessary for admittance into the afterlife But in general morality was based on practical ways to uphold maat in daily life rather than on strict rules that the gods laid out
Humans had free will to ignore divine guidance and the behavior required by maat but by doing so they could bring divine punishment upon themselves A deity carried out this punishment using its ba the force that manifested the god s power in the human world Natural disasters and human ailments were seen as the work of angry divine bas Conversely the gods could cure righteous people of illness or even extend their lifespans Both these types of intervention were eventually represented by deities Shed who emerged in the New Kingdom to represent divine rescue from harm and Petbe an apotropaic god from the late eras of Egyptian history who was believed to avenge wrongdoing
Egyptian texts take different views on whether the gods are responsible when humans suffer unjustly Misfortune was often seen as a product of isfet the cosmic disorder that was the opposite of maat and therefore the gods were not guilty of causing evil events Some deities who were closely connected with isfet such as Set could be blamed for disorder within the world without placing guilt on the other gods But some writings do accuse the deities of causing human misery while others give theodicies in the gods defense Beginning in the Middle Kingdom several texts connected the issue of evil in the world with a myth in which the creator god fights a human rebellion against his rule and then withdraws from the earth Because of this human misbehavior the creator is distant from his creation allowing suffering to exist New Kingdom writings do not question the just nature of the gods as strongly as those of the Middle Kingdom They emphasize humans direct personal relationships with deities and the gods power to intervene in human events People in this era put faith in specific gods who they hoped would help and protect them through their lives As a result upholding the ideals of maat grew less important than gaining the gods favor as a way to guarantee a good life Even the pharaohs were regarded as dependent on divine aid and after the New Kingdom came to an end government was increasingly influenced by oracles communicating the gods will
Official religious practices which maintained maat for the benefit of all Egypt were related to but distinct from the religious practices of ordinary people who sought the gods help for their personal problems
Official religion involved a variety of rituals based in temples Some rites were performed every day whereas others were festivals taking place at longer intervals and often limited to a particular temple or deity The gods received their offerings in daily ceremonies in which their statues were clothed anointed and presented with food as hymns were recited in their honor These offerings in addition to maintaining maat for the gods celebrated deities life giving generosity and encouraged them to remain benevolent rather than vengeful
Festivals often involved a ceremonial procession in which a cult image was carried out of the temple in a barque shaped shrine These processions served various purposes In Roman times when local deities of all kinds were believed to have power over the Nile inundation processions in many communities carried temple images to the riverbanks so the gods could invoke a large and fruitful flood Processions also traveled between temples as when the image of Hathor from Dendera Temple visited her consort Horus at the Temple of Edfu Rituals for a god were often based in that deity s mythology Such rituals were meant to be repetitions of the events of the mythic past renewing the beneficial effects of the original events In the Khoiak festival in honor of Osiris his death and resurrection were ritually reenacted at a time when crops were beginning to sprout The returning greenery symbolized the renewal of the god s own life
Personal interaction with the gods took many forms People who wanted information or advice consulted oracles run by temples that were supposed to convey gods answers to questions Amulets and other images of protective deities were used to ward off the demons that might threaten human well being or to impart the god s positive characteristics to the wearer Private rituals invoked the gods power to accomplish personal goals from healing sickness to cursing enemies These practices used heka the same force of magic that the gods used which the creator was said to have given to humans so they could fend off misfortune The performer of a private rite often took on the role of a god in a myth or even threatened a deity to involve the gods in accomplishing the goal Such rituals coexisted with private offerings and prayers and all three were accepted means of obtaining divine help
Prayer and private offerings are generally called personal piety acts that reflect a close relationship between an individual and a god Evidence of personal piety is scant before the New Kingdom Votive offerings and personal names many of which are theophoric suggest that commoners felt some connection between themselves and their gods But firm evidence of devotion to deities became visible only in the New Kingdom reaching a peak late in that era Scholars disagree about the meaning of this change whether direct interaction with the gods was a new development or an outgrowth of older traditions Egyptians now expressed their devotion through a new variety of activities in and around temples They recorded their prayers and their thanks for divine help on stelae They gave offerings of figurines that represented the gods they were praying to or that symbolized the result they desired thus a relief image of Hathor and a statuette of a woman could both represent a prayer for fertility Occasionally a person took a particular god as a patron dedicating his or her property or labor to the god s cult These practices continued into the latest periods of Egyptian history These later eras saw more religious innovations including the practice of giving animal mummies as offerings to deities depicted in animal form such as the cat mummies given to the feline goddess Bastet Some of the major deities from myth and official religion were rarely invoked in popular worship but many of the great state gods were important in popular tradition
The worship of some Egyptian gods spread to neighboring lands especially to Canaan and Nubia during the New Kingdom when those regions were under pharaonic control In Canaan the exported deities including Hathor Amun and Set were often syncretized with native gods who in turn spread to Egypt The Egyptian deities may not have had permanent temples in Canaan and their importance there waned after Egypt lost control of the region In contrast many temples to the major Egyptian gods and deified pharaohs were built in Nubia After the end of Egyptian rule there the imported gods particularly Amun and Isis were syncretized with local deities and remained part of the religion of Nubia s independent Kingdom of Kush These gods were incorporated into the Nubian ideology of kingship much as they were in Egypt so that Amun was considered the divine father of the king and Isis and other goddesses were linked with the Nubian queen the kandake Some deities reached farther Taweret became a goddess in Minoan Crete and Amun s oracle at Siwa Oasis was known to and consulted by people across the Mediterranean region
Under the Greek Ptolemaic Dynasty and then Roman rule Greeks and Romans introduced their own deities to Egypt These newcomers equated the Egyptian gods with their own as part of the Greco Roman tradition of interpretatio graeca But the worship of the native gods was not swallowed up by that of foreign ones Instead Greek and Roman gods were adopted as manifestations of Egyptian ones Egyptian cults sometimes incorporated Greek language philosophy iconography and even temple architecture Meanwhile the cults of several Egyptian deities particularly Isis Osiris Anubis the form of Horus named Harpocrates and the fused Greco Egyptian god Serapis were adopted into Roman religion and spread across the Roman Empire Roman emperors like Ptolemaic kings before them invoked Isis and Serapis to endorse their authority inside and outside Egypt In the empire s complex mix of religious traditions Thoth was transmuted into the legendary esoteric teacher Hermes Trismegistus and Isis who was venerated from Britain to Mesopotamia became the focus of a Greek style mystery cult Isis and Hermes Trismegistus were both prominent in the Western esoteric tradition that grew from the Roman religious world
Temples and cults in Egypt itself declined as the Roman economy deteriorated in the third century AD and beginning in the fourth century Christians suppressed the veneration of Egyptian deities The last formal cults at Philae died out in the fifth or sixth century Most beliefs surrounding the gods themselves disappeared within a few hundred years remaining in magical texts into the seventh and eighth centuries But many of the practices involved in their worship such as processions and oracles were adapted to fit Christian ideology and persisted as part of the Coptic Church Given the great changes and diverse influences in Egyptian culture since that time scholars disagree about whether any modern Coptic practices are descended from those of pharaonic religion But many festivals and other traditions of modern Egyptians both Christian and Muslim resemble the worship of their ancestors gods
South of Heaven is the fourth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer Released on July the album was the band s second collaboration with record producer Rick Rubin whose production skills on Slayer s previous album Reign in Blood had helped the band s sound evolve
South of Heaven was Slayer s second album to enter the Billboard and its last to be released by Def Jam Recordings although the album became an American Recordings album after Rick Rubin ended his partnership with Russell Simmons It was one of only two Def Jam titles to be distributed by Geffen Records through Warner Bros Records because of original distributor Columbia Records refusal to release work by the band The release peaked at number and in was awarded a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America
In order to offset the pace of the group s previous album Slayer deliberately slowed down the album s tempo In contrast to their previous albums the band utilized undistorted guitars and toned down vocals While some critics praised this musical change others more accustomed to the style of earlier releases were disappointed The songs Mandatory Suicide and the title track however have become permanent features of the band s live setlist
South of Heaven was recorded in Los Angeles California with Reign in Blood producer Rick Rubin PopMatters reviewer Adrien Begrand observed that Rubin s production shoves Dave Lombardo s drumming right up front in the mix Guitarist Jeff Hanneman has since said that South of Heaven was the only album the band members discussed before writing the music Aware that they couldn t top Reign in Blood and that whatever they recorded would be compared to that album he believed they had to slow down something Slayer had never done on albums before or since Guitarist Kerry King cited the need to keep people guessing as another reason for the musical shift In order to contrast the aggressive assault put forth on Reign in Blood Slayer consciously slowed down the tempo of the album as a whole according to Slayer s official biography They also added elements like undistorted guitars and toned down vocal styles not heard on previous albums
King has since been critical of his performance which he describes as his most lackluster King attributes this to the fact he had recently married and moved to Phoenix Arizona Describing himself as probably the odd man out at that point he admitted he didn t participate as much because of that Hanneman said We go through dry spells sometimes but the good thing about having two guitar players that can write music is that you are never gonna go without I guess at that time Kerry was hitting a dry spell King has also been critical of the album in general describing it as one of his least favorite Slayer albums He feels vocalist Tom Araya moved too far away from his regular vocal style and added too much singing Drummer Dave Lombardo has since observed There was fire on all the records but it started dimming when South of Heaven came into the picture And that s me personally Again I was probably wanting something else
Judas Priest s Dissident Aggressor is the only cover version to appear on a Slayer studio album The song was chosen due to its war themed lyrics Hanneman described the track as more just like one of those odd songs that a lot of people didn t know but it was a favorite of Kerry and I so we just picked that one Meanwhile Cleanse the Soul has been heavily criticized by King who said that he hates the track That s one of the black marks in our history in my book I just fucking think it s horrible Laughs I hate the opening riff It s what we call a happy riff It s just like la lala la la la I can t see myself playing it but after that where it gets heavier I like that section If we ever did a medley I d put part of that in there The Slayer boxset Soundtrack to the Apocalypse featured along with four songs of the album an early version of the title track recorded at Hanneman s home
Artist Larry Carroll and Illustrator Howard Schwartzberg designed the cover artwork for South of Heaven having designed the artwork for Slayer s previous album Reign in Blood Photographer Glen E Friedman took the promotional shot which surfaced as the back cover of South of Heaven around the time of s Reign in Blood Lombardo felt it made Slayer seem as though they had matured a little bit while Friedman himself deemed it a really cool back cover and one of the most classic shots of them Slayer ever
South of Heaven was released on July and was the final Slayer album distributed via Def Jam Records When label co founders Russell Simmons and Rubin parted ways Slayer signed to Rubin s newly founded Def American Recordings label The album peaked at number on the Billboard album chart and on November became Slayer s second album to be certified gold in the United States South of Heaven was awarded silver certification in the United Kingdom on January Slayer s first record to do so in that country Slayer s official biography states that some critics praised the album as demonstrating Slayer s desire to grow musically and avoid repeating themselves Alex Henderson of AllMusic described the record as disturbing and powerful while Joe Matera of Ultimate Guitar deemed the album a slight departure he wrote that while the pace was slowed down it didn t sacrifice any of the heaviness inherent in Slayer s music
Reviewing the Slayer box set Soundtrack to the Apocalypse Adrien Begrand of PopMatters described the album as their most underrated and on this set its five selections show how highly the band thinks of the record KNACcom s Peter Atkinson was also positive saying the album has a grandiosity and imposing presence which makes the record so magnificent Grave s Ola Lindgren and Bolt Thrower s Karl Willetts both rate South of Heaven as amongst the top five albums of all time while Max Kolesne of Brazilian death metal group Krisiun remembers hearing the song Silent Scream for the first time It just blew me away It was like fast double bass fast kicks during the whole song That was very inspiring for me When discussing Slayer in an October interview Evile frontman Matt Drake stated that while Reign in Blood was just speed South of Heaven proved that the group could write slow material as well Metal Forces reviewer gives the band credit for at least making an effort to try something new and not being afraid to experiment at such a crucial stage of their career creating one of the more original sounding thrash speed metal albums he heard in a long while He remarks however that if you re expecting to hear Reign in Blood Part Two you ll be in for a major disappointment
Kim Neely of Rolling Stone dismissed the album as genuinely offensive satanic drivel Slayer s official biography states The new sounds disappointed some of the band s fans who were more accustomed to the style of earlier releases Michael Roberts of Westworld Online said this was due to some of the numbers moving at the sludgier speed of Black Sabbath Araya commented that the album was a late bloomer it wasn t really received well but it kind of grew on everybody later
The title track and the song Mandatory Suicide have received various cover interpretations particularly on Slayer tribute albums Toni Ferguson recorded string quartet adaptations of both tracks on the album The String Quartet Tribute to Slayer The Evil You Dread with the former cover being described as having menacing chord shifts by AllMusic s Johnny Loftus
Slayer tribute album Slatanic Slaughter featured three tracks which originally appeared on South of Heaven with the title track Mandatory Suicide and Spill the Blood interpreted by Cemetary Crown of Thorns and Grope respectively Its follow up Slatanic Slaughter Vol only featured two tracks originally from the album namely Silent Scream arranged by Vader and Read Between the Lies interpreted by Anathema s Straight to Hell A Tribute to Slayer collected four Slayer renditions which originated on the album with versions of South of Heaven performed by Abaddon Venom and Electric Hellfire Club Mandatory Suicide cut by Chapter and Behind the Crooked Cross adapted by Gigantor Argentine tribute album Al Sur Del Abismo Tributo Argentino A Slayer saw Nafak and Climatic Terra also respectively cover South of Heaven and Mandatory Suicide Hatebreed covered the song Ghosts of War for their cover album For the Lions They released a music video for it also Korn has covered the title track at least twice live once with Kid Rock on vocals and another using the intro to follow into one of their songs live
The title track itself has also been covered by Integrity Modest Mouse and Califone Pro Pain and Universe Eye Polish death metal band Decapitated covered the song Mandatory Suicide on their first full length album Winds of Creation In Silent Scream was covered by Children of Bodom for their album Hate Crew Deathroll in his UK version Hardcore Punk band The Mongoloids opened their set with the beginning of South of Heaven at Heartfest on May
Two songs taken from the album Mandatory Suicide and South of Heaven have become near constant fixtures in the band s live setlist notching up appearances on the following the live DVDs Live Intrusion War at the Warfield Still Reigning Soundtrack to the Apocalypse s deluxe edition s bonus live disc and the live double album Decade of Aggression Lombardo guested with Finnish cellist group Apocalyptica on a live medley of the two tracks at s Headbanger s Heaven festival in the Netherlands Adrien Begrand of PopMatters described South of Heaven as an unorthodox set opener in theory noting the song went over like a megaton bomb detonating the place dozens of inverted crosses projected behind the high drum riser the sinewy opening notes kicked in followed by an overture of bass cymbal crashes and tom fills leading up to the slowly building crescendo in a concert review Lombardo remembers listening to a live rendition of South of Heaven and thinking Man There s just so much groove in that song To my kids I was saying Listen to that Listen to how groovy that is And it s heavy A rare live version of the track featured on the JGERMUSIC Rarities promotional CD given away to attendees at the Spring Jgermeister Music Tour A live rendition of South of Heaven was also included on a bonus DVD which came with the group s re release of ninth studio album Christ Illusion shot in Vancouver British Columbia during s Unholy Alliance tour
Behind the Crooked Cross is rarely played live as Hanneman hates the track though King has always wanted to play it because it s got a cool intro despite it not being his favorite song King said that s fine when speaking of the situation noting there are songs that he wants to play that I always shoot down Ghosts of War isn t King s favorite song either which he attests everybody always wants to hear performed live He confessed I like the ending you know I like the big heavy part and I always say Let s put the heavy ending at the end of Chemical Warfare and just do the last half But I could never make that fly
Slayer has toyed with the idea of creating a live set mixed with selections from the album and s Seasons in the Abyss though Hanneman said it s something which hasn t been seriously considered Metal Maniacs asked Slayer in a interview whether they would consider playing South of Heaven in the footsteps of the Still Reigning tour to which Araya replied It s becoming a trendy thing now I don t know We have some really cool albums but I don t think we ll ever do that again King was equally unsure commenting Probably not And I just don t like enough songs off South of Heaven
Tom Araya bass lead vocals
Jeff Hanneman lead and rhythm guitar
Kerry King lead and rhythm guitar backing vocals
General aviation in the United Kingdom has been defined as a civil aircraft operation other than a commercial air transport flight operating to a schedule or military aviation Although the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO excludes any form of remunerated aviation from its definition some commercial operations are often included within the scope of general aviation GA in the UK The sector operates business jets rotorcraft piston and jet engined fixed wing aircraft gliders of all descriptions and lighter than air craft Public transport operations include business or corporate aviation and air taxi services and account for nearly half of the economic contribution made by the sector Other commercial GA activities are aerial work such as surveying and air ambulances and flight training which plays an important role in the supply of pilots to the commercial air transport CAT industry Private flying is conducted for personal transport and recreation It includes a strong vintage aircraft movement and encompasses a range of air sports such as racing aerobatics and parachuting at which British teams and individuals have succeeded in international competition
Of the civil aircraft registered in the UK per cent are engaged in GA operations and annually the GA fleet accounts for between and million hours flown The single most common class of aircraft is the fixed wing light aircraft associated with traditional GA but the main area of growth over the last years has been in the use of more affordable aircraft such as microlights amateur built aeroplanes and smaller helicopters There are Private Pilot Licence holders and certified glider pilots Some of the pilots who hold professional licences are also engaged in GA activities Although GA operates from more than aerodromes and landing sites ranging in size from large regional airports to farm strips over per cent of GA activity is conducted at of the larger aerodromes The GA industry which is around per cent the size of its CAT cousin employs people and contributes billion to the UK economy
GA is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority CAA although regulatory powers are being increasingly transferred to the European Aviation Safety Agency EASA The main focus is on standards of airworthiness and pilot licensing and the objective is to promote high standards of safety At the lighter end of the GA spectrum some regulatory authority is devolved to representative bodies and gliding is in transition from a self regulatory model to more formal governance by EASA Airspace regulation necessary to protect an increasing number of CAT operations has reduced the area in which GA flights can be freely conducted The growth in CAT is also making access to larger airports more difficult for the GA sector and smaller aerodromes are vulnerable to closure and re development for more profitable uses The UK planning system has no remit to consider the national significance of GA public transport operations and generally does not favour the development of smaller aerodromes catering to the GA market The planning process has become a mechanism for addressing local aerodrome related environmental issues which particularly regarding noise are the main subjects of public criticism levelled at GA
The International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO defines general aviation GA as an aircraft operation other than a commercial air transport operation or an aerial work operation It defines commercial air transport CAT as an aircraft operation involving the transport of passengers cargo or mail for remuneration or hire and aerial work as an aircraft operation in which an aircraft is used for specialized services such as agriculture construction photography surveying observation and patrol search and rescue aerial advertisement etc
Organisations in the United Kingdom UK describe GA in less restrictive terms that include elements of commercial aviation The British Business and General Aviation Association interprets it to be all aeroplane and helicopter flying except that performed by the major airlines and the Armed Services The General Aviation Awareness Council applies the description all Civil Aviation operations other than scheduled air services and non scheduled air transport operations for remuneration or hire For the purposes of a strategic review of GA in the UK the Civil Aviation Authority CAA defined the scope of GA as a civil aircraft operation other than a commercial air transport flight operating to a schedule and considered it necessary to depart from the ICAO definition and include aerial work and minor CAT operations
The first aerodrome in the UK was established by the Aero Club at Muswell Manor on the Isle of Sheppey and in May it was the venue of the first flight conducted in the country by a British pilot John Moore Brabazon In the Aero Club was granted the Royal prefix took responsibility for controlling all private flying in the UK and started issuing the first British pilot licences The introduction of the de Havilland DH Moth in revolutionised light aviation and the Royal Aero Club recognising the vital necessity of promoting civil flying formed the Light Aeroplane Club scheme Between and around flying clubs were started and more than pilots were trained
During World War II civil aerodromes were taken over for military use existing military airfields were expanded and new ones were built This resulted in a significant inventory of facilities becoming available after the war Pre war civil aerodromes for example Sywell were returned to civilian use Surplus military airfields were closed and in some cases for example Beccles subsequently re opened as civil aerodromes The Ministry of Civil Aviation was created to regulate all civil aviation in the UK and this task remained the responsibility of government departments until the establishment of the independent CAA in
With an expanded infrastructure in place GA became established after the war when manufacturers such as Cessna and Piper introduced light aircraft designed for the private market The Cessna developed from the late s Cessna was introduced in and became the world s best selling single engine aeroplane Single piston engine aircraft are still the most common class of aircraft in the UK GA fleet The development of the Rogallo wing in the s fostered the development of hang gliding during the s and s The s also saw experiments with motorised hang gliders but it was not until the s that this blend of technologies started to mature resulting in the birth of the microlight movement Another milestone in the development of GA was the introduction of the Learjet Although it was not the first business jet it popularised corporate aviation and established the personal jet as a whole new class of aircraft
The GA sector operates a range of aircraft including balloons and airships gliders hang gliders paragliders microlights gyrocopters helicopters amateur built and mass produced light aircraft ex military aircraft and business jets Flights can be broadly categorised as public transport aerial work and private flying the first two of which are commercial activities
Commercial operations are remunerated activities which fall within the ICAO definition of CAT Some are however closely aligned to and considered part of the GA sector Public transport operations are non scheduled on demand services flying between points specified by the customer providing a more flexible service than airline travel Air taxi operations offer charter services for third parties and business or corporate aviation uses company owned aircraft to transport employees and clients Aircraft used in these operations include business jets helicopters and twin piston engine aeroplanes carrying between six and ten people An example of this type of operation is the transport by helicopter of spectators to the British Formula One grand prix at Silverstone This involves so many flights that according to Cranfield Aviation Services on race day the heliport is temporarily the world s busiest airport Aerial work is a small but important component of the commercial GA sector characterised in its simplest form as remunerated non transport activities such as surveying crop spraying and emergency services work air ambulance and police
Flying schools are commercial businesses engaged in the training of pilots both for recreational purposes and for those intending to fly professionally They make widespread use of fixed wing light aircraft associated with traditional GA not only for flying lessons but also as club aircraft rented out to qualified pilots for recreational flights School owned aircraft account for a significant amount of GA activity both in terms of hours flown and aircraft movements The pilot training element is regarded by the GA community as a key benefit that is critical to the supply of pilots for the airline industry It is claimed by the General Aviation Awareness Council that per cent of professional pilots have self financed their flight training at GA schools and one UK airline operator has stated that the industry must rely on per cent of new pilots coming from the GA sector The CAA estimates that between and the number of new professional pilots following the unsponsored training route rose from per cent to per cent The counter argument to this claim is that pilots can be trained outside of the UK and that the airline industry is not therefore dependent on a healthy GA sector in the UK for its supply of pilots The CAA concludes that a severe reduction in GA would give some merit to the argument that pilot recruitment would be threatened but that the data on flying hours does not support such a gloomy outlook Of course reliance on other countries for pilot training means that the UK foregoes the economic benefit of the training activity
Private flying can be for both recreational purposes and personal transport using aircraft that are owned individually collectively as part of a syndicate or rented from a flying club A survey of pilots conducted between and indicated that the most common purposes of recreational flights were local flights near the base aerodrome visits to other aerodromes and day trips away Half of all flights landed at the same aerodrome they departed from and only per cent involved an overnight stay away from home
Private flying is most associated with the traditional form of factory produced two and four seater single piston engine training and touring aircraft Examples of these are the Cessna Cessna and Piper PA Cherokee all with their origins in the s and the more modern designs of Cirrus The average cost per hour to fly such aircraft has been estimated to be compared to an estimated per hour for gliders and a reported per hour for microlights Recent trends have seen an increase in the use of microlights and also in recreational helicopter flying following the introduction of smaller and cheaper machines such as the Robinson R and R Another growth area in private flying in recent years has been in the use of amateur built aircraft such as the Van s Aircraft RV and the Europa
There is a strong vintage aircraft movement in the UK with two thirds of the registered historic aircraft active These cover the whole spectrum of civil and military aviation examples being the de Havilland Dragon Rapide airliner of the s and the World War II WWII Spitfire fighter There are many post WWII aircraft which could also be considered historic under a looser definition including for example ex military jets such as the Hawker Hunter Historic aircraft are regular exhibits at air displays which are claimed to be the second most popular spectator activity after football in the UK
Competitive gliding in the UK takes place between May and September Regionals are local competitions organised and run by one of the bigger gliding clubs in the region and represent the entry level to glider racing Races are handicapped according to glider performance and normally take place over nine days Success in the regionals allows pilots to progress to the nationals where there are five classes of competition These are based on glider performance the lowest being club class and then progressing through standard maximum metres ft wingspan and flaps not permitted metres ft as standard but flaps are permitted metres ft maximum metres ft wingspan and finally open class no restrictions Success at national level can lead to a place in the national team and competition at international level In the British gliding team was ranked number one and British pilots took two women s world championships and the open class European championship
Handicapped air racing is open to any propeller driven aircraft capable of maintaining a minimum speed of miles km per hour in level flight Races are a case of fly low fly fast turn left consisting of laps round a mile km circuit Faster aircraft are handicapped by starting after slower aircraft the intention being that the race concludes with all aircraft diving for the finish line together There are up to races per year conducted at airfields in the UK France and the Channel Islands for prizes that include the Schneider Trophy and King s Cup and the season culminates with the British Air Racing and European Air Racing Championships
Aerobatic competitions take place for both powered aircraft and gliders with up to events each year in the UK and Ireland Starting at the Beginner level pilots can move up to Standard powered aircraft or Sports glider levels and then on to Intermediate Advanced and finally Unlimited classes Each step up requires a wider repertoire of aerobatic figures and progressively more performance from the aircraft National championships are awarded annually at Standard Sports Intermediate Advanced powered aircraft only and Unlimited levels and pilots who have reached Advanced and Unlimited levels are eligible for selection to represent the UK in international competition
Parachute competitions are held at club regional national and international levels and include the disciplines of accuracy landings freefall gymnastics formation skydiving canopy formation freestyle and freeflying and skysurfing British teams consistently win medals in canopy formation world championships and a British team took the world championship in women s way formation skydiving
Aerodrome is a collective term for any location from which flying operations take place although more specific terminology can be used to characterise its purpose The CAA strategic review of GA applies the term airport to locations which predominantly support large scale commercial operations and airfield to locations which predominantly support GA operations The General Aviation Small Aerodrome Research Study GASAR analysed aerodromes in England which come under the scope of GA classifying into six types These range in size from regional airports to the smallest farm strip although per cent of GA flights operate from of the larger aerodromes in the first four categories
The factors used in determining how an individual aerodrome is categorised by the GASAR study are based broadly on size and facilities The six types of aerodrome are described in size order as regional airports eg East Midlands major GA airports eg Oxford developed GA airfields eg Andrewsfield basic GA airfields eg Rufforth developed airstrips eg Tilstock and basic airstrips eg Chilbolton in Hampshire The actual criteria used to categorise aerodromes were complex using different parameters backed up with a peer review by experienced GA pilots
Airports generally have long fully lit hard surfaced runways full air traffic control and navigation and landing aids They are usually located on urban fringes support commercial and business operations and often exclude certain types of light aircraft At the more rurally located airfields the lighter end of aviation such as microlight and gliding activities becomes increasingly prevalent and there are few or no commercial operations other than flying schools At this level runways are generally shorter and grass surfaces are increasingly common Navigation aids are increasingly scarce being more basic where they are available and informal ground to air radio communication replaces air traffic control The smallest airfields are too small to feature on general purpose Ordnance Survey OS maps and lack basic facilities such as fuel and maintenance The majority of airstrips are basically single short grass runways with no supporting facilities although the presence of a hangar is not uncommon at the larger examples They do not feature on OS maps and are owned by private clubs or more commonly individuals
Most aerodromes used for public transport operations are required to be licensed by the CAA To be granted a licence an aerodrome operator must satisfy the CAA that the physical conditions at the aerodrome and its environs are acceptable the scale of equipment and facilities provided are adequate for the flying activities which are expected to take place an effective safety management system is in place and that staff are competent and where necessary suitably qualified Aerodromes classified as developed GA airfields or larger by the GASAR study are with few exceptions licensed Only two basic GA airfields Silverstone and Duxford are licensed and all airstrips are unlicensed The Light Aviation Airports Study Group a joint CAA industry initiative was established in to review the regulation of light aviation aerodromes A particular focus of this group was a review of the restrictions placed on unlicensed aerodromes The group concluded that the requirement for public transport operations to be conducted only from licensed aerodromes should be further reviewed in the context of corresponding international and European requirements It also recommended that restrictions on flight training at unlicensed aerodromes should be lifted and this was permitted from April
There are an estimated civil aircraft registered in the UK per cent of which are engaged in GA activities In the GA fleet comprised fixed wing aircraft microlights helicopters airships balloons gliders and some hang gliders Estimates put the number of foreign registered GA aircraft based in the UK at
The number of pilots licensed by the CAA to fly powered aircraft in was of whom held a Private Pilot Licence The remainder held professional pilot licences either a Commercial Pilot Licence or an Airline Transport Pilot Licence although not all of these would be engaged in GA activities In addition there are active glider pilots and estimates put the membership of aviation related sport and recreational associations at
The number of aerodromes that support GA in the UK is difficult to establish with certainty Pooleys United Kingdom Flight Guide lists and the Airplan Flight Equipment UK VFR Flight Guide lists nearly Lockyears Farm Strips and Private Airfields Flight Guide lists more than landing sites The GASAR study estimates formal flying sites in England alone a figure which includes sites known to planning authorities but not included in flight guides It estimates another informal sites known only to land owners customs and members of the enthusiast group Air Britain
The sector was estimated to employ nearly people and directly contribute billion to the UK economy in making it roughly seven per cent of the size of the CAT industry Nearly half of the economic contribution was generated by business aviation
Most sectors of GA for which data are available have experienced growth in aircraft numbers and hours flown over the last two decades The lighter end of the GA spectrum microlights amateur built and airships and balloons have in particular shown strong growth although the last of these activities was severely curtailed during the foot and mouth outbreak in when access to farmland was denied After strong growth in the late s traditional flying has shown a slight decline recently reflecting a move amongst recreational flyers towards microlight aircraft and increased numbers of foreign registered aircraft Recreational helicopter usage has grown primarily due to the introduction of smaller and cheaper aircraft Glider activity has remained relatively static although there has been a gradual increase in the number of self launching motor gliders
Business aviation has shown strong growth although the numbers of aircraft on the UK register have declined This reflects a shift away from turboprop aircraft towards foreign registered business jets based in the UK which are estimated to be growing in numbers However twin piston engined aircraft numbers have declined significantly reflecting pressures on the light air taxi segment from increasingly flexible and cheaper scheduled services and a more sophisticated corporate charter business The amount of flight training conducted by UK schools has declined largely at the hands of competition from foreign schools which benefit from lower costs and better weather
Since the total number of hours flown annually by the GA sector has remained in the range million the dominant sector being traditional GA flying which accounts for million per year An overall increase in aircraft numbers combined with nil growth in hours flown has brought the annual average utilisation per aircraft down from hours in to hours in The decline in asset utilisation has led to speculation that the economic health of the GA industry is weakening though the lack of data on profitability makes this difficult to confirm
The objective of regulation is to promote high standards of safety in all aspects of aviation and this is the main area of interaction between the CAA and the GA sector Efforts focus on assuring appropriate standards of airworthiness pilot qualification the rules for the movement of aircraft and equipment to be carried The CAA was established as the primary regulatory body for all aviation in the UK in In it started working within the Joint Aviation Authorities JAA framework to implement agreed common standards known as the Joint Aviation Requirements JAR throughout the European Union EU In this was taken a step further when the European Aviation Safety Agency EASA was established as the central EU regulator taking over responsibility for legislating airworthiness and environmental regulation from the national authorities The CAA acts as an agency of EASA on these issues retaining its original regulatory powers in areas not yet transferred to EASA Proposed developments seek to establish EASA as the single authority throughout the EU taking over from individual member states the power to regulate all aviation other than that specifically excluded from the scope of EASA
Within this framework certain sectors of GA are governed on a devolved basis In all cases the CAA EASA retains responsibility for safety regulation but representative bodies particularly of sectors that are not included in the scope of EASA are granted greater oversight of their activities The majority of microlight aircraft are regulated by the British Microlight Aircraft Association BMAA although a significant number are regulated by the Light Aircraft Association LAA formerly known as the Popular Flying Association The LAA is the primary regulator for amateur built aircraft as well as vintage and classic aircraft Parachuting is governed by the British Parachute Association although the aircraft used in this activity are generally CAA regulated Balloon and airship flying is overseen by the British Balloon and Airship Club The UK specific National Private Pilot Licence NPPL is administered by the National Pilots Licensing Group Ltd supported by the LAA the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association UK the British Gliding Association and the British Microlight Aircraft Association Separate from these devolved groups gliding in the UK is self regulated The British Gliding Association was until recently responsible for glider airworthiness now formally regulated as a result of EASA legislation and still retains control of pilot certification Hang gliding and paragliding activities ie foot launched gliders are governed by the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
Under CAA and EASA rules all aircraft are required to meet certain standards of airworthiness to fly safely and legally Aircraft that meet these standards are issued with a Certificate of Airworthiness However British registered aircraft which are excluded from the scope of EASA and which cannot satisfy the requirements for the issue of a Certificate of Airworthiness may be issued with a Permit to Fly This allows them to fly in UK airspace subject to certain limitations for example being restricted to day time flights under visual flight rules only A number of organisations eg the British Microlight Aircraft Association and the Light Aircraft Association have obtained a standing over flight permission for Permit to Fly aircraft within their area of interest with some European countries notably France Permits are typically issued to vintage and historic aircraft amateur built aircraft and microlights
The pilot qualification most relevant to GA is the Private Pilot Licence PPL which permits the holder to fly for recreational purposes without remuneration In addition to the European wide Joint Aviation Regulations Flight Crew Licensing JAR FCL standard the CAA also issues UK specific national licences In the absence of European standards for gyroplane balloon and airship pilots the CAA licenses these according to the original UK PPL standard As a response to the perception that JAR pilot licensing standards are excessively bureaucratic and expensive for the purposes of recreational pilots the National Private Pilot Licence NPPL was introduced in The NPPL is easier to obtain than the JAR FCL licence has less stringent medical requirements is more restrictive in the privileges it grants and is valid only for flights in British registered aircraft flying in UK and French airspace Although there are plans to bring glider pilot licensing within the regulatory framework of EASA the gliding sector is currently self regulating in this respect The British Gliding Association is responsible for defining the standards of initial training and certifying via a badge system pilots who meet those standards Pilots working in sectors of GA that are commercial operations such as aerial work and business aviation are required to hold a professional pilot licence which at a minimum is the Commercial Pilot Licence
Between and there were accidents involving GA aircraft of which were fatal resulting in the loss of lives The majority of accidents involved small fixed wing aircraft engaged in private flights and analysis attributes the most common causes of these to flight handling skills poor judgement or airmanship lack of training or experience and omission of or inappropriate action
There were fatal accidents involving GA aircraft in resulting in the loss of lives These compare with accidents claiming a total of lives the previous year and although the statistics are higher than average they are not exceptional
The growth in Commercial Air Transport CAT has eroded the operational freedom of GA both in the air and on the ground at larger airports Difficulty with access to larger airports is compounded by a decline in the number of aerodromes generally and existing sites are often threatened with closure and re development for more profitable uses The UK planning system is designed to focus on local issues and consideration of the national impact of GA operations is not within its remit This makes aerodrome development difficult often subjecting those that successfully negotiate the process to restrictions in use
Airspace is shared by CAT military and GA users It is divided into controlled airspace in which aircraft must always be under the control of an air traffic controller and uncontrolled airspace in which aircraft can operate autonomously Although GA flights can under certain conditions enter controlled airspace they operate mainly outside of it
Controlled airspace is essential for the provision of a known air traffic environment necessary for the safe operation of CAT A CAA review found that mixing commercial operations with other users is considered undesirable even untenable by commercial operators However this position has resulted in extensive Class A controlled airspace with complex boundaries including some running down to the ground prohibiting VFR access to airspace resulting in high numbers of GA flights operating close to the borders of controlled airspace who could not get formal receipt of an air traffic service Coupled with pilot navigation errors hundreds of airspace infringements have been recorded every year
Increases in the number of CAT operations and in the number of airports they operate from has resulted in a corresponding increase in Class A controlled airspace Between and this area grew in size from per cent of all airspace to per cent nationally and from per cent to per cent in airspace above England and Wales leading to a perception within the GA community of being squeezed out There are particular problems for GA around large airports where Class A controlled airspace extends to ground level The concentration of commercial operations and high demand for GA in the South East of England have also resulted in extensive areas of Class A controlled airspace there which serve to channel uncontrolled GA operations through high collision risk hot spots
Regional airports such as Edinburgh Airport have experienced strong growth in CAT operations in recent years These operations are commercially and operationally incompatible with GA and although there is no evidence of deliberate discrimination the effect has been to discourage or exclude it GA aircraft are being subject to significant increases in charges including the imposition of handling fees in some cases Some airports restrict or deny GA parking and others limit or refuse certain GA activity As a result light GA aircraft are now rarely or never seen at large busy international airports such as Heathrow Stansted Gatwick and Manchester
In addition to this de facto loss of facilities the number of aerodromes in the UK has been in decline over the last years as a result of increasing urbanisation and the closure of airfields built during WWII Alternative and more profitable uses for land can also lead to existing aerodromes being threatened with closure for example North Weald or actually being closed as happened to Ipswich Airport and Bristol Filton Airport Referring to the importance of a functioning national network of GA airfields especially where GA performs an air transport role the CAA states that there could be cause for concern if a significant further loss of airfields were to continue especially if crucial nodes on the transport network were to be lost
The planning system is critical to the viability and operation of GA aerodromes With many cities lacking scheduled air transport services between them and with GA access to commercial airports becoming increasingly difficult and expensive a viable network of aerodromes supporting GA air transport operations is regarded as an important national issue However there is no unified national planning policy specific to GA aerodromes and planning decisions relating to these are based on local issues that are not required to consider the national impact Because aircraft are excluded from noise control legislation the only recourse for people affected by aircraft noise is through the planning process and this issue is the principal factor on which the majority of planning decisions relating to GA land use are made GA is a specialist subject often unfamiliar to Local Planning Authorities and most planning decisions relating to GA either refuse permission or grant it with restrictive conditions Little Gransden is just one example of a GA airfield required to comply with planning restrictions on the number of movements permitted thereby inhibiting further development Such restrictions if poorly conceived can make GA operations unviable or even unsafe
Public opinion towards aviation generally is worsening based on increasing environmental concerns relating to emissions and noise and private flying has been criticised by respondents to a government consultation on aircraft noise as a frivolous or selfish activity In terms of environmental complaints and enquiries made to the CAA that relate specifically to GA noise is by far the most common subject Half of the noise complaints made annually to the CAA concern GA operations most of which relate to aerobatics helicopters using private sites air balloon incidents parachute dropping and alleged low flying
Planning guidance on aircraft noise advises that in some circumstances the public perceive general aircraft noise levels as more disturbing than similar levels around major airports This is a result of the tonal characteristics of light aircraft engines and the activities they are engaged in including repetitive circuit flying at low altitude near an aerodrome during which aircraft are audible for long periods slow climbing aircraft engaged in parachute drop or glider tug activities concentrated around the drop zone or aerodrome also audible for long periods erratic and repetitive engine noise from aircraft engaged in aerobatics and piston engines on full power in areas of low background noise leading to the perception that such noise is more intrusive In an attempt to alleviate these problems the majority of aerodromes implement noise abatement procedures designed to route aircraft away from noise sensitive areas and more than are required by the government to provide consultative facilities in which local concerns can be raised with aerodrome operators
SMS Zrnyi His Majesty s ship Zrnyi was a Radetzky class pre dreadnought battleship Schlachtschiff of the Austro Hungarian Navy KuK Kriegsmarine named for the Zrinski a noble Croatian family Zrnyi and her sisters Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand and Radetzky were the last pre dreadnoughts built by the Austro Hungarian Navy
During World War I Zrnyi saw action in the Adriatic Sea She served with the Second Division of the Austro Hungarian Navy s battleships and shelled Senigallia as part of the bombardment of the key seaport of Ancona Italy during May However Allied control of the Strait of Otranto meant that the Austro Hungarian Navy was for all intents and purposes effectively bottled up in the Adriatic Nonetheless the presence of the Zrnyi and other battleships tied down a substantial force of Allied ships
With the war going against the Austrians by the end of Zrnyi was prepared to be transferred to the new State of Slovenes Croats and Serbs On November just one day before the end of the war navy officers sailed the battleship out of Pola Pula and eventually surrendered to a squadron of American submarine chasers Following the handover to the United States Navy she was briefly designated USS Zrnyi In the Treaty of Saint Germain en Laye the transfer was not recognized instead Zrnyi was given to Italy and broken up for scrap
Zrnyi was built at the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino dockyard in Trieste the same place where her sister ships were built earlier She was laid down on November and launched from the slipway on April The teak used on Zrnyi s deck was the only material Austria Hungary had to purchase abroad to build the ship The ship was completed by July and on November she was commissioned into the fleet She was the last ship of the class to be completed and had a crew of to officers and men
Zrnyi was m ft in long and had a beam of m ft in and a draft of m ft in She displaced long tons t normally and up to long tons t with a full combat load She was powered by two shaft four cylinder vertical triple expansion engines rated at indicated horsepower The ship had a top speed of knots km h mph Zrnyi was the first warship in the Austro Hungarian Navy to use fuel oil to supplement her Yarrow type coal fired boilers She had a maximum range of nautical miles km mi at a cruising speed of knots km h mph
The ship s primary armament consisted of four cm in caliber guns in two twin gun turrets This was augmented by a heavy secondary battery of eight cm in guns in four wing turrets The tertiary battery consisted of twenty cm L guns in casemated single mounts four mm in L and one mm L quick firing guns Furthermore the ship s boats were equipped with two mm in landing guns for operations shore Three cm in torpedo tubes were also carried one on each broadside and one in the stern
The ship was assigned to the Austro Hungarian Fleet s st Battle Squadron after her commissioning In Zrnyi and her two sister ships conducted two training cruises into the eastern Mediterranean Sea On the second cruise into the Aegean Sea conducted from November to December Zrnyi and her sister ships were accompanied by the cruiser SMS Admiral Spaun and a pair of destroyers After returning to Pola the entire fleet mobilized for possible hostilities as tensions flared in the Balkans
In Zrnyi participated in an international naval demonstration in the Ionian Sea to protest the Balkan Wars Ships from other navies included in the demonstration were the British pre dreadnought HMS King Edward VII the Italian pre dreadnought Ammiraglio di Saint Bon the French armored cruiser Edgar Quinet and the German light cruiser SMS Breslau The most important action of the combined flotilla which was under the command of British Admiral Cecil Burney was to blockade the Montenegrin coast The goal of the blockade was to prevent Serbian reinforcements from supporting the siege at Scutari where Montenegro had besieged a combined force of Albanians and Ottomans Pressured by the international blockade Serbia withdrew its army from Scutari which was subsequently occupied by a joint Allied ground force
During that year the first of four new dreadnoughts SMS Viribus Unitis that made up the Tegetthoff class the only dreadnoughts built for the Austro Hungarian Navy came into active service With the commissioning of these dreadnoughts Zrnyi and her sisters were moved from the st Division to the nd Division of the st Battle Squadron
At that time of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on June the battleships in the Austro Hungarian Navy consisted of the Radetzky class the Tegetthoff class which still had one ship SMS Szent Istvn under construction the Erzherzog Karl class and finally the older Habsburg class Along with the remainder of the Austro Hungarian Navy Zrnyi was mobilized in late July to support the flight of SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau The two German ships broke out of Messina which was surrounded by the British navy and reached Turkey The flotilla had advanced as far south as Brindisi in southeastern Italy when news of the successful breakout reached Vienna The Austro Hungarian ships were then recalled before seeing action
On May between two and four hours after news of the Italian declaration of war reached the main Austro Hungarian naval base at Pola Zrnyi and the rest of the fleet departed to bombard the Italian and Montenegrin coast Their focus was on the important naval base at Ancona and later the coast of Montenegro The bombardment of Montenegro was part of the larger Austro Hungarian campaign against the Kingdoms of Montenegro and Serbia who were members of the Entente during the first half of The attack on Ancona was an immense success and the ships were unopposed during the operation The bombardment of the province and the surrounding area resulted in the destruction of an Italian steamer in the port of Ancona itself and an Italian destroyer Turbine was severely damaged further south On the shore the infrastructure of the port of Ancona as well as the surrounding towns were severely damaged The railroad yard in Ancona as well as the port facilities in the town were damaged or destroyed The local shore batteries were also suppressed During the bombardment Zrnyi also helped to destroy a train a railway station and a bridge at Senigallia Additional targets that were damaged or destroyed included wharves warehouses oil tanks radio stations and the local barracks Sixty three Italians both civilians and military personnel were killed in the bombardment By the time Italian ships from Taranto and Brindisi arrived on the scene the Austro Hungarians were safely back in Pola
The objective of the bombardment of Ancona was to delay the Italian Army from deploying its forces along the border with Austria Hungary by destroying critical transportation systems The surprise attack on Ancona succeeded in delaying the Italian deployment to the Alps for two weeks This delay gave Austria Hungary valuable time to strengthen its Italian border and re deploy some of its troops from the Eastern and Balkan fronts
Aside from the attack on Ancona the Austro Hungarian battleships were largely confined to Pola for the duration of the war Their operations were limited by Admiral Anton Haus the commander of the Austro Hungarian Navy who believed that he would need to husband his ships to counter any Italian attempt to seize the Dalmatian coast Since coal was diverted to the newer Tegetthoff class battleships the remainder of the war saw Zrnyi and the rest of the Austro Hungarian Navy acting as a fleet in being This resulted in the Allied blockade of the Otranto Strait With his fleet blockaded in the Adriatic Sea and with a shortage of coal Haus followed a strategy based on mines and submarines designed to reduce the numerical superiority of the Allied navies
After the Austro Hungarian Empire collapsed in the Austrians wanted to turn the fleet over to the newly created State of Slovenes Croats and Serbs later to become a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in order to prevent the Italians from claiming the ships as spoils of war However the victorious Allies refused to acknowledge the conversations between the Austrians and the south Slavs and in due course reallocated the ships The ship had been boarded by a scratch Yugoslav crew on November one day before the Armistice and had left Pola with her sister ship Radetzky They were soon spotted by heavy Italian ships so the two battleships hoisted American flags and sailed south along the Adriatic coast to Castelli Bay near Spalato also known as Split They appealed for American naval forces to meet them and accept their surrender which a squadron of United States Navy USN submarine chasers in the area did She had apparently been turned over to the fledgling south Slav state as it was a Croat naval officer Korvettenkapitn Marijan Poli who presented the ship as a prize of war to representatives of the United States Navy on the afternoon of November at Spalato Split in Dalmatia Simultaneously she was commissioned as USS Zrnyi and Lieutenant EE Hazlett USN assumed command The initial American complement consisted of four officers and enlisted men the latter entirely composed of United States Navy Reserve Force personnel The ship remained at anchor at Spalato for nearly a year while the negotiations that would determine her ultimate fate dragged on Only once did she apparently turn her engines over and that occurred during a severe gale that struck Spalato on February
On the morning of November Zrnyi was decommissioned USS Chattanooga took her in tow and assisted by Brooks and Hovey towed the battleship to Italy Under the terms of the treaties of Versailles and St Germain Zrnyi was ultimately turned over to the Italian government at Venice She was broken up for scrap later that year and into
Geopyxis carbonaria is a species of fungus in the genus Geopyxis family Pyronemataceae First described to science in and given its current name in the species is commonly known as the charcoal loving elf cup dwarf acorn cup stalked bonfire cup or pixie cup The small goblet shaped fruitbodies of the fungus are reddish brown with a whitish fringe and measure up to cm in across They have a short tapered stalk Fruitbodies are commonly found on soil where brush has recently been burned sometimes in great numbers The fungus is distributed throughout many temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere It is found in Europe Turkey and North America Although it is primarily a saprotrophic species feeding on the decomposing organic matter remaining after a fire it also forms biotrophic associations with the roots of Norway spruce
The fungus was first described scientifically in by Johannes Baptista von Albertini and Lewis David de Schweinitz as Peziza carbonaria Mordecai Cubitt Cooke illustrated the fruitbodies spores and asci in his work Mycographia seu Icones fungorum Figures of fungi from all parts of the world In Pier Andrea Saccardo transferred the fungus to the genus Geopyxis giving the species its current name Pustularia carbonaria published by Heinrich Rehm in is a synonym of G carbonaria Louis Joseph Grlet proposed the variety Geopyxis carbonaria var sessilis in referring to forms producing fruitbodies without a stalk but the taxon is not considered to have independent taxonomic significance In Miles Berkeley and Moses Ashley Curtis described the species Peziza lepida from collections made in Japan as part of the North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition This taxon was synonymized with G carbonaria by Mien Rifai in a taxonomic opinion corroborated by Donald Pfister about a decade later
The specific epithet carbonaria derives from the Latin word for charcoal Common names given to the fungus include charcoal loving elf cup dwarf acorn cup pixie cup and the British Mycological Society approved stalked bonfire cup
The fruitbodies ascocarps of Geopyxis carbonaris are cup shaped cm wide and have fringed whitish margins The inner spore bearing surface of the cup the hymenium is brick red and smooth while the exterior surface is a dull yellow and may be either smooth or have blister like spots pustules The stipe is small mm long and mm wide whitish in color and expands abruptly into the cup The brownish flesh of the fungus is thin and brittle It does not have any distinctive taste but has an unpleasant smell when crushed in water The edibility of the fungus is not known but the fruitbodies are insubstantial and unlikely to be harvested for eating
In mass the spores are whitish The spores are elliptical smooth hyaline devoid of oil droplets eguttulate and have dimensions of by m They are thin walled and germinate and grow rapidly in vitro in the absence of external stimuli The asci are by m The paraphyses are slightly club shaped unbranched and have irregular orange brown granules with tips up to m wide and are not forked or lobed The hypothecium the layer of cells below the hymenium is made of densely packed small irregular cells
The closely related vulcan elf cup Geopyxis vulcanalis has a pale orange to yellowish fruitbody that is deeply cup shaped before flattening in maturity and its crushed flesh often has an odor of sulfur It may be distinguished microscopically by its paraphyses which lack the orange brown granules characteristic of G carbonaria It also has larger spores measuring by m Unlike G carbonaria it grows on substrates other than burned wood including mosses and needle duff Tarzetta cupularis which grows habitats similar to G carbonaria is distinguished microscopically by its spores that contain two oil droplets Other genera with similar species with which G carbonaria may be confused in the field include Aleuria Caloscypha Melastiza and Sowerbyella
Geopyxis carbonaria is widespread on burned soil or charcoal in the spring and throughout the growing season It is one of the most common pioneer species found on burned ground The charred litter on the forest floor increases the underlying soil pH as well as the availability of minerals Fruitbodies are produced from to weeks after a forest fire in areas with coniferous trees Most fruitbodies are produced in the first year after a burn The fungus prefers fruiting in microhabitats with thin postfire duff near standing burned tree trunks Geopyxis carbonaria fruitbodies are often found in the same post fire stands as morels although the former is usually more abundant Because the pixie cup fruits earlier than morels it may serve as an indicator of imminent morel fruiting Other cup fungi often found fruiting in the same area as G carbonaria include those from the genera Aleuria Anthracobia Peziza and Tarzetta
The fungus is found in Europe from where it was originally described and is widespread throughout North America The North American distribution extends north to Alaska In it was reported for the first time from Turkey
Although primarily a saprotrophic fungus involved in the post fire breakdown of duff and coniferous roots Geopyxis carbonaria has been shown to be capable of forming ectomycorrhizae with Norway spruce Picea abies It had been demonstrated earlier in laboratory experiments that the fungus has a biotrophic interaction with lodgepole pine Pinus contorta The hyphae of G carbonaria were able to infect the cortex of the tree seedling but did not penetrate the endodermis These traits suggest that the fungus is a moderate pathogen with limited ability to cause reductions in seed germination Additionally the fungus produces the enzyme polyphenol oxidase and can break down the complex organic polymer lignin features characteristic of saprotrophic fungi The formation of a rudimentary Hartig net a characteristic of mycorrhizal fungi indicated that G carbonaria might be capable of forming mutualistic relationships under the right conditions Vrlstad and colleagues suggest that its below ground association with spruce roots protects it from physical damage in the event of a fire and the extensive fruitbody production after a fire may reflect a successful fungal escape from a dying host where the fungus no longer can maintain its biotrophic association
Large fruitings of the fungus are often associated with damage to the host tree such as that which occurs with burning A field study conducted in Norway demonstrated that fruit bodies were more likely to be found in areas that were heavily burned compared to locations with light to moderate burning where the trees remained viable or in clearcut areas Fruiting was much denser in spruce forests with up to fruitbodies per square meter than in pine forests where fruitbodies were sporadic Fruitbodies grew by the millions in the year following the Yellowstone fires of
The gold dollar or gold one dollar piece was a coin struck as a regular issue by the United States Bureau of the Mint from to The coin had three types over its lifetime all designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B Longacre The Type issue had the smallest diameter of any United States coin ever minted
A gold dollar had been proposed several times in the s and s but was not initially adopted Congress was finally galvanized into action by the increased supply of bullion caused by the California gold rush and in authorized a gold dollar In its early years silver coins were being hoarded or exported and the gold dollar found a ready place in commerce Silver again circulated after Congress in required that new coins of that metal be made lighter and the gold dollar became a rarity in commerce even before federal coins vanished from circulation because of the economic disruption caused by the American Civil War
Gold did not again circulate in most of the nation until once it did the gold dollar did not regain its place In its final years it was struck in small numbers causing speculation by hoarders It was also in demand to be mounted in jewelry The regular issue gold dollar was last struck in the following year Congress ended the series
In proposing his plan for a mint and a coinage system Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in proposed that the one dollar denomination be struck both as a gold coin and as one of silver representative of the two metals which he proposed be made legal tender Congress followed Hamilton s recommendation only in part authorizing a silver dollar but no coin of that denomination in gold
In the first gold dollar was minted at the private mint of Christopher Bechtler in North Carolina Much of the gold then being produced in the United States came from the mountains of North Carolina and Georgia and the dollars and other small gold coins issued by Bechtler circulated through that region and were now and then seen further away Additional one dollar pieces were struck by August Bechtler Christopher s son
Soon after the Bechtlers began to strike their private issues Secretary of the Treasury Levi Woodbury became an advocate of having the Mint of the United States Mint when described as an institution strike the one dollar denomination in gold He was opposed by the Mint Director Robert M Patterson Woodbury persuaded President Andrew Jackson to have pattern coins struck In response Patterson had Mint Second Engraver Christian Gobrecht break off work on the new design for the silver one dollar coin and work on a pattern for the gold dollar Gobrecht s design featured a Liberty cap surrounded by rays on one side and a palm branch arranged in a circle with the denomination date and name of the country on the other
Consideration was given to including the gold dollar as an authorized denomination in the revisionary legislation that became the Mint Act of The Philadelphia newspaper Public Ledger in December supported a gold dollar stating that the dollar is the smallest gold coin that would be convenient and as it would be eminently so neither silver nor paper should be allowed to take its place Nevertheless after Mint Director Patterson appeared before a congressional committee the provision authorizing the gold dollar was deleted from the bill
In January North Carolina Representative James Iver McKay the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means solicited the views of Director Patterson on the gold dollar Patterson had more of Gobrecht s pattern dollar struck to show to committee members again advising against a coin that if issued would be only about a half inch mm in diameter He told Treasury Secretary John C Spencer that the only gold coins of that size in commerce the Spanish and Colombian half escudos were unpopular and had not been struck for more than twenty years This seemed to satisfy the committee as nothing more was done for the time and when a gold dollar was proposed again in McKay s committee recommended against it
Even before record amounts of gold were flowing to American mints to be struck into coin but the California Gold Rush vastly increased these quantities This renewed calls for a gold dollar as well as for a higher denomination than the eagle piece then the largest gold coin In January McKay introduced a bill for a gold dollar which was referred to his committee There was much discussion in the press about the proposed coin one newspaper published a proposal for an annular gold dollar that is with a hole in the middle to increase its small diameter McKay amended his legislation to provide for a double eagle gold coin and wrote to Patterson who replied stating that the annular gold dollar would not work and neither would another proposal to have dollar piece consisting of a gold plug in a silver coin Nevertheless Gobrecht s successor as chief engraver James B Longacre prepared patterns including some with a square hole in the middle
McKay got his fellow Democrat New Hampshire Senator Charles Atherton to introduce the bill to authorize the gold dollar and the double eagle in the Senate on February Atherton was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee McKay introduced a version into the House on February debate began the same day The dollar was attacked by congressmen from the Whig Party then in the minority on the grounds that it would be too small would be counterfeited and in bad light might be mistakenly spent as a half dime the coins being similar in size McKay did not respond substantively but stated that if no one wanted these denominations they would not be called for at the Mint and would not be coined Pennsylvania Representative Joseph Ingersoll a Whig spoke against the bill noting that Patterson opposed the new denominations and that the idea had been repeatedly turned down whenever considered Another Whig Massachusetts s Charles Hudson related that Patterson had sent a real and a counterfeit gold dollar to his committee and the majority of members had been unable to tell the difference McKay made no answer to these claims but others did including New York Congressman Henry Nicoll who assured the House that the counterfeiting allegations were greatly exaggerated The point was he indicated that the double eagle and gold dollar were wanted by the public and in the case of the gold dollar could help money circulate in small communities where banknotes were not accepted Connecticut Representative John A Rockwell a Whig tried to table the bill but his motion was defeated The bill passed easily and met only minimal opposition in the Senate becoming law on March
The officers at the Philadelphia Mint including Chief Coiner Franklin Peale were mostly the friends and relations of Director Patterson The outsider in their midst was Chief Engraver James B Longacre successor to Gobrecht who had died in A former copper plate engraver Longacre had been appointed through the political influence of South Carolina Senator John C Calhoun
When Longacre began work on the two new coins in early he had no one to assist him Longacre wrote the following year that he had been warned by a Mint employee that one of the officers undoubtedly Peale planned to undermine the chief engraver s position by having the work of preparing designs and dies done outside Mint premises Accordingly when the gold coin bill became law Longacre apprised Patterson that he was ready to begin work on the gold dollar The Mint Director agreed and after viewing a model of the head on the obverse authorized Longacre to proceed with preparation of dies According to Longacre
The engraving was unusually minute and required very close and incessant labor for several weeks I made the original dies and hubs for making the working dies twice over to secure their perfect adaptation to the coining machinery I had a wish to execute this work single handed that I might thus silently reply to those who had questioned my ability for the work The result I believe was satisfactory
The Type gold dollar depicts a head of Liberty facing left with a coronet or tiara on her head bearing her name Her hair is gathered in a bun she is surrounded by stars representing the original states The reverse features the date and denomination within a wreath with the name of the nation near the rim
Contemporary reviews of the Type design were generally favorable The New York Weekly Tribune on May described the new dollar as undoubtedly the neatest tiniest lightest coin in this country it is too delicate and beautiful to pay out for potatoes and sauerkraut and salt pork Oberon might have paid Puck with it for bringing the blossom which bewitched Titania Willis Bank Note List stated that there is no probability of them ever getting into general circulation they are altogether too small The North Carolina Standard hoped that they would be struck at the Charlotte Mint and circulated locally to eliminate the problem of small denomination bank notes from out of state Coin dealer and numismatic author Q David Bowers notes that the head of Liberty on the Type dollar is a scaled down version of that on the double eagle and a nicely preserved gold dollar is beautiful to behold
Mint records indicate the first gold dollars were produced on May Longacre s diary notes state instead that the first were struck on May A few coins in proof condition were struck on the first day along with about for circulation There are five major varieties of the gold dollar from Philadelphia made as Longacre continued to fine tune the design Mintmarked dies were sent by Longacre s Engraving Department at the Philadelphia Mint to the branch mints at Charlotte Dahlonega in Georgia and New Orleans coins struck at the branches resemble some of the types issued from Philadelphia depending on when the dies were produced Of the coins struck at the branch mints in only pieces struck at Charlotte C exist in multiple varieties most are of what is dubbed the Closed Wreath variety Approximately five of the C Open Wreath are known one believed the finest surviving specimen sold at auction for in remaining a record for the gold dollar series as of One of the changes made during production was the inclusion of Longacre s initial L on the truncation of Liberty s neck the first time a US coin intended for full scale production had borne the initial of its designer All issues beginning in bear the Closed Wreath Beginning in the gold dollar was also struck at the new San Francisco Mint
The continued flow of gold from California made silver expensive in terms of gold and US silver coins began to flow out of the country for melting in a flow that accelerated over the next several years as the price of the metal continued to rise By a thousand dollars in silver coin contained worth of bullion As silver coins vanished the gold dollar became the only federal coin in circulation between the cent and the quarter eagle piece As such it was struck in large numbers and widely circulated According to Bowers in his book on the denomination the years to were the high water mark of the gold dollar the glory years of the denomination when the little gold coins took the place of half dollars and silver dollars in everyday transactions This time came to an end in when Congress passed an act reducing the weight of most silver coins allowing new issues of them to circulate
As early as New York Congressman William Duer alleged that that Patterson had made the gold dollar too small in diameter on purpose to provoke criticism Patterson retired that year after years in his position and under his successor George N Eckert annular gold dollar and half dollar patterns were struck Public Ledger reported that although gold dollars would not be struck in annular form gold half dollars would be to help fill the need for change With the new Pierce administration Thomas M Pettit took office as Mint Director on March In April Treasury Secretary James Guthrie wrote to Pettit that there were complaints that the gold dollar was too small often lost or mistaken for a small silver coin and enquiring about reports the Mint had experimented with annular dollars Pettit replied stating that none had been preserved but enclosed a silver piece of equivalent size He noted that while there would be technical difficulties in the production of the annular dollar these could be overcome In a letter dated May Pettit proposed an oval shaped holed piece or an angular shaped coin which would lessen the production problems Pettit died suddenly on May Guthrie did not let the issue fall but queried Pettit s replacement James Ross Snowden concerning the issue on June As US coins were required to bear some device emblematic of liberty the secretary hoped that artists could be found who could find some such design for an annular coin
The Act of February that had lightened the silver coins also authorized a gold three dollar piece which began to be produced in To ensure that the three dollar piece was not mistaken for other gold coins it had been made thinner and wider than it would normally be and Longacre put a distinctive design with an Indian princess on it Longacre adapted both the technique and the design for the gold dollar which was made thinner and thus wider An adaptation of Longacre s princess for the larger gold coin was placed on the dollar and a similar agricultural wreath on the reverse The idea of making the gold dollar larger in this way had been suggested in Congress as early as and had been advocated by Pettit but Guthrie s desire for an annular coin stalled the matter In May Snowden sent Guthrie a letter stating that the difficulties with an annular coin especially in getting the coins to eject properly from the press were more than trivial
Nevertheless the Type gold dollar as it came to be known proved unsatisfactory as the mints had difficulty in striking the new coin so that all details were brought out This was due to the high relief of the design the three Southern branch mints especially had trouble with the piece Many of the Type pieces quickly became illegible and were sent back to Philadelphia for melting and recoinage On most surviving specimens the in the date is not fully detailed The Type gold dollar was struck only at Philadelphia in and at the three Southern branch mints in the latter year and at San Francisco in after the design was designated for replacement To correct the problems Longacre enlarged the head of Liberty making it a scaled down version of the three dollar piece and moved the lettering on the obverse closer to the rim This improved the metal flow and design sharpness so much that early numismatic scholars assumed the reverse was also altered though in fact no change was made and the Type and Type reverses are identical
The Type and gold dollars depict Liberty as a Native American princess with a fanciful feathered headdress not resembling any worn by any Indian tribe This image is an inexact copy of the design Longacre had made for the three dollar piece and is one of a number of versions of Liberty Longacre created based on the Venus Accroupie or Crouching Venus a sculpture then on display in a Philadelphia museum For the reverse Longacre adapted the agricultural wreath he had created for the reverse of the three dollar piece composed of cotton corn tobacco and wheat blending the produce of North and South This wreath would appear later in the s on the Flying Eagle cent
Art historian Cornelius Vermeule deprecated the Indian princess design used by Longacre for the obverses of the Types and gold dollar and for the three dollar piece the princess of the gold coins is a banknote engraver s elegant version of folk art of the s The plumes or feathers are more like the crest of the Prince of Wales than anything that saw the Western frontiers save perhaps on a music hall beauty
The gold dollar continued to be produced in the late s though mintages declined from the figures of two million or more each year between and Only about gold dollars were produced in with over two thirds of that figure at Philadelphia just under a third at San Francisco and at Dahlonega Roughly a hundred are known of the last creating one of the great rarities from Dahlonega in the series
The other candidate for the rarest from that mint is the D with an estimated mintage of and perhaps to known Two pairs of dies were shipped from Philadelphia to Dahlonega on December they arrived on January two weeks before Georgia voted to secede from the Union as the American Civil War began Under orders from Governor Joseph E Brown state militia secured the mint and at some point small quantities of dollars and half eagles were produced Records of how many coins were struck and when have not survived Since dies crack in time and all the mints were supplied with them from Philadelphia coining could not last and in May coins and supplies remaining at Dahlonega were turned over to the treasury of the Confederate States of America which Georgia had by then joined Gold coins with a face value of were put aside for assay Normally they would have been sent to Philadelphia to await the following year s meeting of the United States Assay Commission when they would be available for testing Instead these were sent to the initial Confederate capital of Montgomery Alabama though what was done with them there and their ultimate fate are unknown The rarity of the D dollar and the association with the Confederacy make it especially prized
Dahlonega like the other two branch mints in the South closed its doors after the strikings It and the Charlotte facility never reopened the New Orleans Mint again struck coins from to but did not strike gold dollars again After the only issuance of gold dollars outside Philadelphia was at San Francisco in
The outbreak of the Civil War shook public confidence in the Union and citizens began hoarding specie gold and silver coins In late December banks and then the federal Treasury stopped paying out gold at face value By mid all federal coins even the base metal cent had vanished from commerce in much of the country The exception was the Far West where for the most part only gold and silver were acceptable currencies and paper money traded at a discount In the rest of the nation gold and silver coins could be purchased from banks exchange agents and from the Treasury for a premium in the new greenbacks the government began to issue to fill the gap in commerce and finance the war
Since gold did not circulate in the United States except on the West Coast in the postwar period much of the production of coins of that metal in the United States was double eagles for export Accordingly although gold dollars were struck in the last time production would exceed a million the mintage fell to in and remained low for the rest of the coin s existence excepting and The Mint felt it improper to suspend coinage of a coin authorized by Congress and issued proof coins generally a few dozen to the tiny numismatic community from specially polished dies also producing enough circulation strikes so that the proof coins would not be unduly rare In and old and worn gold dollars held by the government were melted and recoined generating large mintages of that denomination This was done in anticipation of the resumption of specie payments which did not occur until the end of Once specie again circulated at face value the gold dollar found no place in commerce amid large quantities of silver coinage either released from hoarding or newly struck by the Mint The government expected that the resumption of specie payments would cause the dollar and other small gold coins to circulate again but the public allowed to redeem paper currency continued to use it as more convenient than coins
In the s and s public interest grew in the low mintage gold dollar Collecting coins was becoming more popular and a number of numismatists put aside some gold dollars and hoped for increases in value The Mint most likely channeled its production through some favored Philadelphia dealers though proof coins could be purchased for at the cashier s window at the Philadelphia facility Banks charged a premium for circulation strikes They were popular in the jewelry trade mounted into various items The coins were often exported to China or Japan where such jewelry was made The dollars were often damaged in the process the Mint refused to sell into this trade and did its best to hinder it Nevertheless Mint officials concluded that jewelers were successful at getting the majority of each issue Proof mintages exceeded by and remained above that mark for the remainder of the series numbers likely inflated by agents of jewelers willing to pay the Mint s premium of per coin Another use for the gold dollar was as a holiday gift after its abolition the quarter eagle became a popular present
James Pollock in his final report as Mint Director in advocated limiting striking of gold dollars to depositors who specifically requested it The gold dollar is not a convenient coin on account of its small size and it suffers more proportionately from abrasion than larger coins His successors called for its abolition with James P Kimball before he left office in writing to Congress that except as jewelry little practical use has been found for this coin Later that year the new director Edward O Leech issued a report stating that the gold dollar is too small for circulation and is used almost exclusively for the purposes of ornament The last year in which the gold dollar was struck was Congress abolished the gold dollar along with the three cent nickel and three dollar piece by the Act of September
A total of gold dollars were coined of which were struck at Philadelphia at New Orleans at Charlotte at San Francisco and at Dahlonega According to an advertisement in the February issue of The Numismatist gold dollars brought each still in demand as a birthday present and for jewelry That journal in carried news of a customer depositing gold dollars into a bank the teller aware of the value credited the account with per coin In a dealer offered each for any quantity As coin collecting became a widespread pastime in the early th century gold dollars became a popular specialty a status they retain The edition of RS Yeoman s A Guide Book of United States Coins rates the least expensive gold dollar in very fine condition VF at a value given for each of the Type Philadelphia issues from to Those seeking one of each type will find the most expensive to be a specimen of the Type with the and estimated at in that condition the other two types have dates valued at in that grade
The gold dollar had a brief resurrection during the period of Early United States commemorative coins Between and nine different issues were produced with a total mintage of These were minted for various public events did not circulate and none used Longacre s design
The Johnson Corey Chaykovsky reaction sometimes referred to as the Corey Chaykovsky reaction or CCR is a chemical reaction used in organic chemistry for the synthesis of epoxides aziridines and cyclopropanes It was discovered in by A William Johnson and developed significantly by E J Corey and Michael Chaykovsky The reaction involves addition of a sulfur ylide to a ketone aldehyde imine or enone to produce the corresponding membered ring The reaction is diastereoselective favoring trans substitution in the product regardless of the initial stereochemistry The synthesis of epoxides via this method serves as an important retrosynthetic alternative to the traditional epoxidation reactions of olefins
The reaction is most often employed for epoxidation via methylene transfer and to this end has been used in several notable total syntheses See Synthesis of epoxides below Additionally detailed below are the history mechanism scope and enantioselective variants of the reaction Several reviews have been published
The original publication by Johnson concerned the reaction of dimethylsulfonium fluorenylide with substituted benzaldehyde derivatives The attempted Wittig like reaction failed and a benzalfluorene oxide was obtained instead noting that Reaction between the sulfur ylid and benzaldehydes did not afford benzalfluorenes as had the phosphorus and arsenic ylids
The subsequent development of dimethyloxosulfaniumyl methanide CH SOCH and dimethylsulfaniumyl methanide CH SCH known as Corey Chaykovsky reagents by Corey and Chaykovsky as efficient methylene transfer reagents established the reaction as a part of the organic canon
The reaction mechanism for the Johnson Corey Chaykovsky reaction consists of nucleophilic addition of the ylide to the carbonyl or imine group A negative charge is transferred to the heteroatom and because the sulfonium cation is a good leaving group it gets expelled forming the ring In the related Wittig reaction the formation of the much stronger phosphorus oxygen double bond prevents oxirane formation and instead olefination takes place through a membered cyclic intermediate
The trans diastereoselectivity observed results from the reversibility of the initial addition allowing equilibration to the favored anti betaine over the syn betaine Initial addition of the ylide results in a betaine with adjacent charges density functional theory calculations have shown that the rate limiting step is rotation of the central bond into the conformer necessary for backside attack on the sulfonium
The degree of reversibility in the initial step and therefore the diastereoselectivity depends on four factors with greater reversibility corresponding to higher selectivity
Stability of the substrate with higher stability leading to greater reversibility by favoring the starting material over the betaine
Stability of the ylide with higher stability similarly leading to greater reversibility
Steric hindrance in the betaine with greater hindrance leading to greater reversibility by disfavoring formation of the intermediate and slowing the rate limiting rotation of the central bond
Solvation of charges in the betaine by counterions such as lithium with greater solvation allowing more facile rotation in the betaine intermediate lowering the amount of reversibility
The application of the Johnson Corey Chaykovsky reaction in organic synthesis is diverse The reaction has come to encompass reactions of many types of sulfur ylides with electrophiles well beyond the original publications It has seen use in a number of high profile total syntheses as detailed below and is generally recognized as a powerful transformative tool in the organic repertoire
Many types of ylides can be prepared with various functional groups both on the anionic carbon center and on the sulfur The substitution pattern can influence the ease of preparation for the reagents typically from the sulfonium halide eg trimethylsulfonium iodide and overall reaction rate in various ways The general format for the reagent is shown on the right
Use of a sulfoxonium allows more facile preparation of the reagent using weaker bases as compared to sulfonium ylides The difference being that a sulfoxonium contains a doubly bonded oxygen whereas the sulfonium does not The former react slower due to their increased stability In addition the dialkylsulfoxide by products of sulfoxonium reagents are greatly preferred to the significantly more toxic volatile and odorous dialkylsulfide by products from sulfonium reagents
The vast majority of reagents are monosubstituted at the ylide carbon either R or R as hydrogen Disubstituted reagents are much rarer but have been described
If the ylide carbon is substituted with an electron withdrawing group EWG the reagent is referred to as a stabilized ylide These similarly to sulfoxonium reagents react much slower and are typically easier to prepare These are limited in their usefulness as the reaction can become prohibitively sluggish examples involving amides are widespread with many fewer involving esters and virtually no examples involving other EWG s For these the related Darzens reaction is typically more appropriate
If the ylide carbon is substituted with an aryl or allyl group the reagent is referred to as a semi stabilized ylide These have been developed extensively second only to the classical methylene reagents R R H The substitution pattern on aryl reagents can heavily influence the selectivity of the reaction as per the criteria above
If the ylide carbon is substituted with an alkyl group the reagent is referred to as an unstabilized ylide The size of the alkyl groups are the major factors in selectivity with these reagents
The R groups on the sulfur though typically methyls have been used to synthesize reagents that can perform enantioselective variants of the reaction See Variations below The size of the groups can also influence diastereoselectivity in alicyclic substrates
Reactions of sulfur ylides with ketones and aldehydes to form epoxides are by far the most common application of the Johnson Corey Chaykovsky reaction Examples involving complex substrates and exotic ylides have been reported as shown below
The reaction has been used in a number of notable total syntheses including the Danishefsky Taxol total synthesis which produces the chemotherapeutic drug taxol and the Kuehne Strychnine total synthesis which produces the pesticide strychnine
The synthesis of aziridines from imines is another important application of the Johnson Corey Chaykovsky reaction and provides an alternative to amine transfer from oxaziridines Though less widely applied the reaction has a similar substrate scope and functional group tolerance to the carbonyl equivalent The examples shown below are representative in the latter an aziridine forms in situ and is opened via nucleophilic attack to form the corresponding amine
For addition of sulfur ylides to enones higher selectivity is typically obtained with sulfoxonium reagents than with sulfonium reagents Many electron withdrawing groups have been shown compatible with the reaction including ketones esters and amides the example below involves a Weinreb amide With further conjugated systems addition tends to predominate over addition
In addition to the reactions originally reported by Johnson Corey and Chaykovsky sulfur ylides have been used for a number of related homologation reactions that tend to be grouped under the same name
With epoxides and aziridines the reaction serves as a ring expansion to produce the corresponding oxetane or azetidine The long reaction times required for these reactions prevent them from occurring as significant side reactions when synthesizing epoxides and aziridines
Several cycloadditions wherein the ylide serves as a nucleophilic carbenoid equivalent have been reported
Living polymerizations using trialkylboranes as the catalyst and dimethyloxosulfaniumyl methanide as the monomer have been reported for the synthesis of various complex polymers
The development of an enantioselective ie yielding an enantiomeric excess which is labelled as ee variant of the Johnson Corey Chaykovsky reaction remains an active area of academic research The use of chiral sulfides in a stoichiometric fashion has proved more successful than the corresponding catalytic variants but the substrate scope is still limited in all cases The catalytic variants have been developed almost exclusively for enantioselective purposes typical organosulfide reagents are not prohibitively expensive and the racemic reactions can be carried out with equimolar amounts of ylide without raising costs significantly Chiral sulfides on the other hand are more costly to prepare spurring the advancement of catalytic enantioselective methods
The most successful reagents employed in a stoichiometric fashion are shown below The first is a bicyclic oxathiane that has been employed in the synthesis of the adrenergic compound dichloroisoproterenol DCI but is limited by the availability of only one enantiomer of the reagent The synthesis of the axial diastereomer is rationalized via the anomeric effect which reduces the nucleophilicity of the equatorial lone pair The conformation of the ylide is limited by transannular strain and approach of the aldehyde is limited to one face of the ylide by steric interactions with the methyl substituents
The other major reagent is a camphor derived reagent developed by Varinder Aggarwal of the University of Bristol Both enantiomers are easily synthesized although the yields are lower than for the oxathiane reagent The ylide conformation is determined by interaction with the bridgehead hydrogens and approach of the aldehyde is blocked by the camphor moiety The reaction employs a phosphazene base to promote formation of the ylide
Catalytic reagents have been less successful with most variations suffering from poor yield poor enantioselectivity or both There are also issues with substrate scope most having limitations with methylene transfer and aliphatic aldehydes The trouble stems from the need for a nucleophilic sulfide that efficiently generates the ylide which can also act as a good leaving group to form the epoxide Since the factors underlying these desiderata are at odds tuning of the catalyst properties has proven difficult Shown below are several of the most successful catalysts along with the yields and enantiomeric excess for their use in synthesis of E stilbene oxide
Aggarwal has developed an alternative method employing the same sulfide as above and a novel alkylation involving a rhodium carbenoid formed in situ The method too has limited substrate scope failing for any electrophiles possessing basic substituents due to competitive consumption of the carbenoid
The Treaty of Ciudad Jurez was a peace treaty signed between the then President of Mexico Porfirio Daz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero on May The treaty put an end to the fighting between forces supporting Madero and those of Daz and thus concluded the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution
The treaty stipulated that Daz as well as his vice president Ramn Corral were to step down by the end of May and that he was to be replaced by Francisco Len de la Barra as interim president and hold presidential elections Those who had suffered losses due to the revolution would be the indemnified and there would be a general amnesty Daz resigned on May and interim president Francisco Len de la Barra was the new incumbent Daz and his family his vice president Corral plus Jos Yves Limantour and Rosendo Pineda left Mexico for exile
Significantly the treaty did not mention or institute any social reforms that Madero had vaguely promised on previous occasions It also left the Porfirian state essentially intact Additionally Madero supported the unpopular idea that all land disputes were to be settled through the courts staffed by the old judges a decision that led to outbreaks of sporadic violence particularly in rural areas
On June Madero entered Mexico City In October he was elected president under the banner of the Partido Constitucional Progresista along with Jos Mara Pino Surez his new running mate as vice president Madero pushed aside Francisco Vzquez Gmez the vice presidential candidate for the Anti Reelectionist Party in as being too moderate
The rebellion against the government of Porfirio Daz broke out in late after Daz had his rival Francisco Madero imprisoned and had announced his own victory in a falsified election Madero s earlier vague promises of agrarian reforms had attracted many supporters He himself escaped from prison and fled to Texas from where he issued his famous Plan of San Luis Potos This manifesto called for an armed uprising against the Porfiriato and establishment of free and democratic elections As a response to Madero s proclamation violent clashes began throughout Mexico in November
In the Guerrero district of Chihuahua Pascual Orozco attacked Federal troops and sent dead soldiers clothing back to Daz with the message Ah te van las hojas mndame ms tamales Here are the wrappers send me more tamales He then began operations which threatened Ciudad Jurez Additionally political support for Madero s rebellion came from Abraham Gonzlez who accepted the Plan of San Luis Potos
At roughly the same time agrarian unrest in the state of Morelos turned into a full blown rebellion under the leadership of the Zapata brothers Emiliano and Eufemio
Encouraged by the news of the uprisings Madero crossed the border back into Mexico in February He was joined by Pancho Villa and Orozco and in April the army began approaching Ciudad Jurez Orozco and Villa led the way with men each while Madero followed up with riders The city was besieged by the end of the month after Madero s army encountered some resistance in the Chihuahuan countryside Madero asked the commander of the city s garrison to surrender but the latter refused hoping that the fortifications he had constructed would allow him to defend the city until reinforcements arrived Concerned also with the possibility that a direct attack on the town would cause artillery shells to cross the border into the United States which could provoke an outside intervention and faced with a series of peace proposals from Daz Madero hesitated in attacking the city He in fact ordered his commanders to lift the siege Orozco however disregarded the order and joined by Villa attacked After two days of fighting the city fell to the insurrectionists Madero intervened personally to spare the life of the city s commander Gen Navarro whom both Orozco and Villa wanted executed for his previous killing of rebel POWs This coupled with the fact that both leaders were ignored by Madero in his political appointments outraged and estranged them from him
At about the same time that Villa and Orozco were marching on Ciudad Jurez the Zapatista revolt gathered strength and spread to the states of Puebla Tlaxcala Mexico Michoacn and Guerrero On April Madero had Emiliano Zapata officially designated as his representative in the region However Zapata was worried that if he did not fully control all the major towns in Morelos by the time that Madero concluded negotiations with Daz the demands of his agrarian movement and the issue of the autonomy of Morelos would be ignored or sidelined Zapata s first military action was to take the town of Chinameca where he obtained essential supplies Subsequently Zapata for political and strategic reasons decided to attack the city of Cuautla In order to mislead his opponents however he initially attacked and captured the towns of Izcar de Matamoros which was subsequently retaken by federal forces and Chietla From there he made a wide circle around Cuautla and captured Yautepec and Jonacatepec where he gathered more supplies munitions and soldiers By May out of all the major urban centers in the region only Cuautla and the capital of Morelos Cuernavaca remained outside of his control
Zapata began the attack on Cuautla on May with troops against elite soldiers of the so called Golden Fifth the Fifth Cavalry Regiment of the Federal Army The battle took almost a week and has been described as six of the most terrible days of battle in the whole Revolution It consisted of house to house fighting hand to hand combat and no quarter given by either side General Victoriano Huerta arrived in nearby Cuernavaca with reinforcements but decided not to come to the relief of Cuautla as he was afraid that the capital would revolt in his absence On May the remains of the Golden Fifth pulled out of the town which was then occupied by Zapata s soldiers
The successful capture of Cuautla made Zapata a hero to ordinary people throughout Mexico and new corridos were written about him After Zapata s taking of Cuautla the federal government controlled only five states and some urban areas Porfirio Daz himself later stated that while he felt that he could defend against Villa and Orozco in Chihuahua the fall of Cuautla was the event which persuaded him to agree to peace with Madero
As early as March Madero s representatives met in New York with Daz s finance minister Jos Yves Limantour and the Mexican ambassador to the US in order to discuss the possibility of peace between the two sides Limantour proposed an end to the hostilities and offered an amnesty for all revolutionaries the resignation of the then vice president Ramn Corral the replacement of four Daz cabinet ministers and ten state governors by ones chosen by Madero and the establishment of the principle of no reelection which would prevent Daz from seeking yet another term as president which would have been his ninth Madero responded positively although he also stated that any kind of peace deal had to include an immediate resignation by Daz
Faced with the siege of Ciudad Jurez and the outbreak of rebellion in Morelos Daz and members of his cabinet became more willing to negotiate and launched a skillful peace offensive aimed at Madero This was largely a result of panic among the large landowners associated with the Daz regime the hacendados and the financial elite which represented a moderate wing within the government Some among the Porfiristas in fact expected that Zapata would soon march on Mexico City itself unless peace was concluded with Madero
The moderate view within the Daz government was represented by Jorge Vera Estaol who in a memo to the minister of foreign affairs wrote that there were two revolutions taking place in Mexico a political revolution based mostly in the north whose aim was mostly to establish free elections and remove Daz himself from power and a social revolution whose aim was anarchy which was spreading throughout the Mexican countryside Estaol recommended coming to terms with the first group of revolutionaries by agreeing to the principle of no re election and a general amnesty in order to prevent the second group from succeeding In addition to his fear of anarchy Estaol was also worried that the social revolution would lead to a military intervention by the United States
Estaol s views represented those of the portion of the upper class which was willing to come to terms with at least a portion of the middle class in order to crush the peasant uprisings as exemplified by those of Zapata which were erupting throughout Mexico Limantour who broadly agreed with Estaol had the support of the Mexican financiers who feared the downgrading of Mexican international credit and a general economic crisis as a result of ongoing social unrest as well as that of the large landowners who were willing to come to terms with Madero if it would put an end to the agrarian uprisings
These social group were in turn opposed by the more reactionary elements within Daz s government mostly concentrated in the federal army who though that the rebels should be dealt with through brute force This faction was represented by General Victoriano Huerta who would later carry out an attempted coup d tat against Madero Likewise the general and potential successor to Daz Bernardo Reyes stated in a letter to Limantour that the repression against the insurrectionists should be carried out with the greates energy punishing without any pity anyone participating in the armed struggle In the end however Daz dismissed the advice from his generals as Custer like bluster and chose to seek peace with the moderate wing of the revolution Limantour had finally managed to persuade him to resign
At the same time there was also disagreement among the rebels The left wing of the revolutionary movement represented by Zapata and Orozco Villa for the time being tended to support Madero warned against any possible compromises with Daz In the end their suspicions proved correct as the treaty that was eventually signed neglected issues of social and agrarian land reform that were central to their struggle
The most significant point of the treaty was that Porfirio Daz and his vice president Ramn Corral resign and that de la Barra acting as interim president organize free elections as soon as possible
Additionally the treaty stipulated that
An amnesty for all revolutionaries be declared with the option for some of them to apply for membership in the rurales
The revolutionary forces were to be demobilized as soon as possible and the federal forces were to be the only army in Mexico This was in order to appease the army which had opposed a compromise with Madero
Madero and his supporters had the right to name fourteen provisional state governors and to approve la Barra s cabinet
Pensions were to be established for relatives of the soldiers who had died fighting the rebels
Policemen and judges as well as state legislators that had been appointed or elected under Daz were to retain their offices
The treaty was signed on May Daz resigned accordingly on May Francisco de la Barra became the interim president Madero entered Mexico City on June
Zapata however refused to recognize the interim government of de la Barra and for the time being the fighting in Morelos continued Madero met with Zapata on several occasions during June While initially Zapata trusted Madero with time he became increasingly concerned that the goals of his revolution were not being fulfilled He was particularly angry that Madero did not plan on carrying out any kind of agrarian reform or the breakup of large hacendias Additionally the press in Mexico City controlled by the landowners began referring to Zapata as a bandit and federal generals such as Huerta continued attacking his troops under the pretext that Zapata failed to demobilize in violation of the treaty Sporadic fighting in southern Mexico continued In November shortly after Madero s inauguration Zapata issued the famous Plan of Ayala in which the Zapatistas denounced Madero and instead recognized Pascual Orozco as the rightful president and leader of the revolution
Madero also earned the great displeasure of other revolutionaries including Pascual Orozco Madero s first act after the treaty was signed was a gesture of reconciliation with the Daz regime As a result of the treaty he was given the right to appoint members of the la Barra cabinet He chose mostly upper class Maderistas including his wife for the post in the treasury He also maintained the existing federal system by keeping the sitting judges of the Supreme Court the legislators in federal and state assemblies and the bureaucrats of the various federal agencies Venustiano Carranza who was going to become a major revolutionary in his own right and a future president of Mexico stated that after the treaty Madero had deliver ed to the reactionaries a dead revolution which will have to be fought over again Daz after leaving for exile in France observed that Madero has unleashed a tiger let us see if he can control him
Orozco who saw himself as being instrumental in Madero s victory over Daz was merely appointed as a commander of the rurales in Chihuahua which increased his resentment When he tried to run for governor of the state Madero supported his opponent Abraham Gonzlez and eventually pressured Orozco to drop out of the race When in the aftermath of the Plan of Ayala Madero ordered Orozco to lead federal troops to suppress Zapata Orozco refused In March Orozco issued his Plan of Empacadora and formally declared himself in rebellion against Madero
The Feast of the Goat Spanish La fiesta del chivo is a novel by the Peruvian Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa The book is set in the Dominican Republic and portrays the assassination of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo and its aftermath from two distinct standpoints a generation apart during and immediately after the assassination itself in May and thirty five years later in Throughout there is also extensive reflection on the heyday of the dictatorship in the s and its significance for the island and its inhabitants
The novel follows three interwoven storylines The first concerns a woman Urania Cabral who is back in the Dominican Republic after a long absence to visit her ailing father she ends up recalling incidents from her youth and recounting a long held secret to her aunt and cousins The second story line focuses on the last day in Trujillo s life from the moment he wakes up onwards and shows us the regime s inner circle to which Urania s father once belonged The third strand depicts Trujillo s assassins many of whom had previously been government loyalists as they wait for his car late that night after the assassination this story line shows us the assassins persecution Each aspect of the book s plot reveals a different viewpoint on the Dominican Republic s political and social environment past and present
Readers are shown the regime s downward spiral Trujillo s assassination and its aftermath through the eyes of insiders conspirators and a middle aged woman looking back The novel is therefore a kaleidoscopic portrait of dictatorial power including its psychological effects and its long term impact The novel s themes include the nature of power and corruption and their relationship to machismo and sexual perversion in a rigidly hierarchical society with strongly gendered roles Memory and the process of remembering is also an important theme especially in Urania s narrative as she recalls her youth in the Dominican Republic Her story and the book as a whole ends when she recounts the terrible events that led to her leaving the country at the age of The book itself serves as a reminder of the atrocities of dictatorship to ensure that the dangers of absolute power will be remembered by a new generation
Vargas Llosa interlaces fictional elements and historical events the book is not a documentary and the Cabral family for instance is completely fictional On the other hand the characters of Trujillo and Trujillo s assassins are drawn from the historical record Vargas Llosa weaves real historical incidents of brutality and oppression into these people s stories to further illuminate the nature of the regime and the responses it provoked In Vargas Llosa s words It s a novel not a history book so I took many many liberties I have respected the basic facts but I have changed and deformed many things in order to make the story more persuasive and I have not exaggerated
The Feast of the Goat received largely positive reviews with several reviewers commenting on the book s depiction of the relationship between sexuality and power and on the graphic descriptions of violent events
A film version of the novel was released in starring Isabella Rossellini Paul Freeman and Tomas Milian Jorge Al Triana and his daughter Veronica Triana wrote a theatrical adaptation in
The Feast of the Goat is only the second of Vargas Llosa s novels to be set outside Peru the first being The War of the End of the World It is also unusual because it is the first to have a female protagonist as critic Lynn Walford writes of the leading character in The Feast of the Goat and also Vargas Llosa s subsequent book The Way to Paradise both are utterly unlike any of the other female characters in his previous novels
The novel examines the dictatorial regime of Rafael Lenidas Trujillo Molina in the Dominican Republic Trujillo was in historian Eric Roorda s words a towering influence in Dominican and Caribbean history who presided over one of the most durable regimes of the twentieth century during the thirty one years between his seizure of power in and his assassination in Trujillo had trained with the United States Marine Corps during the United States occupation of the island and graduated from the Haina Military Academy in After the US departed in he became head of the Dominican National Police which under his command was transformed into the Dominican National Army and Trujillo s personal virtually autonomous power base
Trujillo was officially dictator only from to and from to but remained in effective power throughout the entire period Though his regime was broadly nationalist Daniel Chirot comments that he had no particular ideology and that his economic and social policies were basically progressive
The novel s title is taken from the popular Dominican merengue Mataron al chivo They Killed the Goat which refers to Trujillo s assassination on May Merengue is a style of music created by ico Lora in the s and actively promoted by Trujillo himself it is now considered the country s national music Cultural critics Julie Sellers and Stephen Ropp comment about this particular merengue that by envisaging the dictator as an animal who could be turned into a stew as frequently happened with goats struck down on the Dominican Republic s highways the song gave those performing listening to and dancing to this merengue a sense of control over him and over themselves that they had not experienced for over three decades Vargas Llosa quotes the lyrics to Mataron al chivo at the beginning of the novel
The novel s narrative is divided into three distinct strands One is centred on Urania Cabral a fictional Dominican character another deals with the conspirators involved in Trujillo s assassination and the third focuses on Trujillo himself The novel alternates between these storylines and also jumps back and forth from to with frequent flashbacks to periods earlier in Trujillo s regime
The Feast of the Goat begins with the return of Urania to her hometown of Santo Domingo a city which had been renamed Ciudad Trujillo during Trujillo s time in power This storyline is largely introspective and deals with Urania s memories and her inner turmoil over the events preceding her departure from the Dominican Republic thirty five years earlier Urania escaped the crumbling Trujillo regime in by claiming she planned to study under the tutelage of nuns in Michigan In the following decades she becomes a prominent and successful New York lawyer She finally returns to the Dominican Republic in on a whim and finds herself compelled to confront her father and elements of her past she has long ignored As Urania speaks to her ailing father Agustin Cabral she recalls more and more of the anger and disgust that led to her thirty five years of silence Urania retells her father s descent into political disgrace and the betrayal that forms the crux of both Urania s storyline and that of Trujillo himself
The second and third storylines are set in in the weeks prior to and following Trujillo s assassination on May Each assassin has his own background story explaining his motivation for his involvement in the assassination plot Each has been wronged by Trujillo and his regime by torture and brutality or through assaults on their pride their religious faith their morality or their loved ones Vargas Llosa weaves the tale of the men as memories recalled on the night of Trujillo s death as the conspirators lie in wait for The Goat Interconnected with these stories are the actions of other famous Trujillistas of the time Joaqun Balaguer the puppet president Johnny Abbes Garca the merciless head of the Military Intelligence Service SIM and various others some real some composites of historical figures and some purely fictional
The third storyline is concerned with the thoughts and motives of Rafael Lenidas Trujillo Molina himself The chapters concerning The Goat recall the major events of his time including the slaughter of thousands of Dominican Haitians in They also deal with the Dominican Republic s tense international relationships during the Cold War especially with the United States under the presidency of John F Kennedy and Cuba under Castro Vargas Llosa also speculates upon Trujillo s innermost thoughts and paints a picture of a man whose physical body is failing him Trujillo is tormented by incontinence and impotence and this storyline intersects with Urania s narrative when it is revealed that Urania was sexually assaulted by Trujillo He is unable to achieve an erection with Urania and in frustration and anger he rapes her with his hands This event is the core of Urania s shame and her hatred towards her father In addition it is the cause of Trujillo s repeated anger over the anemic little bitch that witnessed his impotence and emotion and the reason he is en route to sleep with another girl on the night of his assassination
In the novel s final chapters the three storylines intersect with increasing frequency The tone of these chapters is especially dark as they deal primarily with the horrific torture and death of the assassins at the hands of the SIM the failure of the coup the rape of Urania and the concessions made to Trujillo s most vicious supporters allowing them to enact their horrific revenge on the conspirators and then escape the country The book ends as Urania prepares to return home determined this time to keep in touch with her family back on the island
Urania Cabral and her father Agustn Cabral appear in both the modern day and historical portions of the novel In the year Urania returns to the Dominican Republic for the first time since her departure at the age of She is a successful New York lawyer who has spent most of the past years trying to overcome the traumas of her childhood a goal she pursues through an academic fascination with Trujillo and Dominican history Urania is deeply troubled by the events of her past and is compelled to confront her father Agustn about his role in those events Urania visits her father finding him weakened by age and a severe stroke so much so that he is barely able to respond physically to her presence let alone speak Agustn listens helplessly as Urania recounts his past as Egghead Cabral a high ranking member of Trujillo s inner circle and his drastic fall from grace Urania details Agustn s role in the events that led to her rape by the Dominican leader and to her subsequent lifetime of celibacy and emotional trauma Agustn s character in the modern day portion of the novel serves primarily as a sounding board for Urania s recollections of the Trujillo era and the events that surrounded both Agustn Cabral s disgrace and Urania s escape from the country His responses are minimal and non vocal despite the ardency of Urania s accusations and the enormity of his own actions during Trujillo s reign
Rafael Trujillo known also as The Goat The Chief and The Benefactor is a fictionalized character based on the real dictator of the Dominican Republic from to and the official President of the Republic from to and to In The Feast of the Goat Vargas Llosa imagines the innermost thoughts of the dictator and retells The Goat s last hours from his own perspective Trujillo s character struggles with aging and the physical problems of incontinence and impotence Through fictional events and first person narrative the reader is given insight into the man who during his thirty one years of horrendous political crimes modernized the country s infrastructure and military but whose regime s attacks against its enemies overseas particularly the attempted assassination of Rmulo Betancourt president of Venezuela led to the imposition of economic sanctions on the Dominican Republic by the Organization of American States in the s The resultant economic downturn in conjunction with other factors leads to the CIA supported assassination plot that ends Trujillo s life on May
Trujillo s regime is supported by Johnny Abbes Garca the head of the Military Intelligence Service SIM a brutal man to whom many disappearances executions sudden falls into disgrace are attributed Abbes and his intelligence officers are notorious for their cruelty particularly their habit of killing dissidents by throwing them into shark infested waters Colonel Abbes may be the devil but he s useful to the Chief everything bad is attributed to him and only the good to Trujillo Trujillo s son Ramfis Trujillo is a loyal supporter of the Chief After unsuccessful attempts at schooling in the United States Ramfis returns to the Dominican Republic to serve in his father s military He is a well known womanizer Upon Trujillo s death Ramfis seeks revenge even going so far as to torture and kill his uncle by marriage General Jose Roman for his part in the assassination conspiracy
Joaqun Balaguer Trujillo s puppet president is also a supporter and initially his seemingly innocuous character holds no real power Following Trujillo s death the calm and serenity of Balaguer bring about real change in his character and General Romn comments that this insignificant man whom everyone had always considered a mere clerk a purely decorative figure in the regime began to acquire surprising authority It is Balaguer who guides much of the action in the last sections of the book
The storyline concerning the assassination primarily follows the four conspirators who directly participate in Trujillo s death Antonio Imbert Barrera is one of the few conspirators who survives the violent reprisals that follow Trujillo s assassination Imbert is a politician who becomes disillusioned with the deception and cruelty of the Trujillo regime His first plan to kill Trujillo was foiled by the unsuccessful attempted overthrow of the regime by Cuban paramilitary forces Now convinced of the difficulty of his task Imbert joins the other conspirators in plotting Trujillo s death Among the others is Antonio de la Maza one of Trujillo s personal guards Antonio s brother is killed as part of a government cover up and Antonio swears revenge upon Trujillo Salvador Estrella Sadhal known as Turk is a devout Catholic who in indignation at the regime s many crimes against God swears an oath against Trujillo Turk eventually turns himself in for fear that the regime was torturing his family Both Turk and his innocent brother are then tortured for months His father remains loyal to Trujillo and disowns Turk to his face Despite all of this Turk refuses to commit suicide and does not lose faith in God He is later executed by Ramfis and other high level government men Turk s close friend Amado Garca Guerrero known as Amadito is a Lieutenant in the army who gave up his beloved as proof of his loyalty to Trujillo and then later was forced to kill her brother to prove himself to Trujillo Amadito s disgust with himself and disillusionment with the regime lead to his decision to help to kill Trujillo Following the assassination he hides out with de la Maza and dies fighting In the aftermath of the assassination Amadito and Antonio de la Maza choose to fight the members of SIM who come to arrest them opting to die in battle rather than be captured and tortured
The Feast of the Goat s major themes include political corruption machismo memory and writing and power Olga Lorenzo reviewer for The Melbourne Age suggests that overall Vargas Llosa s aim is to reveal the irrational forces of Latin tradition that give rise to despotism
The structure of Dominican society was hierarchical with strongly gendered roles Rafael Trujillo the ruler was a cruel dictator who haunts the people of Santo Domingo even years after his death He is a true caudillo ruling with brutality and corruption He creates a personality cult in his capitalist society and encourages decadence within his regime Prior to promotion to a position of responsibility an officer is required to pass a test of loyalty His people are to remain loyal to him all cost and are periodically tested by public humiliation and censure even though acts of disloyalty were rare Trujillo violates women and children as an expression of political and sexual power and in some cases takes the wife or child of his lieutenants many of whom still remain blindly loyal Even the church and military institutions are employed to give women to the tyrant for pleasure
Many of the assassins had belonged to the Trujillo regime or had at one point been its staunch supporters only to find their support for him eroded by the state s crimes against its people Imbert one of the assassins sums up this realization in a comment prompted by the murder of the Mirabal sisters They kill our fathers our brothers our friends And now they re killing our women And here we sit resigned waiting our turn In an interview Vargas Llosa describes the corruption and brutality of Trujillo s regime He had more or less all the common traits of a Latin American dictator but pushed to the extreme In cruelty I think he went far far away from the rest and in corruption too
According to literary scholar Peter Anthony Niessa the two important components of machismo are aggressive behaviour and hyper sexuality Aggressive behaviour is exhibited by displays of power and strength while hyper sexuality is revealed through sexual activity with as many partners as possible These two components shape the portrayal of Trujillo and his regime in The Feast of the Goat As Lorenzo observes Vargas Llosa reveals traditions of machismo of abusive fathers and of child rearing practices that repeat the shaming of children so that each generation bequeaths a withering of the soul to the subsequent one
In a display of both aspects of machismo Trujillo demanded of his aides and cabinet that they provide him with sexual access to their wives and daughters Mario Vargas Llosa wrote of Trujillo s machismo and treatment of women h e went to bed with his ministers wives not only because he liked these ladies but because it was a way to test his ministers He wanted to know if they were ready to accept this extreme humiliation Mainly the ministers were prepared to play this grotesque role and they remained loyal to Trujillo even after his death Trujillo s sexual conquests and public humiliations of his enemies also serve to affirm his political power and machismo In Niessa s words The implication is that maximum virility equals political dominance
Trujillo s attempted sexual conquest of Urania is an example of both political manipulation of Agustn Cabral and sexual power over young women However as Trujillo s penis remains flaccid throughout the encounter and he is humiliated in front of the young girl the encounter fails to satisfy his requirements for machismo
All of the novel s storylines concern memory in some sense or another The most apparent confrontation of memory is on the part of Urania Cabral who has returned to the Dominican Republic for the first time in years and is forced to confront her father and the traumas that led her to leave the country at She was the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of the dictator himself a sacrifice her father made to try to gain favor with the dictator again a fact to which she alludes throughout the book but which is only revealed at the very end the book concludes with her recounting the memory of that night to her aunt and cousins who never knew the true reason she left the country When her aunt is surprised that she remembers all these details she responds that while she forgets many things I remember everything about that night For Urania forgetting the atrocities committed by the regime is unacceptable Her father on the other hand is not capable of joining her in this process of remembering since he has suffered a stroke and is not capable of speaking however Urania is angry that he chose to forget these things while he was still capable of acknowledging them
Memory is also important in the sections of the novel that deal with the assassins Each recalls the events that led him to take part in the assassination of Trujillo These incidents included the Galindez kidnapping and murder the murder of the Mirabal sisters and the split with the Catholic Church These historical events are used by Vargas Llosa to connect the assassins with specific moments that demonstrate the violence of Trujillo s regime Trujillo too is shown reflecting on the past not least his own formation and training at the hands of the US Marines
But above all Mario Vargas Llosa uses the fictional Urania to facilitate the novel s attempt at remembering the regime The novel opens and closes with Urania s story effectively framing the narrative in the terms of remembering the past and understanding its legacy in the present In addition because of her academic study of the history of the Trujillo regime Urania is also confronting the memory of the regime for the country as a whole This is in keeping with one purpose of the book which is to ensure that the atrocities of the dictatorship and the dangers of absolute power will be remembered by a new generation
In her treatment of the novel Mara Regina Ruiz claims that power gives its wielder the ability to make prohibitions prohibitions that are reflected in history the study of which reveals what is and what is not told The government s actions in The Feast of the Goat demonstrate the discourse of prohibition foreign newspapers and magazines were prohibited from entering Trujillo s country as they were seen as a threat to the government s ideas Mario Vargas Llosa takes part in this discourse by recounting what was prohibited
Ruiz notes that writing also has the power to transform reality It brings the reader back to the past allowing the reader to comprehend myths or distorted stories told by historians Ruiz contends that knowing the past is crucial to one s understanding of the present that takes us to postmodernism and argues that The Feast of the Goat can thus be seen as a postmodern discourse that gives power to history recreation
The construction of fictions surrounding the events of Trujillo s regime allow a degree of freedom from the horrors that took places Author Julia Alvarez contends that these events can only finally be understood by fiction only finally be redeemed by the imagination while Richard Patterson claims that Vargas Llosa reconfigures and to a large degree demythologizes Trujillo and his brutal reign through use of narrative structure Vargas Llosa s writing acts as a cathartic force for this period in history
The novel is a combination of fact and fiction Blending together these two elements is important in any historical novel but especially in The Feast of the Goat because Vargas Llosa chose to narrate an actual event through the minds of both real and fictional characters Some characters are fictional and those that are non fictional still have fictionalized aspects in the book The general details of the assassination are true and the assassins are all real people While they lie in wait for the Dictator to arrive they recount actual crimes of the regime such as the murder of the Mirabal sisters However other details are invented by Vargas Llosa such as Amadito s murder of the brother of the woman he loved
Those within the regime are also a mix of fictional characters and real people President Balaguer is real but the entire Cabral family is completely fictional According to Wolff Vargas Llosa uses history as a starting point in constructing a fictionalized account of Trujillo s spiritual colonization of the Dominican Republic as experienced by one Dominican family The fictional Cabral family allows Vargas Llosa to show two sides of the Trujillo regime through Agustin the reader sees ultimate dedication and sacrifice to the leader of the nation through Urania the violence of the regime and the legacy of pain it left behind Vargas Llosa also fictionalized the internal thoughts of the characters who were non fictional especially those of the Goat himself According to literary scholar Richard Patterson Vargas Llosa s expands all the way into the very dark area of Trujillo s consciousness as the storyteller dares to conceive it
Vargas Llosa also built an image of the regime with the troubled historical events With regard to the historical accuracy of the book Vargas Llosa has said It s a novel not a history book so I took many many liberties The only limitation I imposed on myself was that I was not going to invent anything that couldn t have happened within the framework of life in the Dominican Republic I have respected the basic facts but I have changed and deformed many things in order to make the story more persuasive and I have not exaggerated
The realist style of The Feast of the Goat is recognized by some reviewers as being a break from a more allegorical approach to the dictator novel The novel received largely positive reviews most of which were willing to accept sacrifices of historical accuracy in favour of good storytelling
A common comment on the novel is the graphic nature of the many acts of torture and murder which are depicted in the novel Vargas lets the reader see the realities of an oppressive regime with a degree of detail not often used by his compatriots in Latin American literature as Michael Wood suggests in the London Review of Books Vargas Llosa tells us far more about the details of day to day intrigue and the sordid sadistic minutiae of torture and murder Walter Kirn of the New York Times suggests that the grisly scenes of dungeon interrogations and torture sessions cast other aspects of the novel in a pale light draining them of their significance and impact Similarly Kirn implies that the narrative machinery mentioned by Wood as being somewhat unwieldy also produces a largely superfluous storyline The plot line centered on Urania Cabral is described by Sturrock as being an emotional centre that focuses the novel and Wood agrees that her confrontations with past demons hold the readers attention In contrast Kirn s review states that Urania s segments are talky and atmospheric and seem to be on loan from another sort of book
Most reviews of The Feast of the Goat make either indirect of direct reference to the relationship between sexuality and power Salon reviewer Laura Miller writer for The Observer Jonathan Heawood Walter Kirn and Michael Wood each detail the connection between Trujillo s gradual loss of ultimate control both over his body and his followers The means by which Trujillo reinforces political power through sexual acts and begins to lose personal conviction as his body fails him are topics of frequent discussion among reviewers
In Bernard Diederich author of the non fiction book Trujillo The Death of the Goat accused Vargas Llosa of plagiarism
An English language film adaptation of the novel was made in directed by Luis Llosa Mario Vargas Llosa s cousin It stars Isabella Rossellini as Urania Cabral Paul Freeman as her father Agustin Stephanie Leonidas as Uranita and Tomas Milian as Rafael Leonidas Trujillo It was filmed in both the Dominican Republic and in Spain Reviewing the film for the trade paper Variety critic Jonathan Holland called it less a feast than a somewhat rushed but thoroughly enjoyable three course meal commenting that the main difference from the source novel was the sacrifice of psychological nuance
The novel has also been adapted for the stage by Jorge Al Triana and his daughter Veronica Triana directed by Jorge Triana the play was put on in Spanish but with simultaneous translation to English at Repertorio Espaol wwwrepertorioorg chivo in New York in and the production moved to Lima in A feature of the novel s stage version is that the same actor plays both Agustin Cabral and Rafael Trujillo For reviewer Bruce Weber this makes the point that Trujillo s control of the nation depended on gutless collaborators
Charles Eaton OBE AFC December November was a senior officer and aviator in the Royal Australian Air Force RAAF who later served as a diplomat Born in London he joined the British Army upon the outbreak of World War I and saw action on the Western Front before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in Posted as a bomber pilot to No Squadron he was twice captured by German forces and twice escaped Eaton left the military in and worked in India until moving to Australia in Two years later he joined the RAAF serving initially as an instructor at No Flying Training School Between and he was chosen to lead three expeditions to search for lost aircraft in Central Australia gaining national attention and earning the Air Force Cross for his zeal and devotion to duty
In on the eve of World War II Eaton became the inaugural commanding officer of No General Purpose Squadron at the newly established RAAF Station Darwin in Northern Australia Promoted group captain the following year he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in He took command of No Wing at Batchelor Northern Territory in and was mentioned in despatches during operations in the South West Pacific Retiring from the RAAF in December Eaton took up diplomatic posts in the Dutch East Indies heading a United Nations commission as Consul General during the Indonesian National Revolution He returned to Australia in and served in Canberra for a further two years Popularly known as Moth Eaton he was a farmer in later life and died in at the age of He is commemorated by several memorials in the Northern Territory
Charles Eaton was born on December in Lambeth London the son of William Walpole Eaton a butcher and his wife Grace Schooled in Wandsworth Charles worked in Battersea Town Council from the age of fourteen before joining the London Regiment upon the outbreak of World War I in August Attached to a bicycle company in the th Battalion of the th Division he arrived at the Western Front in March He took part in trench bombing missions and attacks on enemy lines of communication seeing action in the Battles of Aubers Ridge Festubert Loos and the Somme
On May Eaton transferred to the Royal Flying Corps RFC undergoing initial pilot training at Oxford While he was landing his Maurice Farman Shorthorn at the end of his first solo flight another student collided with him and was killed but Eaton emerged uninjured He was commissioned in August and was awarded his wings in October Ranked lieutenant he served with No Squadron which operated Martinsyde G Elephant fighters out of Sedgeford defending London against Zeppelin airships Transferred to the newly formed Royal Air Force RAF in April he was posted the following month to France flying Airco DH single engined bombers with No Squadron On June he was shot down behind enemy lines and captured in the vicinity of Nieppe Incarcerated in Holzminden prisoner of war camp Germany Eaton escaped but was recaptured and court martialled after which he was kept in solitary confinement He later effected another escape and succeeded in rejoining his squadron in the final days of the war
Eaton remained in the RAF following the cessation of hostilities He married Beatrice Godfrey in St Thomas s church at Shepherd s Bush London on January Posted to No Squadron he was a pilot on the first regular passenger service between London and Paris ferrying delegates to and from the Peace Conference at Versailles Eaton was sent to India in December to undertake aerial survey work including the first such survey of the Himalayas He resigned from the RAF in July remaining in India to take up employment with the Imperial Forest Service After successfully applying for a position with the Queensland Forestry Service he and his family migrated to Australia in Moving to South Yarra Victoria he enlisted as a flying officer in the Royal Australian Air Force RAAF at Laverton on August He was posted to No Flying Training School at RAAF Point Cook as a flight instructor where he became known as a strict disciplinarian who trained his pilots well Here Eaton acquired his nickname of Moth the Air Force s basic trainer at this time being the De Havilland DH Moth Promoted flight lieutenant in February he flew a Moth in the East West Air Race from Sydney to Perth as part of the celebrations for the Western Australia Centenary he was the sixth competitor across the line after fellow RFC veteran Jerry Pentland
Regarded as one of the RAAF s most skilful cross country pilots and navigators Eaton came to public attention as leader of three military expeditions to find lost aircraft in Central Australia between and In April he coordinated the Air Force s part in the search for aviators Keith Anderson and Bob Hitchcock missing in their aircraft the Kookaburra while themselves looking for Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm who had force landed the Southern Cross in north Western Australia during a flight from Sydney Three of the RAAF s five ancient DH biplanes went down in the search though all crews escaped injury including Eaton s which experienced what he labelled a good crash on April near Tennant Creek after the engine s pistons melted The same day Captain Lester Brain flying a Qantas aircraft located the wreck of the Kookaburra in the Tanami Desert approximately kilometres mi east south east of Wave Hill Setting out from Wave Hill on April Eaton led a ground party across rough terrain that reached the crash site four days later and buried the crew who had perished of thirst and exposure Not a particularly religious man he recalled that after the burial he saw a perfect cross formed by cirrus cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky above the Kookaburra The Air Board described the RAAF s search as taking hours flying time under the most trying conditions where a forced landing meant certain crash In November Eaton was selected to lead another expedition for a missing aircraft near Ayers Rock but it was called off soon afterwards when the pilot showed up in Alice Springs The next month he was ordered to search for WL Pittendrigh and SJ Hamre who had disappeared in the biplane Golden Quest while attempting to discover Lasseter s Reef Employing a total of four DH Moths the RAAF team located the missing men near Dashwood Creek on January and they were rescued four days later by a ground party accompanied by Eaton Staying in nearby Alice Springs he recommended a site for the town s new airfield which was approved and has remained in use since its construction
Eaton was awarded the Air Force Cross on March in recognition of his zeal and devotion to duty in conducting flights to Central Australia in search of missing aviators The media called him the Knight Errant of the desert skies Aside from his crash landing in the desert while searching for the Kookaburra Eaton had another narrow escape in when he was test flying the Wackett Warrigal I with Sergeant Eric Douglas Having purposely put the biplane trainer into a spin and finding no response in the controls when he tried to recover Eaton called on Douglas to bail out When Douglas stood up to do so the spin stopped apparently due to his torso changing the airflow over the tail plane Eaton then managed to land the aeroplane he and his passenger both badly shaken by the experience In December he was posted to No Aircraft Depot at Laverton where he continued to fly as well as performing administrative work Promoted squadron leader in he undertook a clandestine mission around the new year to scout for suitable landing grounds in the Dutch East Indies primarily Timor and Ambon Wearing civilian clothes he and his companion were arrested and held for three days by local authorities in Koepang Dutch Timor Eaton was appointed commanding officer CO of No Squadron in May one of his first tasks being to undertake another aerial search in Central Australia this time for prospector Sir Herbert Gepp who was subsequently discovered alive and well Later that year Eaton presided over the court of inquiry into the crash of a Hawker Demon biplane in Victoria recommending a gallantry award for Aircraftman William McAloney who had leapt into the Demon s burning wreckage in an effort to rescue its pilot McAloney subsequently received the Albert Medal for his heroism
Following a decision to establish the first north Australian RAAF base in April Eaton now on the headquarters staff of RAAF Station Laverton and Wing Commander George Jones Director of Personnel Services at RAAF Headquarters began developing plans for the new station to be commanded by Jones and a new squadron that would be based there led by Eaton The next month they flew an Avro Anson on an inspection tour of Darwin Northern Territory site of the proposed base Delays meant that No General Purpose Squadron was not formed until February at Laverton Jones had by now moved on to another posting but Eaton took up the squadron s command as planned Promoted to wing commander on March he and his equipment officer Flying Officer Hocking were ordered to build up the unit as quickly as possible and established an initial complement of fourteen officers and airmen plus four Ansons and four Demons within a week An advance party of thirty NCOs and airmen under Hocking began moving to Darwin on July Staff were initially accommodated in a former meatworks built during World War I and life at the newly established air base had a distinctly raw pioneering feel about it according to historian Chris Coulthard Clark Morale though was high On August No Squadron launched its first patrol over the Darwin area flown by one of seven Ansons that had so far been delivered These were augmented by a flight of four CAC Wirraways replacing the originally planned force of Demons that took off from Laverton on September the day before Australia declared war and arrived in Darwin four days later A fifth Wirraway in the flight crashed on landing at Darwin killing both crewmen
Once war was declared Darwin began to receive more attention from military planners In June No Squadron was cannibalised to form two additional units Headquarters RAAF Station Darwin and No Squadron No Squadron retained its Wirraway flight while its two flights of Ansons went to the new squadron these were replaced later that month by more capable Lockheed Hudsons Eaton was appointed CO of the base gaining promotion to temporary group captain in September His squadrons were employed in escort maritime reconnaissance and coastal patrol duties the overworked aircraft having to be sent to RAAF Station Richmond New South Wales after every hours flying time with a consequent three week loss from Darwin s strength as deep maintenance was not yet possible in the Northern Territory Soon after the establishment of Headquarters RAAF Station Darwin Minister for Air James Fairbairn visited the base Piloting his own light plane he was greeted by four Wirraways that proceeded to escort him into landing the Minister subsequently complimented Eaton on the keen ness and efficiency of all ranks particularly considering the challenging environment When Fairbairn died in the Canberra air disaster shortly afterwards his pilot was Flight Lieutenant Robert Hitchcock son of Bob Hitchcock of the Kookaburra and also a former member of Eaton s No Squadron
As senior air commander in the region Eaton sat on the Darwin Defence Co ordination Committee He was occasionally at loggerheads with his naval counterpart Captain EP Thomas and also incurred the ire of trade unionists when he used RAAF staff to unload ships in Port Darwin during industrial action Eaton himself took part in the work shovelling coal alongside his men On February he made a flight north to reconnoitre Timor Ambon and Babo in Dutch New Guinea for potential use by the RAAF in any Pacific conflict By April the total strength based at RAAF Station Darwin had increased to almost officers and airmen by the following month it had been augmented by satellite airfields at Bathurst Island Groote Eylandt Batchelor and Katherine Handing over command of Darwin to Group Captain Frederick Scherger in October Eaton took charge of No Service Flying Training School near Wagga Wagga New South Wales His marked success untiring energy and tact in handling men while in the Northern Territory were recognised in the new year with his appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire Eaton became CO of No Engineering School and its base RAAF Station Ascot Vale Victoria in April Twelve months later in Townsville Queensland he formed No Wing which subsequently deployed to Merauke in Dutch New Guinea comprising No Squadron flying CAC Boomerang fighters No Squadron P Kittyhawk fighters and No Squadron A Vengeance dive bombers His relations with North Eastern Area Command in Townsville were strained mountains were made out of molehills in his opinion and he was reassigned that July to lead No Bombing and Gunnery School in Port Pirie South Australia
On November Eaton returned to the Northern Territory to establish No Wing at Batchelor comprising No and No Squadrons flying Bristol Beaufort light reconnaissance bombers No Squadron Bristol Beaufighter long range fighters and No Netherlands East Indies Squadron B Mitchell medium bombers He developed a good relationship with his Dutch personnel who called him Oom Charles Uncle Charles Operating under the auspices of North Western Area Command NWA Darwin Eaton s forces participated in the New Guinea and North Western Area Campaigns during in which he regularly flew on missions himself Through March April his Beaufighters attacked enemy shipping while the Mitchells and Beauforts bombed Timor on a daily basis as a prelude to Operations Reckless and Persecution the invasions of Hollandia and Aitape On April he organised a large raid against Su Dutch Timor employing thirty five Mitchells Beauforts and Beaufighters to destroy the town s barracks and fuel dumps the results earning him the personal congratulations of the Air Officer Commanding NWA Air Vice Marshal King Cole for his splendid effort On the day of the Allied landings April the Mitchells and Beaufighters made a daylight raid on Dili Portuguese Timor The ground assault met little opposition credited in part to the air bombardment in the days leading up to it In June July No Wing supported the Allied attack on Noemfoor Eaton was recommended to be mentioned in despatches on October for his Gallant and distinguished service in NWA this was promulgated in the London Gazette on March
Completing his tour with No Wing Eaton was appointed Air Officer Commanding Southern Area Melbourne in January The German submarine U operated off southern Australia during the first months of and the few combat units in Eaton s command were heavily engaged in anti submarine patrols which sought to locate this and any other U boats in the area The Air Officer Commanding RAAF Command Air Vice Marshal Bill Bostock considered the sporadic attacks to be partly nuisance value designed to draw Allied resources away from the front line of the South West Pacific war In April Eaton complained to Bostock that intelligence from British Pacific Fleet concerning its ships movements eastwards out of Western Area was hours out of date by the time it was received at Southern Area Command leading to RAAF aircraft missing their rendezvous and wasting valuable flying hours searching empty ocean There had been no U boat strikes since February and by June the naval authorities indicated that there was no pressing need for air cover except for the most important vessels
Eaton retired from the RAAF on December In recognition of his war service he was appointed a Commander of the Order of Orange Nassau with Swords by the Dutch government on January The same month he became Australian consul in Dili He had seen an advertisement for the position and was the only applicant with experience of the area While based there he accompanied the provincial governor on visits to townships damaged in Allied raids during the war taking care to be circumspect about the part played by his own forces from No Wing In July Dutch forces launched a police action against territory held by the fledgling Indonesian Republic which had been declared shortly after the end of the war Following a ceasefire the United Nations set up a commission chaired by Eaton as Consul General to monitor progress Eaton and his fellow commissioners believed that the ceasefire was serving the Dutch as a cover for further penetration of republican enclaves His requests to the Australian government for military observers led to deployment of the first peacekeeping force to the region the Australians were soon followed by British and US observers and enabled Eaton to display a more realistic impression of the situation to the outside world The Dutch administration strongly opposed the presence of UN forces and accused Eaton of impropriety but the Australian government refused to recall him Following the transfer of sovereignty in December he became Australia s first secretary and charg d affaires to the Republic of the United States of Indonesia In he returned to Australia to serve with the Department of External Affairs in Canberra After retiring from public service in he and his wife farmed at Metung Victoria and cultivated orchids They later moved to Frankston where Eaton was involved in promotional work
Charles Eaton died in Frankston on November Survived by his wife and two sons he was cremated In accordance with his wishes his ashes were scattered near Tennant Creek site of his forced landing during the search for the Kookaburra from an RAAF Caribou on April His name figures prominently in the Northern Territory commemorated by Lake Eaton in Central Australia Eaton Place in the Darwin suburb of Karama Charles Eaton Drive on the approach to Darwin International Airport and the Charles Moth Eaton Saloon Bar in the Tennant Creek Goldfields Hotel He is also honoured with a display at the Northern Territory Parliament and a National Trust memorial at Tennant Creek Airport At the RAAF s History Conference Air Commodore Mark Lax recalling Eaton s search and rescue missions between the wars commented Today we might think of Eaton perhaps as the pioneer of our contribution to assistance to the civil community a tradition that continues today Perhaps I might jog your memory to a more recent series of rescues no less hazardous for all concerned the amazing location of missing yachtsmen Thierry Dubois Isabelle Autissier and Tony Bullimore by our P s that guided the Navy to their eventual rescue My observation is that such activities remain vital for our relevance in that we must remain connected supportive and responsive to the wants and needs of the Australian community
Elizabeth Stamatina Tina Fey fe born May is an American actress comedian writer and producer She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for her impression of former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin and for creating acclaimed series Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt present She is also well known for appearing in films such as Mean Girls Baby Mama Date Night Muppets Most Wanted and Sisters
Fey broke into comedy as a featured player in the Chicago based improvisational comedy group The Second City She then joined SNL as a writer later becoming head writer and a performer known for her position as co anchor in the Weekend Update segment In she co starred in and wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls which was adapted from the self help book Queen Bees and Wannabes After leaving SNL in she created the television series Rock for Broadway Video a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at SNL In the series Fey portrays the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series In she starred in the comedy film Baby Mama alongside former SNL co star Amy Poehler Fey next appeared in the comedy film Date Night and the animated film Megamind In she created and produced the television series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt originally for NBC and eventually for Netflix Her recent films include Sisters and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Fey has received eight Emmy Awards two Golden Globe Awards five Screen Actors Guild Awards and four Writers Guild of America Awards and was nominated for a Grammy Award for her autobiographical book Bossypants which topped The New York Times Best Seller list for five weeks In the Associated Press gave Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year award for her satirical portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a guest appearance on SNL In Fey was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor becoming the youngest ever recipient of the award On January Fey hosted the th Golden Globe Awards with her long time friend and fellow comedian Amy Poehler to critical acclaim The duo hosted again the following two years generating the highest ratings for the annual ceremony in a decade and receiving similar acclaim
Fey was born on May in Upper Darby Pennsylvania a suburb of Philadelphia Her mother Zenobia Jeanne ne Xenakes is a brokerage employee her father Donald Henry Fey died age was a university grant proposal writer She has a brother Peter who is eight years older Fey s mother who was born in Piraeus Greece is the daughter of Greek immigrants Vasiliki Kourelakou Fey s maternal grandmother left Petrina Laconia Greece on her own arriving in the United States in February
Fey s father had English German and Northern Irish ancestry one of Fey s paternal great great great great great grandfathers was John Hewson a textile manufacturer who immigrated to America with the support of Benjamin Franklin enabling Hewson to quickly open a quilting factory in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia Pennsylvania According to a genealogical DNA test arranged by the television series Finding Your Roots Fey s ancestry is European Middle Eastern and from the Caucasus
Fey was exposed to comedy early
At age Fey read Joe Franklin s Seventy Years of Great Film Comedians for a school project about comedy She grew up watching Second City Television and has cited Catherine O Hara as a role model
Fey attended Cardington Stonehurst Elementary School and Beverly Hills Middle School in Upper Darby By middle school she knew she was interested in comedy Fey attended Upper Darby High School where she was an honors student a member of the choir drama club and tennis team and co editor of the school s newspaper The Acorn She also anonymously wrote the newspaper s satirical column The Colonel Following her graduation in Fey enrolled at the University of Virginia where she studied play writing and acting and was awarded the Pettway Prize She graduated in with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama
After college she worked as a receptionist during the day at the Evanston YMCA and took classes at Second City at night
While performing shows with The Second City in Fey submitted several scripts to NBC s variety show Saturday Night Live SNL at the request of its head writer Adam McKay a former performer at Second City She was hired as a writer for SNL following a meeting with SNL creator Lorne Michaels and moved to New York from Chicago Fey told The New Yorker I d had my eye on the show forever the way other kids have their eye on Derek Jeter Originally Fey struggled at SNL Her first sketch to air starred Chris Farley in a Sally Jessy Raphael satire Fey went on to write a series of parodies including one of ABC s morning talk show The View She co wrote the Sully and Denise sketches with Rachel Dratch who plays one of the teens
Fey was an extra in a episode and after watching herself decided to diet and lost pounds She told The New York Times I was a completely normal weight but I was here in New York City I had money and I couldn t buy any clothes After I lost weight there was interest in putting me on camera In McKay stepped down as head writer which led Michaels to approach Fey for the position She became SNL s first female head writer that year
In Fey began performing in sketches and she and Jimmy Fallon became co anchors of SNL s Weekend Update segment Fey said she did not ask to audition but that Michaels approached her Michaels explained that there was chemistry between Fey and Fallon though the decision was kind of risky at the time Her role in Weekend Update was well received by critics Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote Fey delivers such blow darts poison filled jokes written in long precisely parsed sentences unprecedented in Update history with such a bright sunny countenance makes her all the more devilishly delightful Dennis Miller a former cast member of SNL and anchor of Weekend Update was pleased with Fey as one of the anchors for the segment Fey might be the best Weekend Update anchor who ever did it She writes the funniest jokes Robert Bianco of USA Today however commented that he was not enamored of the pairing
In Fey and the rest of the writing staff won a Writers Guild of America Award for SNL s th anniversary special The following year at the Emmy Awards ceremony they won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Music or Comedy Program
When Fallon left the show in May he was replaced on Weekend Update by Amy Poehler It was the first time that two women co anchored Weekend Update Fey revealed that she hired Poehler as her co host for the segment The reception was positive with Rachel Sklar of the Chicago Tribune noting that the pairing has been a hilarious pitch perfect success as they play off each other with quick one liners and deadpan delivery
The season was her last she departed to develop Rock for Broadway Video At the time she left the episodes she co hosted made her SNL s longest serving Weekend Update anchor a mark that would later be passed by her replacement Seth Meyers In Rolling Stone Magazine s February appraisal of all SNL cast members to date Fey was ranked third in importance behind John Belushi and Eddie Murphy They credited her with salvaging Update from a decade long losing streak and slapping SNL out of its late nineties coma
In Fey suggested a pilot episode for a situation comedy about a cable news network to NBC which rejected it The pilot was reworked to revolve around an SNL style series and was accepted by NBC She signed a contract with NBC in May which allowed her to remain in her SNL head writer position at least through the television season As part of the contract Fey was to develop a prime time project to be produced by Broadway Video and NBC Universal The pilot directed by Adam Bernstein centered on Liz Lemon the head writer of a variety show on NBC and how she managed her relationships with the show s volatile stars and the new head of the network In October the pilot aired on NBC as Rock Although the episode received generally favorable reviews it finished third in its timeslot
The network renewed the series for a second season which began in October The show s third season premiered on October The premiere episode drew million viewers the highest ratings of the series
In Fey received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series The show itself won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and did so again for two subsequent years In she won the Golden Globe Screen Actors Guild and Emmy awards all in the category for Best Actress in a Comedy Series The following year Fey again won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in the same categories and was nominated for an Emmy Award In early Fey received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Lead Actress Rock was renewed for the season in March The series returned for the season though due to Fey s pregnancy with her second child the season premiere was delayed until midseason Fey s performance on the show was inspired by Julia Louis Dreyfus and later used Louis Dreyfus to play the stand in for the character of Liz Lemon in flashback scenes during the live episode of the fifth season On May it was announced that the show had been renewed for a seventh and final season to premiere October with episodes After receiving Emmy Award nominations and two wins for this final season Rock ended its critically acclaimed run with Emmy award nominations It has been cited as one of the greatest TV series of all time and it is considered to have one of the greatest finales in television history
In Fey created and produced the television comedy Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with fellow Rock alumnus Robert Carlock The series stars Ellie Kemper as the titular character who escapes from a doomsday cult and moves to New York It also stars Fey s former co star Jane Krakowski as well as Tituss Burgess who had previously appeared in four Rock episodes and Carol Kane Although it was originally produced for NBC it was eventually sold to Netflix and immediately renewed for a second season The show premiered on March to critical acclaim
On July the series was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards including Outstanding Comedy Series Fey herself was nominated both as the creator executive producer of the series and for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her guest performance as Marcia a bumbling prosecutor in reference to Marcia Clark
In Fey appeared in the surreal comedy Martin Orloff She made her debut as writer and co star of the teen comedy Mean Girls Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Fey s high school life at Upper Darby High School and on the non fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman The cast includes other past cast members of SNL including Tim Meadows Ana Gasteyer and Amy Poehler The film received favorable reviews and was a box office success grossing US million worldwide
In a interview Fey expressed that she would like to write and direct movies In Fey worked on a movie script for Paramount Pictures which was to feature Sacha Baron Cohen by the name of Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill based loosely on the true story of a Hasidic rock musician In she was cast in the animated comedy film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters as the Aqua Teens mother a giant burrito
She received her SAG card after appearing in Artie Lange s Beer League released in in which she was compelled to join for a thousand dollars
Fey and former SNL castmate Amy Poehler starred in the comedy Baby Mama The movie was written and directed by Michael McCullers The plot concerns Kate Fey a business woman who wants a child but discovering she has only a million to one chance of getting pregnant decides to find a surrogate Angie Poehler a white trash schemer Baby Mama received mixed reviews but critics enjoyed Fey s performance Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote Fey is a delight to watch throughout Able to convey Kate s intentions and feelings through the simple looks and inflections she never melodramatizes her situation nor does her efficient perfectionist side become overbearing The movie grossed over US million at the box office
Fey s projects after include a voice role in the English language version of the Japanese animated film Ponyo In she appeared in The Invention of Lying alongside Ricky Gervais Jennifer Garner Rob Lowe and Christopher Guest Her next film role was in Shawn Levy s comedy Date Night a feature that focuses on a married couple played by Fey and Steve Carell who go on a date however the night goes awry for the two Also in the same year she voiced Roxanne Ritchie a television reporter in the DreamWorks animated film Megamind With a total worldwide gross of US million Megamind is Fey s most commercially successful picture to date It earned US million outside the US and US million domestically
In Fey starred alongside Paul Rudd in the romantic comedy drama film Admission based on the Jean Hanff Korelitz novel by the same name The film was directed by Paul Weitz Fey later starred in the comedy drama This Is Where I Leave You helmed by Date Night director Shawn Levy As was the case with Baby Mama although both of these films received generally mixed reviews Fey s performances were well received by film critics
In it was announced Fey would be the narrator for the Disney Nature film Monkey Kingdom which was released in theaters on April She then re teamed with Poehler starring in the comedy film Sisters as the title characters and received positive reviews for her role In Fey starred in the biographical war comedy drama Whiskey Tango Foxtrot based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan to positive reviews
On February Fey hosted the first episode of SNL after the Writers Guild of America strike For this appearance she was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Fey hosted SNL for a second time on April and for her appearance she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
From September to November Fey made multiple guest appearances on SNL to perform a series of parodies of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin On the th season premiere episode aired September Fey imitated Palin in a sketch alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton Their repartee included Clinton needling Palin about her Tina Fey glasses The sketch quickly became NBC s most watched viral video ever with million views by the following Wednesday Fey reprised this role on the October show on the October show where she was joined by the real Sarah Palin and on the November show where she was joined by John McCain and his wife Cindy The October show had the best ratings of any SNL show since The following year Fey won an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her impersonation of Palin Fey returned to SNL in April and reprised her impression of Palin in one sketch titled the Sarah Palin Network Fey once again did her impression of Palin when she hosted Saturday Night Live on May
In December Entertainment Weekly put her Palin impersonation on its end of the decade best of list writing Fey s freakishly spot on SNL impersonation of the wannabe VP and her ability to strike a balance between comedy and cruelty made for truly transcendent television Rolling Stone called her Palin impression arguably the most brilliant move SNL ever made
In Fey and other members of The Second City provided voices for the pinball game Medieval Madness
In Fey partnered with fellow SNL cast member Rachel Dratch in the Off Broadway two woman show Dratch Fey at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City The production was well received by critics Tim Townsend of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the fun part of watching Fey and Dratch perform was seeing how comfortable they are with each other He concluded that the production isn t about two women being funny Dratch and Fey are just funny Period One of the SNL sketches Sully and Denise originated at The Second City
On August Fey made a guest appearance in the Sesame Street episode The Bookaneers She appeared as a guest judge on the November episode of the Food Network program Iron Chef America
Fey has appeared as Tinker Bell in Disney s campaign Year of a Million Dreams She has also done commercials for American Express and Garnier Nutrisse
On April Fey s autobiography Bossypants was released to a positive review from The New York Times
In Fey narrated The Secret Life of Girls a two hour long radio documentary produced by The Kitchen Sisters She introduced stories of women and girls from around the world and also shared memories of her own girlhood and mother
In Fey made her rapping debut on the Childish Gambino Donald Glover mixtape Royalty Glover is a former writer on Rock on which he worked with Fey Fey was also featured as herself in the iCarly episode iShock America
Fey is known for her deadpan humor and delivery her sardonic wit has become a trademark of hers upon which several critics have commented in their reviews of Fey s work According to Los Angeles Times critic Mary McNamara Fey project s both oblivious security and hyper alert insecurity with the same expression in her performances while The Chronicle s Dillon Fernando wrote that the actress specializes in delectable situational and ironic comedy On Fey s comedic prowess Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels enthused that his former employee has a very clear take on things It always comes from a place of intelligence and there is just an edge to it Michaels concluded It s not fearful It s strong and confident and you recognise the voice and most of the time you agree with it Writing for The Guardian Christopher Goodwin believes that Fey fashioned her comic persona around her glasses which she has worn since Fey joked that Glasses make anyone look smarter
Seldom hesitating to use herself as the butt of her own jokes Fey is also well known for practicing self deprecating humor as demonstrated throughout her performance as Liz Lemon in Rock In an article ranking Fey s six greatest jokes David Renshaw of The Guardian wrote that the performer s work continues to feature her trademark mix of snark self deprecation and pop culture smarts Fey s self deprecating comedic style inspired Ashley Fetters of The Atlantic to recognize her as comedian Phyllis Diller s successor because of their similar humor Critics have been divided in their opinions and discussions of Fey s use of self deprecating humor and its effect on women as a female comic while blogger Kate Harding disapproved of Fey s performance in Rock because I m torn between being sad that she apparently doesn t see beauty in herself and being pissed off that she s reinforcing the idea that having brown hair glasses and a figure that s maybe a size instead of a actually equals ugly Jessica G of Jezebel defended the actress writing that Fey s performance is supposed to be parodying precisely the kinds of media that reinforce ideas that unconventional women are unworthy Writing that Harding misunderstood Fey s intentions the author concluded that her self deprecation is precisely what makes her relatable elaborating that women have many moments of self doubt and seeing someone as successful as Tina Fey be self deprecating gives us all permission to be imperfect Sophie Caldecott of Verily defended Fey s modesty and tendency to downplay her own physical appearance She mocks her own appearance sure but she does so in a way that consistently shows up our culture for placing so much importance on how women look as if that s the most interesting thing about us Her comic persona on Rock Liz Lemon can be laughed at for many things but her career managerial style and ability is not one of them Caldecott concluded In reality self deprecation is an art that comedians everywhere dabble in In fact I defy you to find a good male comedian who isn t a master of self deprecation Comedians make fun of themselves for many reasons mostly because it is the most readily accessible source of inspiration but also because it is the most generous one Observing that Fey s material lacks whining Gina Barreca of the Hartford Courant wrote that Fey s comedy is not simply an iteration of self deprecating femininity passing itself off as humor In itself this demarcates the current generation of female humorists from earlier generations of performers who were told more or less to use themselves not as a sounding board for ideas but as a punching bag for insults
As an actress Fey has developed a reputation for portraying the hilarious self deprecating unmarried career woman in most of her films to date The Boston Globe s Janice Paige defended her limited filmography by writing that unlike most film actors Fey remains realistic about her range as a leading lady and says she s been deliberate about only taking on parts for which she actually seems suited Fey explained that she approaches each role asking herself Would I be plausible in this role in this job However her role as Kate Ellis in s Sisters provided Fey with an opportunity to stray from playing the type A female characters for which she has become known The New York Times film critic A O Scott wrote We re used to seeing Ms Fey as an anxious overthinker using her caustic sarcasm as a weapon against both her own insecurities and the flakes and train wrecks who surround her This time she gets to be the train wreck In Rock Fey s comedic acting was heavily influenced by both physical and improvisational comedy while as a writer her carefully written scripts were often quirky and character driven
In Fey was ranked in the Hot List at number on Maxim magazine which used photos taken earlier by Rolling Stone calling her the thinking man s sex symbol She was named one of People magazine s Most Beautiful People in and one of People magazine s Most Beautiful People in and In Fey placed seventh on the Hot List on AfterEllencom She repeated the appearance the following year being voted as number one on the list
In Entertainment Weekly named Fey as one of their Entertainers of the Year for her work on Weekend Update In she was named one of the magazine s Entertainers of the Year and placed number two in In Fey was named as Entertainment Weekly s fifth individual in their Entertainers of the s list In Entertainment Weekly crowned Fey as The Once and Future Queen an allusion to The Once and Future King in their feature on Women Who Run TV calling her the funniest woman in the free world EW quoted Mindy Kaling as saying I always feel unoriginal bringing up Tina as my inspiration but she s everyone s inspiration for a reason The column also quoted praise by Zooey Deschanel and Lena Dunham
The newspaper editors and broadcast producers of the Associated Press voted Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in citing her impression of Sarah Palin on SNL She has appeared on Forbes annual Celebrity list of the most powerful celebrities in and at No No No No and No respectively
In the New York Post included Fey in New York s Most Powerful Women ranking her at number Fey was among the Time a list of the most influential people in the world in and as selected annually by Time magazine Fey s featured article for the list was written by Rock co star Alec Baldwin She was selected by Barbara Walters as one of America s Most Fascinating People of
In September Fey was ranked at the top of Forbes magazine s list of the highest paid TV actresses
In June it was announced Fey would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in
In Fey was recognized by Elle Magazine during The Women in Hollywood Awards honoring women for their outstanding achievements in film spanning all aspects of the motion picture industry including acting directing and producing
Fey s charity work includes support of Autism Speaks an organization that sponsors autism research In April she participated in Night of Too Many Stars a comedy benefit show for autism education
Fey is also a supporter of Mercy Corps a global relief and development organization in their campaign to end world hunger Fey narrated a video for Mercy Corps s Action Center in New York City describing hunger as a symptom of many wider world problems She also supports the Love Our Children USA organization which fights violence against children who named her among their Mothers Who Make a Difference in She was the national spokesperson for the Light the Night Walk which benefits the Leukemia Lymphoma Society
In two years after Fey joined Chicago s Second City improvisational theatre troupe she began dating Jeff Richmond a piano player who later became Second City s musical director and then a composer on Rock They married in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June They have two daughters Alice Zenobia Richmond born September and Penelope Athena Richmond born August In April Fey and Richmond purchased a US million apartment on the Upper West Side in New York City
Fey has a scar a few inches long on the left side of her chin and cheek the cause of which remained unexplained to the public until a Vanity Fair profile by Maureen Dowd and subsequently in her autobiographical book where she revealed that during the spring semester of kindergarten I was slashed in the face by a stranger in the alley behind my house
WASP is a G type star in constellation Cetus that has the Jupiter size planet WASP b in orbit The star is slightly less massive and slightly smaller than the Sun it is also slightly cooler but is more metal rich The star was observed by SuperWASP an organization in search of planets starting in manual follow up observations used WASP s spectrum and measurements of its radial velocity led to the discovery of the transiting planet WASP b The planet and its star were presented along with WASP b and WASP b on May by a team of scientists testing the idea that Hot Jupiters tend to have circular orbits an assumption that is made when the orbital eccentricity of such planets are not well constrained
WASP was observed between July and November by the WASP South a station of the SuperWASP planet searching program based at the South African Astronomical Observatory Observations of the star revealed a periodic decrease in its brightness WASP South along with the SuperWASP North station at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary Islands collected photometric observations allowing scientists to produce a more accurate light curve Another set of observations yielded a point photometric data set but the light curve was prepared late and was not considered in the discovery paper
In a European science team investigated the star using the CORALIE spectrograph and collected seventeen spectra of WASP From the spectra radial velocity measurements were extrapolated Analysis of collected CORALIE data ruled out the possibility that the detected radial velocity was caused by the blended spectrum of a spectroscopic binary star supporting the possibility that the body orbiting WASP was indeed a planet designated WASP b
The Leonhard Euler Telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile was used to follow up on the discovery circling WASP searching for a point at which the planet transited or crossed in front of its host star One transit was detected
WASP its recently discovered planet the planets orbiting WASP and WASP and a discussion exploring the validity of the common assumption amongst scientists that closely orbiting Hot Jupiter planets have highly circular orbits unless proven otherwise were reported in a single discovery paper that was published on May by the Royal Astronomical Society The paper was submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on May
WASP is a G type star the same class of star as the Sun that is located in the Cetus constellation WASP has a mass that is times that of the Sun In terms of size WASP has a radius that is times that of the Sun WASP has an effective temperature of K cooler than the Sun However the star is metal rich with relation to the Sun Its measured metallicity is Fe H or times that the amount of iron found in the Sun WASP s chromosphere outermost layer is not active The star also does not rotate at a high velocity
The star has an apparent magnitude of It cannot be seen from Earth with the naked eye
There is one known planet in the orbit of WASP WASP b The planet is a Hot Jupiter with a mass of Jupiters Its radius is times that of Jupiter WASP b orbits its host star every days at a distance AU approximately the mean distance between the Earth and Sun With an orbital inclination of WASP b has an orbit that exists almost edge on to its host star with respect to Earth WASPA b s orbital eccentricity is fit to indicating a mostly circular orbit
Elephanta caves are a network of sculpted caves located on Elephanta Island or Gharapuri literally the city of caves in Mumbai Harbour kilometres mi to the east of the city of Mumbai in the Indian state of Maharashtra The island located on an arm of the Arabian Sea consists of two groups of caves the first is a large group of five Hindu caves the second a smaller group of two Buddhist caves The Hindu caves contain rock cut stone sculptures representing the Shaiva Hindu sect dedicated to the Lord Shiva
The rock cut architecture of the caves has been dated to between the th and th centuries although the identity of the original builders is still a subject of debate The caves are hewn from solid basalt rock All the caves were also originally painted in the past but now only traces remain
The main cave Cave or the Great Cave was a Hindu place of worship until Portuguese rule began in after which the caves suffered severe damage This cave was renovated in the s after years of neglect and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in to preserve the artwork It is currently maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India ASI
Elephanta Island or Gharapuri is about km mi east of the Apollo Bunder Bunder in Marathi means a pier for embarkation and disembarkation of passengers and goods on the Mumbai Harbour and km mi south of Pir Pal in Trombay The island covers about km sq mi at high tide and about km sq mi at low tide Gharapuri is small village on the south side of the island The Elephanta Caves can be reached by a ferry from the Gateway of India Mumbai which has the nearest airport and train station The cave is closed on Monday
The island is km mi in length with two hills that rise to a height of about m ft A deep ravine cuts through the heart of the island from north to south On the west the hill rises gently from the sea and stretches east across the ravine and rises gradually to the extreme east to a height of m ft This hill is known as the Stupa hill Forest growth with clusters of mango tamarind and karanj trees cover the hills with scattered palm trees Rice fields are seen in the valley The fore shore is made up of sand and mud with mangrove bushes on the fringe Landing quays sit near three small hamlets known as Set Bunder in the north west Mora Bunder in the northeast and Gharapuri or Raj Bunder in the south
The two hills of the island the western and the eastern have five rock cut caves in the western part and a brick stupa on the eastern hill on its top composed of two caves with a few rock cut cisterns One of the caves on the eastern hill is unfinished It is a protected island with a buffer zone according to a Notification issued in which also includes a prohibited area that stretches kilometre mi from the shoreline
Since no inscriptions on any of the island have been discovered the ancient history of the island is conjectural at best Pandavas the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahabharata and Banasura the demon devotee of Shiva are both credited with building temples or cut caves to live Local tradition holds that the caves are not man made
The Elephanta caves are of unknown date and attribution Art historians have dated the caves in the range of late th to late th century AD Archaeological excavations have unearthed a few Kshatrapa coins dated to th century AD The known history is traced only to the defeat of Mauryan rulers of Konkan by the Badami Chalukyas emperor Pulakesi II in a naval battle in AD Elephanta was then called Puri or Purika and served as the capital of the Konkan Mauryas Some historians attribute the caves to the Konkan Mauryas dating them to the mid th century though others refute this claim saying a relatively small kingdom like the Konkan Mauryas could not undertake an almost superhuman excavation effort which was needed to carve the rock temples from solid rock and could not have the skilled labor to produce such high quality sculpture
Some other historians attribute the construction to the Kalachuris late th to th century who may have had a feudal relationship with the Konkan Mauryas In an era where polytheism was prevalent the Elephanta main cave dedicates the monotheism of the Pashupata Shaivism sect a sect to which Kalachuris as well as Konkan Mauryas belonged
The Chalukyas who defeated the Kalachuris as well as the Konkan Mauryas are also believed by some to be creators of the main cave in the mid th century The Rashtrakutas are the last claimants to the creation of the main cave approximated to the early th to late th century The Elephanta Shiva cave resembles in some aspects the th century Rashtrakuta rock temple Kailash at Ellora The Trimurti of Elephanta showing the three faces of Shiva is akin to the Trimurti of Brahma Vishnu and Mahesh Shiva which was the royal insignia of the Rashtrakutas The Nataraja and Ardhanarishvara sculptures are also attributed to the Rashtrakutas
Later Elephanta was ruled by another Chalukyan dynasty and then by Gujarat Sultanate who surrendered it to the Portuguese in By then Elephanta was called Gharapuri which denotes a hill settlement The name is still used in the local Marathi language The Portuguese named the island Elephanta Island in honour of a huge rock cut black stone statue of an elephant that was then installed on a mound a short distance east of Gharapuri village The elephant now sits in the Jijamata Udyaan zoo in Mumbai
Portuguese rule saw a decline in the Hindu population on the island and the abandonment of the Shiva cave main cave as a regular Hindu place of worship though worship on Mahashivratri the festival of Shiva continued and still does The Portuguese did considerable damage to the sanctuaries Portuguese soldiers used the reliefs of Shiva in the main cave for target practice sparing only the Trimurti sculpture They also removed an inscription related to the creation of the caves While some historians solely blame the Portuguese for the destruction of the caves others also cite water logging and dripping rainwater as additional damaging factors The Portuguese left in as per the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza daughter of King John IV of Portugal This marriage shifted possession of the islands to the British Empire as part of Catherine s dowry to Charles
Though the main cave was restored in the s other caves including three consisting of important sculptures are still badly damaged The caves were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in as per the cultural criteria of UNESCO the caves represent a masterpiece of human creative genius and bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation which is living or which has disappeared
The island has two groups of caves in the rock cut architectural style The caves are hewn from solid basalt rock All caves were painted in the past but only traces remain The larger group of caves which consists of five caves on the western hill of the island is well known for its Hindu sculptures The primary cave numbered as Cave is about km mi up a hillside facing the ocean It is a rock cut temple complex that covers an area of m sq ft and consists of a main chamber two lateral chambers courtyards and subsidiary shrines It is metres ft deep from the front entrance to the back The temple complex is the abode of Shiva depicted in widely celebrated carvings which reveal his several forms and acts
On the eastern part of the island on the Stupa Hill there is a small group of caves that house Buddhist monuments This hill is named after the religious Stupa monument that they display One of the two caves is incomplete while the other contains a Stupa made in brick
The main cave also called the Shiva cave Cave or the Great Cave is metres ft square in plan with a hall mandapa At the entrance are four doors with three open porticoes and an aisle at the back Pillars six in each row divide the hall into a series of smaller chambers The roof of the hall has concealed beams supported by stone columns joined together by capitals The cave entrance is aligned with the north south axis unusual for a Shiva shrine normally east west The northern entrance to the cave which has steep steps is flanked by two panels of Shiva dated to the Gupta period The left panel depicts Yogishvara The Lord of Yoga and the right shows Nataraja Shiva as the Lord of Dance The central Shiva shrine see in plan below is a free standing square cell with four entrances located in the right section of the main hall Smaller shrines are located at the east and west ends of the caves The eastern sanctuary serves as a ceremonial entrance
Each wall has large carvings of Shiva each more than metres ft in height The central Shiva relief Trimurti is located on the south wall and is flanked by Ardhanarisvara a half man half woman representation of Shiva on its left and Gangadhara to its right which denotes the River Ganges descent from Shiva s matted locks Other carvings related to the legend of Shiva are also seen in the main hall at strategic locations in exclusive cubicles these include Kalyanasundaramurti depicting Shiva s marriage to the goddess Parvati Andhakasuravadamurti or Andhakasuramardana the slaying of the demon Andhaka by Shiva Shiva Parvati on Mount Kailash the abode of Shiva and Ravananugraha depicting the demon king Ravana shaking Kailash
The main cave blends Chalukyan architectural features such as massive figures of the divinities guardians and square pillars with custom capitals with Gupta artistic characteristics like the depiction of mountains and clouds and female hairstyles
The carving on the south wall to the east of the portico depicts Shiva and Parvati seated on their abode Mount Kailash The four armed Shiva is seen with a crown and a disc behind it all damaged the sacred thread across his chest and a dressing gown covering up to the knee Parvati dressed in her finery with her hair falling to the front looks away Behind her at the right is a woman attendant holding the child identified with her son Kartikeya the war god Many male and female attendants are seen behind the main figures Shiva s attendant the skeleton like Bhringi is seated at his feet Other figures not distinct depict among others a royal looking tall person ascetics a fat figure a dwarf a bull the mount of Shiva features of a Garuda and two monkeys The scenic beauty of the mountain is sculpted with the sky background amidst heavenly beings showering flowers on Shiva Parvati This scene is interpreted as a gambling scene where Parvati is angry as Shiva cheats in a game of dice
The carved panel facing this one is a two level depiction of Ravana lifting Kailash The upper scene is Mount Kailash where Shiva and Parvati are seated The eight armed three eyed Shiva wears headgear with a crescent and disc behind it Most of his arms are broken two of them resting on attendants heads The Parvati figure seated facing Shiva remains only as a trunk The panel is flanked by door keepers Attendants of Shiva are also seen in the relief but mostly in a damaged state Bhringi is seated near Shiva s feet and to his left is the elephant headed son of Shiva Ganesha In this ensemble the ten headed demon king Ravana is seen with only one head left unscathed and out of his twenty arms only a few are discernible Around Ravana are several demons Numerous figures are seen above Shiva the god Vishnu riding his mount Garuda to his left a skeleton figure and in a recess Parvati s mount a tiger is depicted
A legend relates to both these panels Once Parvati was annoyed with Shiva At this moment Ravana who was passing by Mount Kailash found it as an obstruction to his movement Upset Ravana shook it vigorously and as a result Parvati got scared and hugged Shiva Enraged by Ravana s arrogance Shiva stamped down on Ravana who sang praises of Shiva to free him of his misery and turned into an ardent devotee of Shiva Another version states that Shiva was pleased with Ravana for restoring Parvati s composure and blessed him
Described as a masterpiece of Gupta Chalukyan art the most important sculpture in the caves is the Trimurti carved in relief at the back of the cave facing the entrance on the north south axis It is also known as Trimurti Sadashiva and Maheshmurti The image m ft in height depicts a three headed Shiva representing Panchamukha Shiva The three heads are said to represent three essential aspects of Shiva creation protection and destruction The right half face west face shows him as a young person with sensuous lips embodying life and its vitality In his hand he holds an object resembling a rosebud depicting the promise of life and creativity This face is closest to that of Brahma the creator or Uma or Vamadeva the feminine side of Shiva and creator of joy and beauty The left half face east face is that of a moustached young man displaying anger This is Shiva as the terrifying Aghora or Bhairava the one whose anger can engulf the entire world in flames leaving only ashes behind This is also known as Rudra Shiva the Destroyer The central face benign and meditative resembles the preserver Vishnu This is Tatpurusha master of positive and negative principles of existence and preserver of their harmony or Shiva as the yogi Yogeshwar in deep meditation praying for the preservation of humanity The aspects Sadyojata and Ishana not carved faces are considered to be at the back and top of the sculpture The Trimurti sculpture with the Gateway of India in the background has been adopted as the logo of the Maharashtra Tourism Department MTDC
The Gangadhara image to the right of the Trimurti is an ensemble of divinities assembled around the central figures of Shiva and Parvati the former bearing the River Ganges as she descends from heaven The carving is m ft wide and m ft high The image is highly damaged particularly the lower half of Shiva seen seated with Parvati who is shown with four arms two of which are broken From the crown a cup with a triple headed female figure with broken arms representing the three sacred rivers Ganges Yamuna and Sarasvati is depicted Shiva is sculpted and bedecked with ornaments The arms hold a coiling serpent whose hood is seen above his left shoulder Another hand partly broken gives the semblance of Shiva hugging Parvati with a head of matted hair There is a small snake on the right hand and a tortoise close to the neck with a bundle tied to the back An ornamented drapery covers his lower torso below the waist Parvati is carved to the left of Shiva with a coiffured hair dress fully bedecked with ornaments and jewellery also fully draped with her right hand touching the head of a female attendant who carries Parvati s dress case The gods Brahma and Indra with their mystic regalia and mounts are shown to the right of Shiva Vishnu riding his mount Garuda is shown to the left of Parvati Many other details are defaced but a kneeling figure in the front is inferred to be the king who ordered the image to be carved There are many divinities and attendant females at the back The whole setting is under the sky and cloud scenes with men and women all dressed shown showering flowers on the deities
In the chamber to the east of the Trimurti is the four armed Ardhanarishvara carving This image which is m ft in height has a headdress double folded with two pleats draped towards the female head Parvati and the right side Shiva depicting curled hair and a crescent The female figure has all the ornamentation broad armlets and long bracelets a large ring in the ear jewelled rings on the fingers but the right male figure has drooping hair armlets and wristlets One of his hands rests on Nandi s left horn Shiva s mount which is fairly well preserved The pair of hands at the back is also bejewelled the right hand of the male holds a serpent while the left hand of the female holds a mirror The front left hand is broken but conjectured as holding the robe of the goddess The central figure is surrounded by divinities
The engraved panel in the north end of the aisle is considered to be a unique sculpture and shows Bhairava or Virabhadra a frightful form of Shiva In the carved panel Shiva s consort is seen sitting next to him looking terrified A female attendant is next to her The central figure which is much ruined below the waist is m ft high and posed as if running His headgear has a ruff on the back a skull and cobra over the forehead and the crescent high on the right His facial expression is of intense anger discerned from his furrowed brow swollen eyes and tusks The legs and five of the eight arms are broken attributed to Portuguese vandalism The smaller broken image Andhaka is seen below Bhairava s image It is interpreted that Shiva is spearing him with the front right hand as conjectured by the spear seen hanging without any hold Also seen is the back hand lifted up and holding an elephant s skin as a cover the elephant s head carved tusk and trunk are seen hanging from the left hand The second left hand depicts a snake coiled round it The hand holds a bowl to collect the blood dripping from the slain Andhaka Furthermore pieces of a male and two female forms figures of two ascetics a small figure in front a female figure and two dwarfs are also seen in the carved panel An unusual sculpture seen above the head of the main figure of Shiva is of a very wide bottle with a curved groove in the middle of it which can interpreted variously as the aum or the linga or a Shiva shrine
The niche image carved on the south wall is an ensemble of divinities assembled around the central figures of Shiva and Parvati shown getting married Kalyanasundara icon Parvati is seen standing to Shiva s right the ordained place for a Hindu bride at the wedding The carvings are substantially damaged only one of Shiva s four hands is fully seen and the right leg is missing Shiva has a headdress with a shining disc attached to it His garments are well draped and well tied at the waist The sacred thread is seen across his chest Parvati is carved as a perfect figure with coiffured hair dress well adorned with jewellery and is draped tightly to display depressions below the waist only She is seen with a coy expression and is led by her father who has his right hand on her shoulder Even though both her hands are damaged it is inferred that her left hand clasped Shiva s right hand as a mark of holy alliance Brahma is sitting as the officiating priest for the marriage Vishnu is witness to the marriage Mena the mother of Parvati is seen standing next to Vishnu The moon god Chandra seen with a wig and a crescent is standing behind Parvati holding a circular pot with nectar for the marriage ceremony Just above the main images a galaxy of divinities bearded sages apsaras nymphs Vidyadharas Yakshis Gandharvas Bhringi and other male and female attendants are seen as witness to the marriage ceremony showering flowers on the divine couple
The panel to the east of the north portico is Shiva in a Yogic position called Yogisvara Mahayogi Dharmaraja and Lakulish Resembling a Buddha Shiva is in a dilapidated condition with only two broken arms Shiva is seated in padmasana yogic posture cross legged on a lotus carried by two Ngas His crown is carved with details adorned by a crescent a round frill at the back and hair curls dropping on either side of the shoulders His face is calm in mediation his eyes half closed This represents Shiva in penance sitting amidst the Himalayan mountains after the death of his first wife Sati who was later reborn as Parvati He is surrounded by divinities in the sky and attendants below Also seen is a plantain with three leaves already open and one opening as well as a sunflower blossom These are flanked by two attendants Other figures discerned from a study of the broken images are Vishnu riding Garuda on a plantain leaf the Sun god Surya riding a fully saddled horse head missing a saint with a rosary two female figures in the sky draped up to their thighs a faceless figure of the moon with a water container three identical figures of a male flanked by two females the skeleton of a sage Brahma without one arm riding a swan and Indra without his mount elephant missing
The panel carving in the west niche opposite Yogishvara depicts Shiva as Nataraja performing the Tandava cosmic dance The niche is m ft wide and m ft high and set low on the wall He wears well decorated headgear The Shiva image displays a dance pose and had ten arms but the first right and third left hands are missing The remaining first right arm is held across the breast and touches the left side the second right hand that is seen damaged with an out flaying pose is broken at the elbow The third arm is damaged at the elbow and the fourth is also broken but inferred to have held a Khatvanga skull club The left arms seen hanging are damaged near the wrists The third hand is bent but broken towards Parvati standing on the side and the fourth hand is raised up The right thigh broken is lifted up and the left leg is not seen at all the elaborate armlets are well preserved and a skirt round the waist is tied by a ribbon A tall figurine of Parvati stands to the left of Shiva which is also seen partly broken but well bejewelled An airborne female figure is seen behind Parvati Other figures seen in the relief are Vishnu riding a Garuda Indra riding his elephant the elephant headed Ganesha Kartikeya Bhrngi sages and attendants
The central shrine is a free standing square cell with entrances on each of its sides Each door is flanked by two dvarapalas gate keepers The Linga the symbol of Shiva in union with the Yoni and the symbol of Parvati together symbolise the supreme unity that is deified by the shrine The Linga is set on a raised platform above the floor of the shrine by m ft in Six steps lead to this level from the floor level The height of the eight dvarapalas varies from m ft All are in a damaged condition except those at the southern door to the shrine The southern gate statue has many unusual features unusual headgear a large skull above the forehead lips parted with protruding teeth statues adorned with a single bead necklace earrings plain twisted armlets and thick wristlets a stooped right shoulder a globe held at navel level the robe is held at the right thigh by the left hand and the legs are shapeless
Several courtyards to the east and west of the main cave are blocked though there is a m ft wide courtyard that is accessible by entering the eastern part and climbing nine steps A temple on the southern wall of the court depicts a well preserved fresco The circular pedestal seen in the courtyard in front of the Shiva s shrine near the east end in the open area is said to be the seat of Nandi Shiva s mount
On each side of the steps leading to the temple cave portico is a winged lion or leogriff each seated with a raised forepaw The portico has chambers at each end and a Linga shrine at the back Five low steps and a threshold lead into the central Linga shrine which is m ft wide and m ft deep and has a circumambulatory path Pradakshina path around it At the back of the portico near the east end is a gigantic statue of a four armed doorkeeper with two attendant demons At the north end is a standing figure holding a trident His left hand rests on a defaced demon figure The west wall depicts the Ashta Matrikas eight mother goddesses flanked by Kartikeya and Ganesha the sons of Shiva Some of Matrikas are depicted with children but all of them are shown by their respective mounts bull swan peacock a Garuda etc which identify them At the east end of the portico is another chapel with a plain interior and sunken floor Water drips in this chapel
The west wing entered through the main cave is in a semi ruined state It has a small chapel and a cistern enclosed within the pillared cave which is believed to be Buddhist Another shrine to the west of the courtyard with a portico has carvings of Shiva in a yogic pose seated on a lotus carried by two fat heavy wigged figures This carving also depicts a three faced bearded Bramha and several other figurines Entering through the back door of the portico is a cave enshrined with a multifaceted Shiva Linga erected over roughly hewn salunkhs At the door entrance on both flanks statues of gatekeepers standing over demons and two fat poised figures are seen On the southern side of the door is an ensemble of a number of statues Prominent among these is the Shiva carving which is depicted with six arms and the third eye in the forehead Though in a partly ruined state the carving shows Shiva with an ornamented crown fixed with a crescent seen carrying a cobra in the left hand a club in another hand and discerned to be in a dancing pose Next to this image are a figure under a plantain tree and a Shiva image Yogishvara seated on a lotus Also seen in the panel are a male figure riding a bull with a bell fastened to its neck a female figure and another carving to left of Shiva a female figure with a jewel on her forehead with neatly looped headdress Indra riding an elephant Vishnu with four arms holding a discus in one of his left hands and riding on Garuda flanked by a small flying figure and a male figure with crescent in his hair
To the south east of the Great Cave is the second excavation which faces east northeast It includes a chapel at the north end The front of this cave is completely destroyed only fragments of some semi columns remain The interior has suffered water damage The portico is m ft long and m ft deep The chapel is supported by eight eight cornered columns and two demi columns and is irregular in shape At the back of the portico are three chambers the central one has an altar and a water channel pranalika though the Linga is lost The shrine door has some traces of sculpture a boy a fat figure alligators on the frieze and broken animal figures at the head of a doorjamb The door keepers of the shrine are now in fragments
A little to the south of the last cave is another cave in worse condition with water damage It is a portico in which each end probably had a chapel or room with pillars in front Two of them have cells at the back The central door at the back of the portico leads to a damaged shrine The shrine door has door keepers at each side leaning on dwarfs with flying figures over the head with door keepers and demons on the jamb and architrave The shrine is a plain room m ft deep by m ft wide with a low altar holding a Linga South of this cave is a cavern that may be used as a cistern
Above these caves is a tiger sculpture which was worshipped as the tiger goddess Vaghesheri This sculpture may be a guardian of the north entrance of Cave A Linga is also found near a small pond at top of the hill Sculptures depicting a stone with a sun and a moon and a mother suckling a child now moved were also found nearby
Across the top of the ravine from Cave is large hall known as Sitabai s Temple cave The portico has four pillars and two pilasters The hall has chambers at the back the central one a shrine and the rest for priests both are plain rooms The door of the central shrine has pilasters and a frieze with the threshold having lion figures at the end The shrine has an altar a water channel and hole in the centre in which a statue of Parvati may have been worshipped A th century record states that this cave has a beautiful gate with a porch of exquisitely wrought marble and two idols one of goddess Vetal Candi and a head being in a large square seat
Passing along the face of the eastern hill to the north of Sitabai s cave is a small Hindu excavation with a veranda which was probably to be three cells but was abandoned following the discovery of a flaw in the rock Towards the east of hill is a dry pond with large artificial boulders and Buddhist cisterns along its banks At the end of the north spur of the main hill is a mound that resembles a Buddhist stupa
The threats to Elephanta Caves have been identified as the following developmental pressures mainly due to its location within the Mumbai harbour anthropogenic pressure due to growth of population of the communities residing on the island industrial growth of the port facilities close to the island no risk preparedness plan to address natural calamities such as earthquake cyclones and terrorist attacks unsustainable tourism and tourist facilities on the island and poor management of the heritage monument
Preservation of Elephanta Island as a whole with its monuments has been ensured both through legislation and by physical restoration of the caves and its sculptures The basic legislations enacted are The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of and Rules The Elephanta Island Protected Monument Rules of which prohibits mining quarrying blasting excavation and other operations near the monument the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act promulgated in with its Rules promulgated in a Notification issued in declaring the entire island and a kilometre mi area from the shore as a prohibited area a series of Maharashtra State Government environmental acts protecting the site the Regional and Town Planning Act and the Heritage Regulations for Greater Bombay
The Archaeological Survey of India ASI Aurangabad Circle on the basis of the above legislation and rules maintain and manage the monuments The physical measures undertaken for conservation cover include stabilisation of the rock face construction of supports to the cave structures where pillars have collapsed and consolidation of cave floors and construction of a parapet wall surrounding the site In addition visitor facilities at the site have been upgraded such as toilet facilities railing construction pathways and a flight of steps from the jetty to the caves An on site museum has been established and a conservation plan has been put in place Overall conservation of the property is stated to be good The site receives approximately visitors per month Public information brochures are also available at the venue of the monuments During the World Heritage Day on April and World Heritage Week between and November there are special events held at the caves Another popular event organised is an annual traditional dance festival that attracts many visitors
After declaring the caves a World Heritage Site UNESCO granted to document the site s history and draw up a site plan A part of the grant was used for conservation of the caves Based on assessments by UNESCO management plans include better communication and collaboration between the ASI on site staff and other responsible government departments improved public information and awareness programs monitoring environmental impact of tourists on the cave and island environment greater attention to the maintenance of the rocks to address water leakages into the caves and daily monitoring of both structural and chemical conservation measures
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage INTACH is also involved with the Archaeological Survey of India in improving the local conditions at the cave site A book has been published jointly by UNESCO INTACH and the Government of India which presents a comprehensive site plan for restoration and a brief history of each sculpture constructed inside the caves
Devin Garret Townsend born May is a Canadian musician songwriter and record producer He was the founder songwriter vocalist and guitarist in extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad from to and has an extensive career as a solo artist
After performing in a number of heavy metal bands in high school Townsend was discovered by a record label in and was asked to perform lead vocals on Steve Vai s album Sex Religion After recording and touring with Vai Townsend was discouraged by what he found in the music industry and vented his anger on the solo album Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing released under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad He soon assembled a band under the name and released the critically acclaimed City in Since then he has released three more studio albums with Strapping Young Lad along with solo material released under his own independent record label HevyDevy Records
Townsend s solo albums a diverse mix of hard rock progressive metal ambient and new age have featured a varying lineup of supporting musicians In he formed the Devin Townsend Band a dedicated lineup which recorded and toured for two of his solo releases In he disbanded both Strapping Young Lad and the Devin Townsend Band taking a break from touring to spend more time with his family After a two year hiatus he began recording again and soon announced the formation of the Devin Townsend Project The project began with a series of four albums released from to each written in a different style and Townsend continues to record and tour under the new moniker
Across all his bands and projects Townsend has released twenty three studio albums and three live albums Townsend s trademark production style featuring a heavily multitracked wall of sound has been compared to the styles of Phil Spector and Frank Zappa His versatile vocal delivery ranges from screaming to an opera esque singing and his songwriting is similarly diverse Townsend s musical style is rooted in metal and his albums are written to express different aspects of his personality
Devin Townsend was born in New Westminster British Columbia on May Townsend picked up the banjo when he was five and began playing guitar when he was As an early teenager he befriended Brian Beav Waddell who would later play guitars as part of the Devin Townsend Band and bass on the Devin Townsend Project He participated in several metal bands while he was in high school and founded Grey Skies at the age of Around the same time he joined a popular local group called Caustic Thought replacing Jed Simon on guitar and playing alongside bassist Byron Stroud both of whom would later become members of Townsend s flagship band Strapping Young Lad In Townsend began writing material under the name Noisescapes a project he later described as just as violent as Strapping Young Lad
Townsend recorded a Noisescapes demo and sent copies to various record labels Relativity Records responded to Townsend with a record deal and Townsend began work on what was to be the first Noisescapes album Promise Shortly afterward the label introduced him to musician Steve Vai Impressed with Townsend s vocal work Vai offered him the role of the lead vocalist on his new album Sex and Religion After recording Sex and Religion Townsend accompanied Vai on a world tour in support of the album Townsend soon landed a second touring gig this time with the opening band of Vai s tour the Wildhearts He played live with the band throughout half of in Europe and appeared as a guest musician on their single Urge Ginger the band s frontman remained close friends with Townsend later co writing several songs on Infinity and the Christeen Demos EP
While on tour with the Wildhearts Townsend formed a short lived thrash metal project with Metallica s then bassist Jason Newsted The band known as IR featured Newsted on vocals and bass Townsend on guitar and Tom Hunting of Exodus on drums The group recorded a few songs together although Townsend says that they never intended to go further than that People heard about it and thought we wanted to put out a CD which is absolutely not true he explains People took this project way too seriously A demo tape was put together but the material was not released until when Newsted published the IR vs Sexoturica compilation
Though Townsend was proud of what he had accomplished so early in his career he was discouraged by his experience with the music industry I was becoming a product of somebody else s imagination and it was mixing with my own personality he later reflected This combination was appalling He pushed to get his own projects off the ground Despite getting notable touring gigs with other musicians however Townsend continued to face rejection of his own music Relativity Records dropped Noisescapes from their label shortly after Townsend accepted Vai s offer seeing no commercial appeal in Townsend s music I have a hunch they only offered me a deal to get me to sing with Steve he mused While touring with the Wildhearts Townsend received a phone call from an A R representative for Roadrunner Records expressing an interest in his demos and an intention to sign him The offer was ultimately rescinded by the head of Roadrunner who regarded Townsend s recordings as just noise
In Century Media Records offered Townsend a contract to make some extreme albums He agreed to a five album deal with the record label and also provided much of the guitar work on the album Millennium and the album Hard Wired by Vancouver industrial band Front Line Assembly Townsend began to record material under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad He avoided using his real name at this point in career looking for a fresh start after his high profile Vai gig At the beginning I wanted to avoid at all cost to use my name because I was known as the singer for Steve Vai and it wasn t the best publicity to have he later explained I was playing somebody else s music and I was judged in respect to that music Townsend produced and performed nearly all the instruments on the debut studio album Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing which was released in April
Following the release of the record Townsend and several other musician friends he knew in Vancouver recorded his first solo album in entitled Punky Brster Cooked on Phonics Written and recorded in under a month the album was produced as a parody of punk rock bands and documents the act of selling out for mainstream success Townsend founded his own independent record label HevyDevy Records to release the album Townsend assembled a permanent lineup of Strapping Young Lad to record City including prolific metal drummer Gene Hoglan along with Townsend s former bandmates Jed Simon on guitar and Byron Stroud on bass The industrial influenced album was released in To this day the album is widely considered Strapping Young Lad s best work with Metal Maniacs calling it groundbreaking and Revolver naming it one of the greatest metal albums of all time Townsend himself considers it the band s ultimate album Later that year Townsend released his second solo album Ocean Machine Biomech The album featured a mix of hard rock ambient and progressive rock
After the completion of City and Ocean Machine Biomech Townsend began to approach a mental breakdown I started to see human beings as little lonesome water based pink meat he explained life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand In he checked himself into a mental health hospital where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder The diagnosis helped him understand where the two sides of his music were coming from he felt his disorder gave birth to the two extremes that are Strapping s City record and Ocean Machine Biomech After being discharged from the hospital Townsend found that everything just clicked and he was able to write his third solo album Infinity which he described as the parent project of City and Ocean Machine Biomech with music influenced by Broadway Townsend returned to the studio accompanied by Hoglan to work on the album on which Townsend played most of the instruments Infinity was released in October Later in his career Townsend has cited Infinity as his favorite solo record
With Infinity Townsend began to label all albums outside of Strapping Young Lad under his own name dropping the Ocean Machine moniker to reduce confusion He wanted to show that despite the highly varied nature of his projects they are all simply aspects of his identity The album Biomech was relabeled and redistributed as Ocean Machine Biomech under Townsend s name to reflect the new arrangement Townsend s bandmates began to play two sets at their shows one as Strapping Young Lad and one as the Devin Townsend Band playing songs from Townsend s solo albums
Townsend s next project took several years to come to fruition After the creation of the IR demo tape Townsend and Jason Newsted had begun work on a new project called Fizzicist which they described as heavier than Strapping Young Lad When the IR tape was leaked Newsted s Metallica bandmates James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich learned of the project Hetfield was fucking pissed that Newsted was playing outside the band and Newsted was prevented by his bandmates from working on any more side projects With the project stalled Townsend instead wrote the album himself entitling it Physicist Townsend assembled his Strapping Young Lad bandmates to record it the only time this lineup was featured on a Devin Townsend album The thrash influenced Physicist was released in June and is generally considered a low point in Townsend s career Hoglan and the rest of the band were dissatisfied with the way the sound was mixed and Townsend considers it his worst album to date
Feeling he had ostracized a bunch of fans with Physicist Townsend felt he had the chance to make a more personal and honest record Townsend was inspired one morning while driving across Canada with his band and looked to write an introspective album dedicated to his homeland He produced and recorded Terria a highly illustrated stream of consciousness album with Gene Hoglan on drums Craig McFarland on bass and Jamie Meyer on keyboards Townsend cited Ween s White Pepper as an inspiration for the album Terria was released in November
Townsend s solo run lasted until After a five year break from recording Strapping Young Lad reunited to record a new album Townsend credits the album Strapping Young Lad as an emotional response to the attacks of September in the United States If the world s about to blow up said Townsend let s write the soundtrack for it The album s lyrics were based more around fear and insecurity than the hostile lyrics of City Musically Strapping Young Lad was less industrial than City and more reminiscent of death metal with a larger than life rock production style Townsend cited Front Line Assembly Grotus and Samael s Passage as influences The self titled album was released in February It received lukewarm reviews with critics finding it inferior to City but it was the band s first charting album entering at th place on Billboard s Top Heatseekers chart
While Strapping Young Lad was being reunited Townsend formed a new permanent band on par with Strapping to record and tour for his solo releases The Devin Townsend Band consisted of Brian Beav Waddell on guitar Mike Young on bass Ryan Van Poederooyen on drums and Dave Young on keyboards Townsend performed guitar vocals and production as he did in Strapping Young Lad Townsend worked on the band s first album Accelerated Evolution at the same time he was working on Strapping Young Lad spending half the week on one and half on the other Accelerated Evolution named for the pace of putting a new band together in under a year was released a month after Strapping Young Lad Mike G of Metal Maniacs called it the album of the year praising it for the hard to accomplish trick of being extreme yet accessible simultaneously heavy n rockin yet majestic and beautiful Prior to the formation of the Devin Townsend Band Townsend had represented his solo releases live with the Strapping Young Lad lineup the band would play one set of Strapping Young Lad songs and one set of Devin Townsend songs After the release of Accelerated Evolution Townsend s two bands toured separately for their separate albums
Strapping Young Lad began working on their next album Alien in March Feeling that the band s previous album did not live up to expectations Townsend decided to take his music to a new extreme To prepare for the new album Townsend stopped taking the medication prescribed to treat his bipolar disorder I think that as an artist in order for me to get to the next plateau I kind of feel the need to explore things and sometimes that exploration leads you to places that are a little crazy he explains And Alien was no exception with that Although Townsend considered the album an impenetrable mass of technicality it was well received on its release selling copies in its first week and appearing on several Billboard charts Around this time Townsend also contributed to the soundtrack of the video game Fallout Brotherhood of Steel
Shortly thereafter Townsend began putting together the next Devin Townsend Band record with the working title Human Townsend intended the album as the more pleasant counterpart to Alien It s basically a record about coming back down to earth after being in space with Alien for a while The album ended up being renamed Synchestra and was released in January Townsend showcased a wide variety of musical styles in Synchestra blending his trademark pop metal with influences from folk polka and Middle Eastern music The final Strapping Young Lad album The New Black was released later in
Townsend withdrew from touring to spend time with his family From home Townsend completed his second solo ambient album The Hummer releasing it exclusively on his website in November
In May Townsend released Ziltoid the Omniscient a tongue in cheek rock opera about the eponymous fictional alien This was truly a solo album he programmed the drums using Drumkit from Hell a software drum machine that uses samples recorded by Tomas Haake of Meshuggah and played all other instruments himself Shortly after the album s release Townsend announced that he no longer planned to tour or make albums with Strapping Young Lad or the Devin Townsend Band He explained that he was burnt out on travelling touring and self promotion and wished to do production work write albums and spend time with his family without the stress of interviews or touring
In Townsend lent his voice to characters in several episodes of the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse see Musician cameos in Metalocalypse for more The original character design for Pickles the Drummer one of the series main characters bore a striking resemblance to Townsend The series co creator Brendon Small acknowledged the similarity and altered the design before the series began We made sure he didn t look like Devin Townsend We gave him the goatee and the dreadover so he wouldn t look like that
After removing himself from the music industry Townsend cut his trademark hair off and gave up drinking and smoking Townsend found it disconcerting that he had difficulty writing music without drugs and that he had trouble identifying his purpose as a musician He spent a year producing albums in absence of writing but found it unrewarding and decided to pick up the guitar and just write This began a period of self discovery where he learned how to create without drugs
Over two years Townsend wrote over songs and found that they fit into four distinct styles In March Townsend announced his plans for a four album series called Devin Townsend Project with the goal of clarifying his musical identity and being accountable for the persona he projects to the public The project s concept includes a different theme and a different group of musicians on each album
Ki the first album of the Devin Townsend Project tetralogy was written to set the stage for the subsequent albums Townsend channelled his new found control and sobriety into Ki a tense quiet album which contrasts with much of the music he had been known for Additional female vocals were provided by Ch Aimee Dorval Casualties of Cool Ki was released in May
The second entry a commercial yet heavy album called Addicted was released in November and features lead vocals from Townsend and Dutch singer Anneke van Giersbergen Brian Beav Waddell was recruited from the Devin Townsend Band to play bass
Townsend returned to the stage in January touring North America with headliner Between the Buried and Me as well as Cynic and Scale the Summit This was followed by a headlining tour in Australia and a series of high profile shows in Europe for example co headlining the Brutal Assault festival in Czech Republic He headlined a North American tour with UK label mates TesseracT supporting which began in October and toured in Europe with support from Aeon Zen and Anneke van Giersbergen
The third and fourth albums in the Devin Townsend Project series Deconstruction and Ghost were released simultaneously on June In December all four Devin Townsend Project albums with additional material were released as the Contain Us box set Townsend performed all four of Devin Townsend Project albums in London and recorded them for a DVD box set called By a Thread Live in London that was released on June The first three shows were held at the University of London Union November Ki Addicted and Deconstruction were each performed on one night respectively The show for Ghost was held at the Union Chapel Islington on November These four shows were each entitled An Evening with the Devin Townsend Project
Despite the Devin Townsend Project being originally a four album series Townsend decided to continue working under the moniker and released the fifth album Epicloud on September Again featuring Anneke van Giersbergen on vocals Epicloud appeared on several European charts peaking at number in Finland On October Devin Townsend performed a one off show covering his musical career called The Retinal Circus at Roundhouse in London The hour performance was recorded in high definition and released on DVD and Blu ray on September Also in Townsend played bass on the debut Bent Sea album Noistalgia He also produced the record
Another project Townsend has mentioned several times between and is Obviouser an album featuring creepy bass driven apocalyptic music created with an Ampeg rig and an Icelandic choir Working with many projects simultaneously at that time Townsend stated in the Obviouser project is vying for pole position until he wakes up and says he wants to do it
After Deconstruction and Ghost Townsend announced a new album Casualties of Cool with which he started to work after the release of Epicloud The album features Ch Aimee Dorval from Ki on vocals and Morgan gren on drums Townsend described the album sounds like haunted Johnny Cash songs and late night music highlighting it will be different than anything he has done before Townsend referred the music of the album to be closest to his heart at this point of his life and that it is an important and satisfying project he doesn t want to rush
The album was completed on November and a bonus disc was also made for the album containing the leftover material from the main album as well as songs from Ghost the unreleased compilation of leftover tracks from Ghost Originally in Townsend stated that this album will be the sixth and the last album in the Devin Townsend Project series but he ultimately confirmed that Casualties of Cool is its own project Townsend also started a crowdfunding campaign through PledgeMusic to support the release of the album The funding quickly reached its goal and all additional funds were put directly to Townsend s upcoming projects Casualties of Cool was released on May The album was re issued worldwide on January containing an additional DVD with live footage from the concert at the Union Chapel in London
From Townsend worked on a long running album project called Z a sequel to the album Ziltoid the Omniscient Originally in he teased he may have just written the heaviest thing he s ever done for the album and told there might a surprising lack of Ziltoid himself appearing on the album However in August a London based radio station TeamRock Radio aired the first episode of Ziltoid Radio a satirical radio show hosted solely by Ziltoid this being one element of the Z project Townsend also discussed a ZTV or Ziltoid TV is preceding the album Later Townsend stated he has found the project hard to schedule and work with amidst touring and writing stating it takes a lot of effort to keep the content with tongue in cheek humour entertaining
After writing ideas for over songs Townsend stated he is finally going to finish the whole project followed by the announcement the album will be released on October The recording process started in May and the final project includes the album a Ziltoid TV program and a live show with a big graphic novel comic and a documentary The album itself is a double album with disc one being the main album and disc two featuring Devin Townsend Project material according to Townsend the album s theme is Ziltoid against the world The Devin Townsend Project disc is called Sky Blue and the Ziltoid disc is called Dark Matters
After finishing the album Townsend stated the project was punishing and an absolute nightmare to complete due to amount of material against tight schedules He also described the hardship of the project by telling if he was ever going to start drinking again the last months would have been it but now he s starting to get excited again Later after the chaos of finishing it had subsided Townsend stated he is really satisfied with the result
Townsend recently discussed at least a year long hiatus beginning after the Z show taking place at the Royal Albert Hall on April During the indefinitely long break Townsend intends to recharge his batteries get some inspiration and experiences and to see what the next chapter holds for him
In Devin recorded a poppy sounding song in Los Angeles with producer Brian Howes but has decided against releasing Devin mentioned he is against the project being contrived due to the current hard rock undertones in popular music He described it as a lukewarm heavy metal Devin song On December Townsend announced via Twitter that he was recording vocals for a song by Steve Vai
As of April Devin is in the middle of recording the seventh DTP album entitled Transcendence at Armoury Studios in Vancouver
Townsend has been married to Tracy Turner his girlfriend since he was She gave birth to their first son Reyner Liam Johnstan Townsend on October He is a vegetarian
Townsend designed his two main projects the aggressive Strapping Young Lad and his more melodic solo material as counterparts Strapping Young Lad s music was a diverse mix of extreme metal genres death metal thrash metal black metal and industrial metal Townsend s solo material blends many genres and influences with elements of atmospheric ambient music hard rock and progressive rock along with pop metal and arena rock He described it as a highly orchestrated type of expansive music based in hard rock and heavy metal Dense and produced with a large amount of ambient elements Despite Strapping Young Lad s greater mainstream acceptance Townsend identifies more with his solo material and has never intended Strapping Young Lad to be the focus of his music
As a self proclaimed fan of multitracking Townsend has developed a trademark production style featuring an atmospheric layered wall of sound Townsend has drawn critical praise for his productions which are always marked by a sense of adventure intrigue chaotic atmospherics and overall aural pyrotechnics according to Mike G of Metal Maniacs Townsend mainly uses Pro Tools to produce his music alongside other software suites such as Steinberg Cubase Ableton Live and Logic Pro Townsend s musical ideas and production style have drawn comparisons to Phil Spector and Frank Zappa Townsend has carried out the mixing and mastering for most of his solo work himself He has also mixed and remixed work for other artists such as Rammstein August Burns Red and Misery Signals
Townsend mainly uses Open C tuning for both six and seven string guitar He now also uses Open B tuning and Open B flat tuning Open C tuning tuned a half and a whole step down respectively on his six string guitars Townsend s technique varies from fingerpicking power chords and polychords to sweep picked arpeggios and tapping techniques He is also known for his heavy use of reverb and delay effects He has expressed that he has no taste for shred guitar saying that Musically it doesn t do anything for me and that he only solos when he thinks that he can within the context of the song
Townsend s employs a variety of vocal techniques in his work including screaming growling or even falsetto His vocal range has been noted to be over octaves C to F
Townsend draws influence from a wide range of music genres most prominently heavy metal Townsend has cited among others Judas Priest WASP Frank Zappa Broadway musicals ABBA new age music Zoviet France King s X Morbid Angel Barkmarket Grotus Jane s Addiction Metallica Cop Shoot Cop and Fear Factory as his influences and has also expressed his admiration for Meshuggah on several occasions calling them the best metal band on the planet Townsend lists Paul Horn and Ravi Shankar as the two most important musicians in his life The two songs that Townsend credits with changing the way he thought about music are The Burning Down by King s X and Up the Beach by Jane s Addiction City was influenced by bands such as Foetus and Cop Shoot Cop and The New Black s influences were Meshuggah and more traditional metal like Metallica He is also influenced by orchestral and classical composers such as John Williams Trevor Jones and Igor Stravinsky
The Zagreb Synagogue Croatian Zagrebaka sinagoga was the main place of worship for the Jewish community of Zagreb in modern day Croatia It was constructed in in the Kingdom of Croatia Slavonia within the Austrian Empire and was used until it was demolished by the fascist authorities in in the Axis aligned Independent State of Croatia
The Moorish Revival synagogue designed after the Leopoldstdter Tempel in Vienna was located on modern day Praka Street It has been the only purpose built Jewish house of worship in the history of the city It was one of the city s most prominent public buildings as well as one of the most esteemed examples of synagogue architecture in the region
Since the s plans have been made to rebuild the synagogue in its original location Due to various political circumstances very limited progress has been made Major disagreements exist between the government and Jewish organizations as to how much the latter should be involved in decisions about the reconstruction project including proposed design and character of the new building
Encouraged by the Edict of Tolerance of Emperor Joseph II Jews first permanently settled in Zagreb in the late eighteenth century and founded the Jewish community in In the Jewish community had a rabbi and by it had its own cemetery As early as the community was permitted to buy land for construction of a synagogue but did not have sufficient money to finance one at the time
By the community had grown to members and on October of that year the decision was made to build a new Jewish synagogue The construction committee appointed in selected and purchased a parcel of land at the corner of Maria Valeria Street now Praka Street and Ban Jelai Square the central town square However a new urban planning scheme of reduced the area available for construction and the community decided to buy another parcel of square metres sq ft in Maria Valeria Street approximately metres ft south of the original location
Franjo Klein a Vienna born Zagreb architect was commissioned to build the synagogue Klein a representative of romantic historicism modeled the building on the Viennese Leopoldstdter Tempel a Moorish Revival temple designed by Ludwig Frster It became a prototype for synagogue design in Central Europe Zagreb Synagogue used the already developed round arch style Rundbogenstil but did not adopt Frster s early oriental motifs
The composition of the main facade with its dominant drawn out and elevated projection and the two symmetrical lower lateral parts reflects the internal division into three naves At ground floor level the front was distinguished by the three arch entrance and bifora whereas the first floor level had a high triforium with an elevated arch and the quadrifoliate rosettes on the staircases
The synagogue occupied the greater part of the plot facing west It receded from the street regulation line in accordance with the rule then still enforced in Austria Hungary prohibiting non Catholic places of worship from having a public entrance from the street The synagogue had a wider and slightly higher central nave and two narrower naves unlike Frster s synagogue in Vienna it did not have a basilical plan
Construction began in and was completed the following year The synagogue was officially consecrated on September a ceremony attended by representatives of city and regional authorities Zagreb public figures and many citizens It was the first prominent public building in Zagreb s lower town and its architecture and scale aroused general admiration and praise
With the new synagogue an organ was introduced into religious service The small minority of Orthodox Jews found this change to be intolerable and they began to hold their services separately in rented rooms
In the earthquake the synagogue suffered minor damage and was repaired the following year
Largely due to immigration from Hungary Bohemia and Moravia the Jewish population of Zagreb quickly grew in size from members in to members in and then to members in The synagogue became too small to accommodate the needs of the ever growing community In a renovation was undertaken to increase the number of available seats A plan to increase the capacity to seats was ultimately abandoned A central heating system was installed in
During the collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia under the Axis invasion in the April War the Independent State of Croatia was created It was ruled by the extreme nationalist Ustaa regime The Ustaa quickly started with the systematic persecution of the Jews modeled after the Nazi Germany approach and at times even more brutal Racial laws were introduced Jewish property was confiscated and the Jews were subjected to mass arrests and deportations to death camps in Croatia and abroad
In October the newly installed mayor of Zagreb Ivan Werner issued a decree ordering the demolition of the Praka Street synagogue ostensibly because it did not fit into the city s master plan The demolition began on October proceeding slowly so as not to damage the adjacent buildings it was finished by April The whole process was photographed for propaganda purposes and the photographs were shown to the public at an antisemitic exhibition first held in Zagreb It was also shown in Dubrovnik Karlovac Sarajevo Vukovar and Zemun as an illustration of the solution of the Jewish question in Croatia
A fragment of the film footage of the demolition was discovered five decades later by the film director Lordan Zafranovi during research for his documentary feature Decline of the Century Testimony of L Z seconds of the film survives This footage was also shown in Mira Wolf s documentary The Zagreb Synagogue produced by Croatian Radiotelevision
The synagogue s eight valuable Torah scrolls were saved due to an intervention by Leonardo Grivii an entrepreneur and industrialist who lived next door from Mile Budak a minister in the Ustaa government He was also close to Poglavnik Ante Paveli and the Third Reich s ambassador to Croatia Edmund Glaise Horstenau Although Grivii did not have a significant political role in the Independent State of Croatia he was considered trustworthy On October he learned about the regime s plan to start the demolition of the synagogue on the following morning By that evening Grivii secretly relayed the information to the synagogue s chief cantor Grner and during the night the Torah scrolls were moved to safety
Shortly after the destruction of the synagogue the Catholic archbishop of Zagreb Aloysius Stepinac delivered a homily in which he said A house of God of any faith is a holy thing and whoever harms it will pay with their lives In this world and the next they will be punished
The only surviving fragments of the building the wash basin and two memorial tables from the forecourt as well as some parts of a column were saved by Ivo Kraus He pulled them from the rubble shortly after the end of World War II The wash basin and the memorial tables are now in the Zagreb City Museum The column fragments are kept by the Jewish Community of Zagreb
Only one in five Croatian Jews survived the Holocaust of World War II Between and nearly one half of the surviving members of Jewish Community of Zagreb opted for emigration to Israel and the community dropped to one tenth of its pre war membership The Yugoslav communist regime nationalized virtually all real estate owned by the Jewish Community of Zagreb including the plot in Praka Street All this combined with the new regime s general hostility toward religion made reconstruction of the synagogue nearly impossible
After World War II the vacant site of the former synagogue was used as a makeshift volleyball court The volleyball court made way for a prefabricated department store building constructed in The department store was completely destroyed in a fire on December and was subsequently dismantled Despite some earlier ideas about a permanent department store building on the same spot and a architecture competition for its design no construction took place Instead the parcel was turned into a parking lot which it remains to this day
After the Jewish Community of Zagreb began to consider a Jewish cultural center and a memorial synagogue Two architects Branko Silain and Boris Morsan both of whom participated in the failed department store competition came forward on their own accord and contributed their ideas for a new Jewish center in Praka Street Silain s vision was ultimately not accepted by the Jewish community instead plans were being made for the construction of the cultural center and a synagogue following an international architecture competition However despite support for the project both within Yugoslavia and abroad the issuance of necessary permits was either stalled or denied by the municipal government The project was not developed
By the autumn of after the first democratic elections in Croatia the municipal government finally approved the project An architectural competition was planned for January Political turmoil in the country followed by the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Croatian War of Independence caused the project to be put on hold again In President of Croatia Franjo Tuman said to Jakov Bienenfeld Council member of the Zagreb Jewish community that they should build the new synagogue at the site of the former synagogue which will be funded by the Croatian government Bienenfeld declined the offer believing to be inappropriate when Catholic churches are left destroyed at the time during Croatian War of Independence
In the meantime the Jewish Community of Zagreb sought to legally reacquire its property The Croatian denationalization law was enacted in and the Praka Street parcel was finally returned to the community on December By reconstruction activities were invigorated again An investment study was submitted to the Government of Croatia and the City of Zagreb in July and revised in October The architecture competition was planned for However a rift in the Jewish Community of Zagreb resulted in formation of a splinter Jewish community Bet Israel led by Ivo and Slavko Goldstein
In September the Government of Croatia formed a construction workgroup It was decided that the project estimated at the time at HRK million US million would be partially financed by the Government of Croatia and the City of Zagreb and that both Jewish organizations should be represented in the workgroup However the involvement of Bet Israel was deemed unacceptable by the Jewish Community of Zagreb which is the sole owner of the Praka Street property and which also sees itself as the sole legal representative of the Zagreb Jewish community As a consequence the community and its president Ognjen Kraus refused further participation in the project under the set conditions
Further disagreements existed about the design and character of the new building Facsimile reconstruction while feasible was not seriously contemplated There was a general agreement that the new building should also have a cultural as well as commercial purpose While the Jewish Community of Zagreb envisioned a modern design reminiscent of the original synagogue the Bet Israel advocated building a replica of the original synagogue s facade perceiving it as having a powerful symbolism Opinions of architects urban planners and art historians were also divided along similar lines
In and the Jewish Community of Zagreb presented new plans for a m sq ft multi purpose Jewish center and synagogue in Praka Street
The Great Coastal hurricane was a severe and damaging storm along the East Coast of the United States which produced upwards of in cm of rainfall in parts of Massachusetts First observed east of the Lesser Antilles on August the hurricane arrived at the Bahamas by August The disturbance continued to drift northward and made landfall at the mouth of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina on August The storm soon moved out to sea as a Category equivalent hurricane on the Saffir Simpson hurricane wind scale persisting off of New England before dissipating south of Nova Scotia on August as a markedly weaker storm Several French and British military ships were damaged out at sea In the Carolinas salt sugar rice and lumber industries suffered considerably and several individuals were killed Wharves and vessels endured moderate damage with many ships wrecked on North Carolinan barrier islands A majority of the deaths caused by the hurricane occurred aboard the Rose in Bloom offshore of Barnegat Inlet New Jersey with of the ship s passengers killed and USD in damage to its cargo Upon arriving in New England reports indicated extreme rainfall though no deaths were reported in all the hurricane killed more than individuals along the entirety of its track
The Great Coastal hurricane of was first noted far east of the Lesser Antilles on August Weather historian David M Ludlum followed the disturbance s track to the Bahamas by August intense winds persisted until August however approximately mi km east of the Bahamian island of Eleuthera Steering currents brought the storm northward and it approached Charleston South Carolina on August where a generally easterly flow preceded the storm indicated its passage far east of the city The hurricane made landfall at the mouth of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina later that day though the earliest impacts from the storm started several days earlier with gusts initially toward the northeast but later curving southwestward Reports of similar wind shifts throughout the region suggested that the gale persisted stationary for several hours It eventually moved back out to sea while south of Norfolk Virginia departing the region on August The hurricane maintained minute maximum sustained winds of mph km h while offshore equivalent to a Category system on the Saffir Simpson hurricane wind scale While offshore New England the gale featured a swath of winds mi km wide and was last observed just south of Nova Scotia on August slightly weaker with sustained winds of mph km h
The hurricane damaged several vessels while still drifting at sea dispersing and damaging Jrme Bonaparte s fleet and dismasting the gun French ship of the line Imptueux which later landed near Cape Henry
In Charleston South Carolina the hurricane washed aground several ships and uprooted numerous trees though damage to the city harbor was minimal The lighthouse on North Island flanking Winyah Bay collapsed under high winds and in Georgetown proper the hurricane was considered to be the worst since the Antigua Charleston hurricane despite its storm surge being of a lesser size A cotton field covering acres was ruined nearby At Smithville North Carolina numerous ships experienced damage while considerable destruction to structures was observed with many wharves wrecked Meanwhile at Wilmington the hurricane inflicted widespread damage with many wharves severely damaged and significant losses sustained by salt sugar rice and lumber industries The gable sections of three masonry houses were destroyed by wind or water and wooden houses suffered especially badly with many obliterated and those under construction flattened One individual died after a wall collapsed and several slaves were killed one by drowning at local plantations At Bald Head Island the United States Revenue Cutter Service vessel Governor Williams was stripped of its foremast and subsequently ran ashore before being repaired and continuing on its journey A second boat owned by the agency the Diligence was tethered at port in Wilmington and endured no damage similarly little impact occurred at New Bern Throughout the storm several vessels and supplies of stranded sailors were driven aground along the North Carolinan coast On the Bogue Banks the remains of the Adolphus and Atlantic were discovered and at the Core Banks a dead body was washed ashore partially eaten by fish
Moderate damage occurred upon the hurricane s arrival in Norfolk Virginia Winds toppled a number of newly built structures and chimneys uprooted trees and fences and washed two watercraft aground After the storm alterations to the shoreline around the Chesapeake Bay permitted the full establishment of a town at Willoughby Spit The Rose in Bloom was caught in the hurricane while offshore of Barnegat Inlet New Jersey en route to New York City from Charleston but was struck by a large wave which overturned the ship resulting in the deaths of of its passengers and the loss of of its USD cargo The vessel only barely stayed afloat with bales of cotton preventing it from sinking entirely survivors were ferried to New York by the British brig Swift which had then been traveling toward St John s Newfoundland The hurricane produced strong gusts within the vicinity of New York City and at Belleville New Jersey several peach trees were defoliated and uprooted Cape Cod Massachusetts was struck by heavy rain and observed minor damage to its port At Edgartown meanwhile an individual witnessed torrential rainfall recording that a barrel was filled with in cm of water and estimating total rainfall reached in cm there where the storm devastated local crops and beached five cargo ships At Brewster meanwhile severe damage to crops and salterns was noted and in cm of rainfall was recorded Reports in Boston however indicate more modest rainfall amounts with a precipitation rate of in cm per hour noted
Forward Intelligence Teams FITs are two or more police officers who are deployed by UK police forces to gather intelligence on the ground and in some circumstances to disrupt activists and deter anti social behaviour They use cameras camcorders and audio recorders to conduct overt surveillance of the public An unsuccessful legal challenge has been made against their use of overt surveillance but in the Court of Appeal ruled that they must justify retention of photographs on a case by case basis Any retained information is recorded on the Crimint database
Political activists have criticised FITs and said that they feel the aim of FIT deployment during protests is to prevent legal protests Journalists have also complained that FITs attempt to stop them photographing protests and that they conduct surveillance of journalists A campaign group Fitwatch formed in that aim to obstruct FITs and conduct sousveillance on the officers Two members of the group were arrested at the Climate Camp on obstruction charges A similar police surveillance unit the Video Intelligence Unit is operated by Greater Manchester Police In June the Home Office announced it would review the use of FITs during public order policing
FITs were first formed in the early s as part of the Public Order Intelligence Unit CO a section of the Public Order Branch of the Metropolitan Police They initially targeted football fans hunt saboteurs and political protesters since at least using cameras camcorders and audio recorders to conduct overt surveillance of the public The police officers wear full uniform and are intended to be a highly visible presence Their uniform is sometimes different from normal police officers in that the upper half of their yellow fluorescent jackets is blue Civilian photographers are also employed by the police to work alongside FITs According to Scotland Yard the aim of FIT teams at protests is to record evidence of protesters in case disorder occurs later on at a protest
More recently the teams purpose has been extended to routine police work on low level crime and anti social behaviour and police forces throughout the UK now have their own FITs Despite the implication in their name that their function is to merely gather intelligence they are also intended to have a deterrent effect This approach has been reported to work in reducing reports of anti social behaviour at times when FITs are deployed in specific neighbourhoods Jacqui Smith then Home Secretary praised Operation Leopard that used FITs to target youths in Laindon Essex stating
Operation Leopard is exactly the sort of intensive policing that can bring persistent offenders to their senses Relentless filming of them and their associates throughout the day and night
Linda Catt an activist has suggested that their tactics are designed to intimidate people and prevent lawful dissent This view is echoed by a police debriefing of their operations at the Camp for Climate Action which praised FITs at the event for disrupting activists
In June the Home Office announced it would review the use of FITs during public order policing The move was influenced by the discovery that information collected by FITs included that which was unrelated to suspected crimes for example recording who made speeches at demonstrations
In October FIT officers in plain clothes were spotted by a press photographer at a protest against companies avoiding tax despite Commander Bob Broadhurst telling a parliamentary committee in May that only uniformed officers distinguishable by their blue and yellow jackets were involved in gathering intelligence at protests The Metropolitan Police told The Guardian that it was necessary to deploy plain clothed officers to gather information to provide us with a relevant and up to date intelligence picture of what to expect It was the first time that FITs are known to have been deployed in plain clothes
Liberty brought a judicial review of the overt surveillance practices in May which was decided in favour of the police however the police were asked to clarify their evidence to the Court of Appeal following an investigation by The Guardian newspaper
In May the Court of Appeal ruled that photographs collected by FITs of people who have not committed a criminal offence can no longer be kept The ruling was made after Andrew Wood an arms trade activist was photographed after challenging the management of Reed Elsevier at their AGM over them organising arms trade exhibitions Wood argued that police had harassed him and infringed his right to privacy by photographing him Lord Collins of Mapesbury said that the police presence had a chilling effect on people who were protesting lawfully FITs have not been banned but they must now justify the retention of photographs on a case by case basis As a result of the ruling the Metropolitan Police s public order unit CO was forced to delete of the photos of protesters that it held
In a report about the policing of the G London summit protests Denis O Connor the chief inspector of constabulary stated that the routine use of FITs at protests raises fundamental privacy issues and should be reviewed He also said that there was confusion over the role of FITs and advised that the Home Office should issue guidance over the legality of the surveillance of protesters and the retention of images
The information that FITs collect is stored on the Crimint database which is used daily by police officers to catalogue criminal intelligence People are listed by name allowing police to determine which events individuals have attended Photographs obtained by FITs are used to produce spotter cards consisting of people s photographs which allows officers to identify people at future events that they attend For people are able to obtain a list of protests that they have attended from the data held on Crimint under laws in the Data Protection Act
A report The Economics of Mass Surveillance calculated that the use of FITs at mass gatherings involves gathering intelligence on roughly people to record the actions of one person The report also noted that most of the people on spotter cards used by the police photographers were those involved in the organisation of protests and that FITs also attend meetings where demonstrations are organised
Fitwatch formed in early campaign against FITs by actively obstructing their operations and by passively opposing their operations by photographing units a form of sousveillance
In June The Guardian released video evidence recorded by a FIT at the Climate Camp of alleged police brutality against two female members of Fitwatch The women had asked police officers to reveal their shoulder numbers as at least four officers had not displayed them The women attempted to photograph the police officers for evidence but were forced to the ground restrained with handcuffs and had their legs bound with straps They were then placed in restraint positions arrested charged and held in custody for four days including three days in HMP Bronzefield before they were released on bail The police later retracted all the charges against the women The women lodged a complaint with the IPCC over the incident The journalist George Monbiot commented on this case saying that the police are turning activism into a crime and that the FITs methods appear to have been lifted from a Stasi training manual He claimed that anybody who is politically active is filmed identified monitored logged and cross checked A police debrief into the operation at Kingsnorth praised the deployment of FITs saying that they were highly effective and gained good intelligence and disruption
Three members of Fitwatch were convicted for obstructing FIT officers in June as they attempted to photograph those attending a No Borders meeting in London In July the Inner London Crown Court overturned the men s convictions with the judge stating that the protesters human rights may have been violated by the FIT officers
On November the hosts of the Fitwatch blog were asked by the Police National E Crime Unit to take down the website due to it being used to undertake criminal activities The request came after a post on the blog after the student protest in London which advised students of actions they should take if they were concerned that they were photographed at the demonstration such as cutting their hair and disposing of clothing they were wearing Emily Apple one of the founders of the site told The Guardian Nothing in that post giving guidance to student protesters has not been said before on our blog or on other sites On November the Fitwatch website returned hosted on a web server outside of the UK
The National Union of Journalists NUJ has criticised FITs for their surveillance and sometimes violent harassment of working journalists Marc Vallee who was hospitalised by police after documenting a protest has said that the teams limit freedom of the press and called on the Home Office to confirm that the police had no right to restrict the work of photojournalists Bob Broadhurst who is in charge of public order policing at the Metropolitan Police said in a statement to the NUJ in that journalists on the production of a valid form of accreditation will be able to continue with their work The NUJ are to make a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner due to the Metropolitan Police failing to provide details on the surveillance of journalists under the Freedom of Information Act Bob Broadhurst told photographers at an NUJ conference that he had no faith in the National Press Card a form of press pass despite journalists needing to prove that they are bona fide newsgatherers to an independent authority before they are issued
The BBC TV series Panorama produced an episode entitled What ever happened to people power in July which discussed the use of FITs in targeting activists and journalists
Greater Manchester Police operate a Video Intelligence Unit whose plainclothes officers confront and video certain freed prisoners as they leave prison after serving their sentences They also record footage of people involved in anti social behaviour on the streets The aim is to give other police officers up to date information on the appearance of people who have broken the law Video footage thus collected is constantly replayed on TV screens in rooms where officers complete their paperwork Footage that they have recorded has also been uploaded onto YouTube in an attempt to catch people they believe have reoffended This has resulted in several offenders being sent back to prison after breaching licence conditions Since the unit was launched in more than people have been filmed by the unit Not all of these people are suspects in crime however people can be filmed if they are thought to associate with prolific offenders or if they have been stopped in an area of high crime under suspicious circumstances Kieran Walsh a civil liberties lawyer said the unit s work could have implications for the force under Article of the European Convention on Human Rights the right to privacy He believes that filming must be a proportionate and reasonable response to a crime and that this does not appear to be the case as people are being targeted over what they might do in the future It is uncertain as to how long data collected by the unit is to be kept but GMP currently anticipate it will be stored for years
Trinsey v Pennsylvania Fd was a case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that confirmed the validity of special elections held without a primary under the Fourteenth and Seventeenth Amendments to the United States Constitution The case came about due to the death of H John Heinz III one of the US Senators from Pennsylvania in a plane crash on April Under the Seventeenth Amendment state legislatures may give the Governor the power to appoint officials to fill temporarily vacant Senate seats until a special election can be held and Pennsylvanian law contained a statute executing this and requiring no primaries for the special election Instead both the Democrats and Republicans would each internally select their candidates John S Trinsey Jr a voter and potential candidate asked the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to declare the statute unconstitutional as a violation on the Fourteenth and Seventeenth amendments because the lack of a primary removed his right to properly vote for candidates and delegated that power to political parties
After deciding that the statute s subject matter necessitated the strict scrutiny approach the District Court decided on June that it was an unconstitutional violation of the right to vote for and select Senate candidates This decision was appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit who decided against the use of the strict scrutiny approach and in its absence ruled that the statute was not a violation of the Fourteenth and Seventeenth Amendments Academics have been critical of both the decision reached and the approach used with one suggesting that the substantial state interests test used in Valenti v Rockefeller would be more appropriate
On April H John Heinz III one of the US Senators from Pennsylvania was killed when his chartered plane collided with a helicopter inspecting its landing gear Under the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution the legislature of each state has the power to permit the governor to fill the vacant seat until a special election can be held In Pennsylvania this power had been delegated and Governor Robert P Casey signed a writ on May declaring November the date for a special election and temporarily appointing Harris Wofford to fill Heinz s now vacant seat Under Pennsylvanian law there was no need for a primary in such a situation instead both the Democrats and Republicans would each internally select their candidate who would run in the special election John S Trinsey Jr a member of the Pennsylvanian electorate and potential candidate challenged the constitutionality of this law claiming that it violated his rights under the Fourteenth and Seventeenth Amendments
Trinsey argued that by failing to allow for primaries the state legislation prevented him from getting to select a candidate of his choice and that this violated the Fourteenth Amendment the terms of the statute and absence of a requirement for primaries also allegedly infringed the rights of the electorate under the Seventeenth Amendment which required the selection of Senators by popular vote Trinsey s complaint was that the legislation had effectively delegated the power to choose candidates to political parties rather than the electorate Accordingly Trinsey filed a motion for a declaratory judgment to state that the statute was unconstitutional and also requested that Wofford be removed from his seat Counsel for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania joined by the office of the Governor argued that the constitution did not require the holding of primary elections to fill vacancies and that the statute protected valid and compelling state interests in protecting the validity of the electoral process and limiting the term of a governor appointed Senator
The case was first heard in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania where following oral arguments the judge dismissed both Trinsey s motion to remove Wofford and the Commonwealth s motion to dismiss On June however the District Court declared the statute unconstitutional stating that it violated both the Fourteenth and Seventeenth Amendments due to the failure to ensure popular participation through the use of primary elections This decision was reached following an analysis of the legislative history of the Seventeenth Amendment and electoral processes based on this analysis the court concluded that the Pennsylvanian use of a nomination process before a special election implied a right to vote which was violated by the lack of a primary and necessitated a strict scrutinising of the legislation After considering the evidence the court concluded that the interests the Commonwealth put forth in support of the statute could not outweigh the infringement of the right to vote leading to the conclusion that the statute governing special elections was unconstitutional
With this the public press and political parties quickly turned their attention to the case with the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania supported by their Democratic counterparts and several prominent politicians intervening They moved to expedite an appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit In a unanimous opinion the Court of Appeals consisting of Sloviter Greenberg and Seitz confirmed that there was no restriction of any fundamental right and therefore that the strict scrutiny process did not need to be applied In the absence of this process they held that the Seventeenth Amendment did not require primary elections to fill vacancies and more broadly gave state legislatures wide discretion as to how to hold elections as such the statute did not violate the constitution In December the Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari presumably because the special election had already taken place in November and the issue was thus moot
Laura E Little writing in the Temple Law Review notes the dearth of guidance for either the District Court or Court of Appeals in Trinsey with no explicit direction and no direct precedent from either the constitutional provisions or prior case law to rely on In the absence of guidance the Court of Appeals took a narrow view of the issues something she criticises Under Pennsylvanian law primaries are mandatory in all other elections and in her opinion the lack of a primary in this case should have been judged to be a violation of Trinsey s fundamental rights Combined with the purpose of the Seventeenth Amendment to ensure direct election this should have led to the application of the strict scrutiny test and the decision that the statute governing special elections was unconstitutional Kevin M Gold instead suggests that the test used in Valenti v Rockefeller an analogous decision over the validity of New York state electoral law In Valenti the judiciary applied the substantial state interests test which involves simply looking at whether the statute in question furthers the interests of the states who under the Seventeenth Amendment are given some discretion as to the electoral process they use
Michael Jeffrey Jordan born February also known by his initials MJ is an American retired professional basketball player He is also a businessman and principal owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets Jordan played seasons in the National Basketball Association NBA for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards His biography on the NBA website states By acclamation Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the s and s
Jordan played three seasons for coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina He was a member of the Tar Heels national championship team in Jordan joined the NBA s Chicago Bulls in as the third overall draft pick He quickly emerged as a league star entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring His leaping ability demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests earned him the nicknames Air Jordan and His Airness He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball In he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls and followed that achievement with titles in and securing a three peat Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the beginning of the NBA season to pursue a career in baseball he returned to the Bulls in March and led them to three additional championships in and as well as a then record regular season wins in the NBA season Jordan retired for a second time in January but returned for two more NBA seasons from to as a member of the Wizards
Jordan s individual accolades and accomplishments include five Most Valuable Player MVP Awards ten All NBA First Team designations nine All Defensive First Team honors fourteen NBA All Star Game appearances three All Star Game MVP Awards ten scoring titles three steals titles six NBA Finals MVP Awards and the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award Among his numerous accomplishments Jordan holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average points per game and highest career playoff scoring average points per game In he was named the greatest North American athlete of the th century by ESPN and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press s list of athletes of the century Jordan is a two time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame having been enshrined in for his individual career and again in as part of the group induction of the United States men s Olympic basketball team The Dream Team He became a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame in
Jordan is also known for his product endorsements He fueled the success of Nike s Air Jordan sneakers which were introduced in and remain popular today Jordan also starred in the feature film Space Jam as himself In he became part owner and head of basketball operations for the then Charlotte Bobcats buying a controlling interest in In as a result of the increase in value of NBA franchises Jordan became the first billionaire NBA player in history and the world s second richest African American
Jordan was born in Brooklyn New York the son of Deloris ne Peoples who worked in banking and James R Jordan Sr an equipment supervisor His family moved to Wilmington North Carolina when he was a toddler
Jordan is the fourth of five children He has two older brothers Larry Jordan and James R Jordan Jr one older sister Deloris and a younger sister Roslyn Jordan s brother James retired in as the Command Sergeant Major of the th Signal Brigade of the XVIII Airborne Corps in the US Army
Jordan attended Emsley A Laney High School in Wilmington where he anchored his athletic career by playing baseball football and basketball He tried out for the varsity basketball team during his sophomore year but at m he was deemed too short to play at that level His taller friend Harvest Leroy Smith was the only sophomore to make the team
Motivated to prove his worth Jordan became the star of Laney s junior varsity squad and tallied several point games The following summer he grew four inches cm and trained rigorously Upon earning a spot on the varsity roster Jordan averaged about points per game over his final two seasons of high school play As a senior he was selected to the McDonald s All American Team after averaging a triple double points rebounds and assists
Jordan was recruited by numerous college basketball programs including Duke North Carolina South Carolina Syracuse and Virginia In Jordan accepted a basketball scholarship to North Carolina where he majored in cultural geography
As a freshman in coach Dean Smith s team oriented system he was named ACC Freshman of the Year after he averaged points per game ppg on shooting field goal percentage He made the game winning jump shot in the NCAA Championship game against Georgetown which was led by future NBA rival Patrick Ewing Jordan later described this shot as the major turning point in his basketball career During his three seasons at North Carolina he averaged ppg on shooting and added rebounds per game rpg He was selected by consensus to the NCAA All American First Team in both his sophomore and junior seasons After winning the Naismith and the Wooden College Player of the Year awards in Jordan left North Carolina one year before his scheduled graduation to enter the NBA draft The Chicago Bulls selected Jordan with the third overall pick after Hakeem Olajuwon Houston Rockets and Sam Bowie Portland Trail Blazers One of the primary reasons why Jordan was not drafted sooner was because the first two teams were in need of a center However the Trail Blazers general manager Stu Inman contended that it was not a matter of drafting a center but more a matter of taking Sam Bowie over Jordan in part because Portland already had a guard with similar skills to Jordan Clyde Drexler ESPN citing Bowie s injury laden college career named the Blazers choice of Bowie as the worst draft pick in North American professional sports history Jordan returned to North Carolina to complete his degree in
During his first season in the NBA Jordan averaged ppg on shooting He quickly became a fan favorite even in opposing arenas and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the heading A Star Is Born just over a month into his professional career Jordan was also voted in as an All Star starter by the fans in his rookie season Controversy arose before the All Star game when word surfaced that several veteran players led by Isiah Thomas were upset by the amount of attention Jordan was receiving This led to a so called freeze out on Jordan where players refused to pass him the ball throughout the game The controversy left Jordan relatively unaffected when he returned to regular season play and he would go on to be voted Rookie of the Year The Bulls finished the season and lost in the first round of the playoffs in four games to the Milwaukee Bucks
Jordan s second season was cut short by a broken foot in the third game of the season which caused him to miss games Despite Jordan s injury and a record at the time it was fifth worst record of any team to qualify for the playoffs in NBA history the Bulls made the playoffs Jordan recovered in time to participate in the playoffs and performed well upon his return Against a Boston Celtics team that is often considered one of the greatest in NBA history Jordan set the still unbroken record for points in a playoff game with in Game The Celtics however managed to sweep the series
Jordan had recovered completely by the season and had one of the most prolific scoring seasons in NBA history He became the only player other than Wilt Chamberlain to score points in a season averaging a league high points on shooting In addition Jordan demonstrated his defensive prowess as he became the first player in NBA history to record steals and blocks in a season Despite Jordan s success Magic Johnson won the league s Most Valuable Player Award The Bulls reached wins and advanced to the playoffs for the third consecutive year However they were again swept by the Celtics
Jordan led the league in scoring again in the season averaging ppg on shooting and won his first league MVP Award He was also named the Defensive Player of the Year as he had averaged blocks and a league high steals per game The Bulls finished and made it out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in Jordan s career as they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games However the Bulls then lost in five games to the more experienced Detroit Pistons who were led by Isiah Thomas and a group of physical players known as the Bad Boys
In the season Jordan again led the league in scoring averaging ppg on shooting from the field along with rpg and assists per game apg The Bulls finished with a record and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals defeating the Cavaliers and New York Knicks along the way The Cavaliers series included a career highlight for Jordan when he hit The Shot over Craig Ehlo at the buzzer in the fifth and final game of the series However the Pistons again defeated the Bulls this time in six games by utilizing their Jordan Rules method of guarding Jordan which consisted of double and triple teaming him every time he touched the ball
The Bulls entered the season as a team on the rise with their core group of Jordan and young improving players like Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant and under the guidance of new coach Phil Jackson Jordan averaged a league leading ppg on shooting to go with rpg and apg in leading the Bulls to a record They again advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals beating the Bucks and Philadelphia ers However despite pushing the series to seven games the Bulls lost to the Pistons for the third consecutive season
In the season Jordan won his second MVP award after averaging ppg on shooting rpg and apg for the regular season The Bulls finished in first place in their division for the first time in years and set a franchise record with wins in the regular season With Scottie Pippen developing into an All Star the Bulls had elevated their play The Bulls defeated the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia ers in the opening two rounds of the playoffs They advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals where their rival the Detroit Pistons awaited them However this time the Bulls beat the Pistons in a four game sweep In an unusual ending to the fourth and final game Isiah Thomas led his team off the court before the final seconds had concluded Most of the Pistons went directly to their locker room instead of shaking hands with the Bulls
The Bulls advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history to face Magic Johnson and James Worthy and beat the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one compiling an outstanding playoff record along the way Perhaps the best known moment of the series came in Game when attempting a dunk Jordan avoided a potential Sam Perkins block by switching the ball from his right hand to his left in mid air to lay the shot in In his first Finals appearance Jordan posted per game averages of points on shooting from the field assists rebounds steals and blocks Jordan won his first NBA Finals MVP award and he cried while holding the NBA Finals trophy
Jordan and the Bulls continued their dominance in the season establishing a record topping their franchise record from to Jordan won his second consecutive MVP award with averages of points rebounds and assists per game on shooting After winning a physical game series over the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs and finishing off the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Conference Finals in games the Bulls met Clyde Drexler and the Portland Trail Blazers in the Finals The media hoping to recreate a Magic Bird rivalry highlighted the similarities between Air Jordan and Clyde The Glide during the pre Finals hype In the first game Jordan scored a Finals record points in the first half including a record setting six three point field goals After the sixth three pointer he jogged down the court shrugging as he looked courtside Marv Albert who broadcast the game later stated that it was as if Jordan was saying I can t believe I m doing this The Bulls went on to win Game and defeat the Blazers in six games Jordan was named Finals MVP for the second year in a row and finished the series averaging ppg rpg and apg while shooting from the floor
In the season despite a ppg rpg and apg campaign Jordan s streak of consecutive MVP seasons ended as he lost the award to his friend Charles Barkley Coincidentally Jordan and the Bulls met Barkley and his Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals The Bulls won their third NBA championship on a game winning shot by John Paxson and a last second block by Horace Grant but Jordan was once again Chicago s leader He averaged a Finals record ppg during the six game series and became the first player in NBA history to win three straight Finals MVP awards He scored more than points in every game of the series including or more points in consecutive games With his third Finals triumph Jordan capped off a seven year run where he attained seven scoring titles and three championships but there were signs that Jordan was tiring of his massive celebrity and all of the non basketball hassles in his life
During the Bulls playoff run in controversy arose when Jordan was seen gambling in Atlantic City New Jersey the night before a game against the New York Knicks In that same year he admitted to having to cover in gambling losses and author Richard Esquinas wrote a book claiming he had won million from Jordan on the golf course In Jordan talked to Ed Bradley of the CBS evening show Minutes about his gambling and admitted that he made some reckless decisions Jordan stated Yeah I ve gotten myself into situations where I would not walk away and I ve pushed the envelope Is that compulsive Yeah it depends on how you look at it If you re willing to jeopardize your livelihood and your family then yeah When Bradley asked him if his gambling ever got to the level where it jeopardized his livelihood or family Jordan replied No
On October Jordan announced his retirement citing a loss of desire to play the game Jordan later stated that the murder of his father earlier in the year also shaped his decision Jordan s father was murdered on July at a highway rest area in Lumberton North Carolina by two teenagers Daniel Green and Larry Martin Demery The assailants were traced from calls they made on James Jordan s cellular phone caught convicted and sentenced to life in prison Jordan was close to his father as a child he had imitated his father s proclivity to stick out his tongue while absorbed in work He later adopted it as his own signature displaying it each time he drove to the basket In he founded a Chicago area Boys Girls Club and dedicated it to his father
In his autobiography For the Love of the Game Jordan wrote that he had been preparing for retirement as early as the summer of The added exhaustion due to the Dream Team run in the Olympics solidified Jordan s feelings about the game and his ever growing celebrity status Jordan s announcement sent shock waves throughout the NBA and appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the world
Jordan then further surprised the sports world by signing a minor league baseball contract with the Chicago White Sox on February He reported to spring training in Sarasota Florida and was assigned to the team s minor league system on March Jordan has stated this decision was made to pursue the dream of his late father who had always envisioned his son as a Major League Baseball player The White Sox were another team owned by Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf who continued to honor Jordan s basketball contract during the years he played baseball
In Jordan played for the Birmingham Barons a Double A minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox batting with three home runs runs batted in stolen bases strikeouts base on balls and errors He also appeared for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League batting against the top prospects in baseball On November his number was retired by the Bulls in a ceremony that included the erection of a permanent sculpture known as The Spirit outside the new United Center
In the season the Bulls without Jordan achieved a record and lost to the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs But the Bulls were a shell of the championship team of just two years earlier Struggling at mid season to ensure a spot in the playoffs Chicago was at one point in mid March The team received help however when Jordan decided to return to the NBA for the Bulls
In March Jordan decided to quit baseball due to the ongoing Major League Baseball strike as he wanted to avoid becoming a potential replacement player On March Jordan announced his return to the NBA through a two word press release I m back The next day Jordan wore jersey number his number with the Barons as his familiar had been retired in his honor following his first retirement He took to the court with the Bulls to face the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis scoring points The game had the highest Nielsen rating of a regular season NBA game since
Although he had not played an NBA game in a year and a half Jordan played well upon his return making a game winning jump shot against Atlanta in his fourth game back He then scored points in the next game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March Boosted by Jordan s comeback the Bulls went to make the playoffs and advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Orlando Magic At the end of Game Orlando s Nick Anderson stripped Jordan from behind leading to the game winning basket for the Magic he would later comment that Jordan didn t look like the old Michael Jordan and that No doesn t explode like No used to Jordan then returned to wearing his old number in the next game scoring points in a Bulls win The Bulls were fined for the game for failing to report the impromptu number change to the NBA and for Jordan wearing different shoes Jordan averaged points per game in the series but Orlando won the series in games
Freshly motivated by the playoff defeat Jordan trained aggressively for the season Strengthened by the addition of rebound specialist Dennis Rodman the Bulls dominated the league starting the season and eventually finishing with the then best regular season record in NBA history later surpassed by the Golden State Warriors Jordan led the league in scoring with ppg and won the league s regular season and All Star Game MVP awards
In the playoffs the Bulls lost only three games in four series Miami Heat New York Knicks Orlando Magic They defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA Finals to win their fourth championship Jordan was named Finals MVP for a record fourth time surpassing Magic Johnson s three Finals MVP awards He also achieved only the second sweep of the MVP Awards in the All Star Game regular season and NBA Finals Willis Reed having achieved the first during the season Because this was Jordan s first championship since his father s murder and it was won on Father s Day Jordan reacted very emotionally upon winning the title including a memorable scene of him crying on the locker room floor with the game ball
In the season the Bulls started out but missed out on a second consecutive win season by losing their final two games to finish However this year Jordan was beaten for the NBA MVP Award by Karl Malone The Bulls again advanced to the Finals where they faced Malone and the Utah Jazz The series against the Jazz featured two of the more memorable clutch moments of Jordan s career He won Game for the Bulls with a buzzer beating jump shot In Game with the series tied at Jordan played despite being feverish and dehydrated from a stomach virus In what is known as the Flu Game Jordan scored points including the game deciding pointer with seconds remaining The Bulls won and went on to win the series in six games For the fifth time in as many Finals appearances Jordan received the Finals MVP award During the NBA All Star Game Jordan posted the first triple double in All Star Game history in a victorious effort however he did not receive the MVP award
Jordan and the Bulls compiled a record in the season Jordan led the league with points per game securing his fifth regular season MVP award plus honors for All NBA First Team First Defensive Team and the All Star Game MVP The Bulls won the Eastern Conference Championship for a third straight season including surviving a seven game series with the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals it was the first time Jordan had played in a Game since the Eastern Conference Semifinals with the Knicks After winning they moved on for a rematch with the Jazz in the Finals
The Bulls returned to the Delta Center for Game on June leading the series Jordan executed a series of plays considered to be one of the greatest clutch performances in NBA Finals history With the Bulls trailing with seconds remaining in the fourth quarter Phil Jackson called a timeout When play resumed Jordan received the inbound pass drove to the basket and hit a shot over several Jazz defenders cutting the Utah lead to The Jazz brought the ball upcourt and passed the ball to forward Karl Malone who was set up in the low post and was being guarded by Rodman Malone jostled with Rodman and caught the pass but Jordan cut behind him and took the ball out of his hands for a steal Jordan then dribbled down the court and paused eyeing his defender Jazz guard Bryon Russell With seconds remaining Jordan started to dribble right then crossed over to his left possibly pushing off Russell although the officials did not call a foul With seconds left Jordan gave Chicago an lead with a game winning jumper the climactic shot of his Bulls career Afterwards John Stockton missed a game winning three pointer Jordan and the Bulls won their sixth NBA championship and second three peat Once again Jordan was voted the Finals MVP having led all scorers averaging points per game including in the deciding Game Jordan s six Finals MVPs is a record Shaquille O Neal Magic Johnson LeBron James and Tim Duncan are tied for second place with three apiece The Finals holds the highest television rating of any Finals series in history Game also holds the highest television rating of any game in NBA history
With Phil Jackson s contract expiring the pending departures of Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman looming and being in the latter stages of an owner induced lockout of NBA players Jordan retired for the second time on January On January Jordan returned to the NBA not as a player but as part owner and President of Basketball Operations for the Washington Wizards Jordan s responsibilities with the Wizards were comprehensive He controlled all aspects of the Wizards basketball operations and had the final say in all personnel matters Opinions of Jordan as a basketball executive were mixed He managed to purge the team of several highly paid unpopular players such as forward Juwan Howard and point guard Rod Strickland but used the first pick in the NBA draft to select high schooler Kwame Brown who did not live up to expectations and was traded away after four seasons
Despite his January claim that he was certain that he would never play another NBA game in the summer of Jordan expressed interest in making another comeback this time with his new team Inspired by the NHL comeback of his friend Mario Lemieux the previous winter Jordan spent much of the spring and summer of in training holding several invitation only camps for NBA players in Chicago In addition Jordan hired his old Chicago Bulls head coach Doug Collins as Washington s coach for the upcoming season a decision that many saw as foreshadowing another Jordan return
On September Jordan announced his return to the NBA to play for the Washington Wizards indicating his intention to donate his salary as a player to a relief effort for the victims of the September attacks In an injury plagued season he led the team in scoring ppg assists apg and steals spg However torn cartilage in his right knee ended Jordan s season after only games the fewest he had played in a regular season since playing games after returning from his first retirement during the season Jordan started of his games for the season averaging points assists and rebounds and shooting from the field in his starts His last seven appearances were in a reserve role in which he averaged just over minutes per game
Playing in his th and final NBA All Star Game in Jordan passed Kareem Abdul Jabbar as the all time leading scorer in All Star Game history a record since broken by Kobe Bryant That year Jordan was the only Washington player to play in all games starting in of them He averaged points rebounds assists and steals per game He also shot from the field and from the free throw line Even though he turned during the season he scored or more points times or more points nine times and or more points three times On February Jordan became the first year old to tally points in an NBA game During his stint with the Wizards all of Jordan s home games at the MCI Center were sold out and the Wizards were the second most watched team in the NBA averaging fans a game at home and on the road However neither of Jordan s final two seasons resulted in a playoff appearance for the Wizards and Jordan was often unsatisfied with the play of those around him At several points he openly criticized his teammates to the media citing their lack of focus and intensity notably that of the number one draft pick in the NBA draft Kwame Brown
With the recognition that would be Jordan s final season tributes were paid to him throughout the NBA In his final game at his old home court the United Center in Chicago Jordan received a four minute standing ovation The Miami Heat retired the number jersey on April even though Jordan never played for the team At the All Star Game Jordan was offered a starting spot from Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson but refused both In the end he accepted the spot of Vince Carter who decided to give it up under great public pressure
Jordan s final NBA game was on April in Philadelphia After scoring only points in the game Jordan went to the bench with minutes and seconds remaining in the third quarter and with his team trailing the Philadelphia ers Just after the start of the fourth quarter the First Union Center crowd began chanting We want Mike After much encouragement from coach Doug Collins Jordan finally rose from the bench and re entered the game replacing Larry Hughes with remaining At Jordan was intentionally fouled by the ers Eric Snow and stepped to the line to make both free throws After the second foul shot the ers in bounded the ball to rookie John Salmons who in turn was intentionally fouled by Bobby Simmons one second later stopping time so that Jordan could return to the bench Jordan received a three minute standing ovation from his teammates his opponents the officials and the crowd of fans
Jordan played on two Olympic gold medal winning American basketball teams As a college player he participated and won the gold in the Summer Olympics The team was coached by Bob Knight and featured players such as Patrick Ewing Sam Perkins Chris Mullin Steve Alford and Wayman Tisdale Jordan led the team in scoring averaging ppg for the tournament
In the Summer Olympics he was a member of the star studded squad that included Magic Johnson Larry Bird and David Robinson and was dubbed the Dream Team Jordan was the only player to start all games in the Olympics Playing limited minutes due to the frequent blowouts Jordan averaged ppg finishing second on the team in scoring Jordan and fellow Dream Team members Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin are the only American men s basketball players to win Olympic gold as amateurs and professionals
After his third retirement Jordan assumed that he would be able to return to his front office position of Director of Basketball Operations with the Wizards However his previous tenure in the Wizards front office had produced the aforementioned mixed results and may have also influenced the trade of Richard Rip Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse although Jordan was not technically Director of Basketball Operations in On May Wizards owner Abe Pollin fired Jordan as Washington s President of Basketball Operations Jordan later stated that he felt betrayed and that if he knew he would be fired upon retiring he never would have come back to play for the Wizards
Jordan kept busy over the next few years by staying in shape playing golf in celebrity charity tournaments spending time with his family in Chicago promoting his Jordan Brand clothing line and riding motorcycles Since Jordan has owned Michael Jordan Motorsports a professional closed course motorcycle road racing team that competed with two Suzukis in the premier Superbike championship sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association AMA until the end of the season Jordan and his then wife Juanita pledged million to Chicago s Hales Franciscan High School in and the Jordan Brand has made donations to Habitat for Humanity and a Louisiana branch of the Boys Girls Clubs of America
On June Jordan bought a minority stake in the Charlotte Bobcats becoming the team s second largest shareholder behind majority owner Robert L Johnson As part of the deal Jordan took full control over the basketball side of the operation with the title Managing Member of Basketball Operations Despite Jordan s previous success as an endorser he has made an effort not to be included in Charlotte s marketing campaigns A decade earlier Jordan had made a bid to become part owner of Charlotte s original NBA team the Charlotte Hornets but talks collapsed when owner George Shinn refused to give Jordan complete control of basketball operations
In February it was reported that Jordan was seeking majority ownership of the Bobcats As February wore on it emerged that the leading contenders for the team were Jordan and former Houston Rockets president George Postolos On February the Bobcats announced that Johnson had reached an agreement with Jordan and his group MJ Basketball Holdings to buy the team pending NBA approval On March the NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved Jordan s purchase making him the first former player ever to become the majority owner of an NBA team It also made him the league s only African American majority owner
During the NBA lockout The New York Times wrote that Jordan led a group of to hardline owners wanting to cap the players share of basketball related income at percent and as low as Journalists observed that during the labor dispute in Jordan had told Washington Wizards then owner Abe Pollin If you can t make a profit you should sell your team Jason Whitlock of FoxSportscom called Jordan a sellout wanting current players to pay for his incompetence He cited Jordan s executive decisions to draft disappointing players Kwame Brown and Adam Morrison
During the NBA season which was shortened to games the Bobcats posted a record Their winning percentage was the worst in NBA history I m not real happy about the record book scenario last year It s very very frustrating Jordan said later that year
On May Jordan filed papers to change the Bobcats name to the Hornets effective with the season The Hornets name had become available when the original Hornets who had moved to New Orleans in changed their name to the New Orleans Pelicans for the season The NBA approved the change on July The name change became official on May On the same day the team announced that it had reclaimed the history and records of the original Hornets
Jordan was a shooting guard who was also capable of playing as a small forward the position he would primarily play during his second return to professional basketball with the Washington Wizards and as a point guard Jordan was known throughout his career for being a strong clutch performer With the Bulls he decided games with field goals or free throws in the last seconds including two NBA Finals games and five other playoff contests His competitiveness was visible in his prolific trash talk and well known work ethic As the Bulls organization built the franchise around Jordan management had to trade away players who were not tough enough to compete with him in practice To help improve his defense he spent extra hours studying film of opponents On offense he relied more upon instinct and improvisation at game time Noted as a durable player Jordan did not miss four or more games while active for a full season from to when he injured his right knee He played all games nine times Jordan has frequently cited David Thompson Walter Davis and Jerry West as influences From the start of his career Jordan was unique among NBA players in that he had a special Love of the Game Clause written into his contract which allowed him to play basketball against anyone at any time anywhere
Jordan had a versatile offensive game He was capable of aggressively driving to the basket as well as drawing fouls from his opponents at a high rate his free throw attempts are the ninth highest total of all time As his career progressed Jordan also developed the ability to post up his opponents and score with his trademark fadeaway jump shot using his leaping ability to fade away from block attempts According to Hubie Brown this move alone made him nearly unstoppable Despite media criticism as a selfish player early in his career Jordan s assists per game also indicate his willingness to defer to his teammates In later years the NBA shortened its three point line to feet from feet inches which coupled with Jordan s extended shooting range to make him a long range threat as well his point stroke developed from a low rate in his rookie year into a stellar shooter in the season For a guard Jordan was also a good rebounder per game
In Jordan was honored with the NBA s Defensive Player of the Year Award and became the first NBA player to win both the Defensive Player of the Year and MVP awards in a career since equaled by Hakeem Olajuwon David Robinson and Kevin Garnett Olajuwon is the only player other than Jordan to win both during the same season In addition he set both seasonal and career records for blocked shots by a guard and combined this with his ball thieving ability to become a standout defensive player He ranks third in NBA history in total steals with trailing John Stockton and Jason Kidd Jerry West often stated that he was more impressed with Jordan s defensive contributions than his offensive ones He was also known to have strong eyesight broadcaster Al Michaels said that he was able to read baseball box scores on a inch television clearly from about feet away
Jordan s marked talent was clear from his rookie season In his first game in Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks Jordan received a prolonged standing ovation a rarity for an opposing player After Jordan scored a playoff record points against the Boston Celtics on April Celtics star Larry Bird described him as God disguised as Michael Jordan
Jordan led the NBA in scoring in seasons NBA record and tied Wilt Chamberlain s record of seven consecutive scoring titles He was also a fixture on the NBA All Defensive First Team making the roster nine times NBA record shared with Gary Payton Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant Jordan also holds the top career regular season and playoff scoring averages of and points per game respectively By the season of his Finals winning shot against the Jazz he was well known throughout the league as a clutch performer In the regular season Jordan was the Bulls primary threat in the final seconds of a close game and in the playoffs Jordan would always demand the ball at crunch time Jordan s total of points in the playoffs is the highest in NBA history He retired with points in regular season play placing him fourth on the NBA s all time scoring list behind Kareem Abdul Jabbar Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant
With five regular season MVPs tied for second place with Bill Russell only Kareem Abdul Jabbar has won more six six Finals MVPs NBA record and three All Star MVPs Jordan is the most decorated player ever to play in the NBA Jordan finished among the top three in regular season MVP voting a record times and was named one of the Greatest Players in NBA History in He is one of only seven players in history to win an NCAA championship an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal doing so twice with the and US men s basketball teams
Many of Jordan s contemporaries say that Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time In an ESPN survey of journalists athletes and other sports figures ranked Jordan the greatest North American athlete of the th century above such luminaries as Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali Jordan placed second to Babe Ruth in the Associated Press s December list of th century athletes In addition the Associated Press voted him as the basketball player of the th century Jordan has also appeared on the front cover of Sports Illustrated a record times In the September issue of Sport which was the publication s th anniversary issue Jordan was named the greatest athlete of the past years
Jordan s athletic leaping ability highlighted in his back to back slam dunk contest championships in and is credited by many with having influenced a generation of young players Several current NBA All Stars have stated that they considered Jordan their role model while growing up including LeBron James and Dwyane Wade In addition commentators have dubbed a number of next generation players the next Michael Jordan upon their entry to the NBA including Anfernee Penny Hardaway Grant Hill Allen Iverson Kobe Bryant LeBron James Vince Carter and Dwyane Wade Although Jordan was a well rounded player his Air Jordan image is also often credited with inadvertently decreasing the jump shooting skills defense and fundamentals of young players a fact Jordan himself has lamented
I think it was the exposure of Michael Jordan the marketing of Michael Jordan Everything was marketed towards the things that people wanted to see which was scoring and dunking That Michael Jordan still played defense and an all around game but it was never really publicized
Although Jordan has done much to increase the status of the game some of his impact on the game s popularity in America appears to be fleeting Television ratings in particular increased only during his time in the league and Finals ratings have not returned to the level reached during his last championship winning season
In August the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield Massachusetts opened a Michael Jordan exhibit containing items from his college and NBA careers as well as from the Dream Team The exhibit also has a batting glove to signify Jordan s short career in baseball After Jordan received word of his being accepted into the Hall of Fame he selected Class of member David Thompson to present him As Jordan would later explain during his induction speech in September growing up in North Carolina he was not a fan of the Tar Heels and greatly admired Thompson who played at rival North Carolina State He was inducted into the Hall in September with several former Bulls teammates in attendance including Scottie Pippen Dennis Rodman Charles Oakley Ron Harper Steve Kerr and Toni Kuko Former coaches of Jordan s Dean Smith and Doug Collins were also among those present His emotional reaction during his speech when he began to cry was captured by Associated Press photographer Stephan Savoia and would later become widely shared on social media as the Crying Jordan Internet meme
He married Juanita Vanoy in September and they have two sons Jeffrey Michael and Marcus James and a daughter Jasmine Jordan and Vanoy filed for divorce on January citing irreconcilable differences but reconciled shortly thereafter They again filed for divorce and were granted a final decree of dissolution of marriage on December commenting that the decision was made mutually and amicably It is reported that Juanita received a million settlement equivalent to million in making it the largest celebrity divorce settlement in history at the time on public record
In Jordan purchased a lot in Highland Park Illinois to build a square foot mansion which was completed four years later Both of his sons attended Loyola Academy a private Roman Catholic high school located in Wilmette Illinois Jeffrey graduated as a member of the graduating class and played his first collegiate basketball game on November for the University of Illinois After two seasons Jeffrey left the Illinois basketball team in He later rejoined the team for a third season then received a release to transfer to the University of Central Florida where Marcus was attending Marcus transferred to Whitney Young High School after his sophomore year at Loyola Academy and graduated in He began attending UCF in the fall of and played three seasons of basketball for the school
On July a judge in Cook County Illinois determined that Jordan did not owe his alleged former lover Karla Knafel million in a breach of contract claim Jordan had allegedly paid Knafel to keep their relationship a secret Knafel claimed Jordan promised her million for remaining silent and agreeing not to file a paternity suit after Knafel learned she was pregnant in A DNA test showed Jordan was not the father of the child
He proposed to his longtime girlfriend Cuban American model Yvette Prieto on Christmas Eve and they were married on April at Bethesda by the Sea Episcopal Church It was announced on November that the two were expecting their first child together Jordan listed his Highland Park mansion for sale in On February Prieto gave birth to identical twin daughters named Victoria and Ysabel
Jordan s private jet features a stripe in Carolina blue the Air Jordan logo on the tail and references to his career in the identification number
Jordan is one of the most marketed sports figures in history He has been a major spokesman for such brands as Nike Coca Cola Chevrolet Gatorade McDonald s Ball Park Franks Rayovac Wheaties Hanes and MCI Jordan has had a long relationship with Gatorade appearing in over commercials for the company since including the Be Like Mike commercials in which a song was sung by children wishing to be like Jordan
Nike created a signature shoe for him called the Air Jordan One of Jordan s more popular commercials for the shoe involved Spike Lee playing the part of Mars Blackmon In the commercials Lee as Blackmon attempted to find the source of Jordan s abilities and became convinced that it s gotta be the shoes The hype and demand for the shoes even brought on a spate of shoe jackings where people were robbed of their sneakers at gunpoint Subsequently Nike spun off the Jordan line into its own division named the Jordan Brand The company features an impressive list of athletes and celebrities as endorsers The brand has also sponsored college sports programs such as those of North Carolina Cal Georgetown and Marquette
Jordan also has been associated with the Looney Tunes cartoon characters A Nike commercial shown during s Super Bowl XXVI featured Jordan and Bugs Bunny playing basketball The Super Bowl commercial inspired the live action animated film Space Jam which starred Jordan and Bugs in a fictional story set during the former s first retirement from basketball They have subsequently appeared together in several commercials for MCI Jordan also made an appearance in the music video of Michael Jackson s Jam
Jordan s yearly income from the endorsements is estimated to be over forty million dollars In addition when Jordan s power at the ticket gates was at its highest point the Bulls regularly sold out both their home and road games Due to this Jordan set records in player salary by signing annual contracts worth in excess of US million per season An academic study found that Jordan s first NBA comeback resulted in an increase in the market capitalization of his client firms of more than billion
Most of Jordan s endorsement deals including his first deal with Nike were engineered by his agent David Falk Jordan has described Falk as the best at what he does and that marketing wise he s great He s the one who came up with the concept of Air Jordan
In June Jordan was ranked by Forbes magazine as the th most powerful celebrity in the world with million earned between June and June According to the Forbes article Jordan Brand generates billion in sales for Nike In June Jordan was named the first NBA player to become a billionaire after he increased his stake in the Charlotte Hornets from to On January Jordan was honored with the Charlotte Business Journal s Business Person of the Year for As of November his current net worth is estimated at billion by Forbes Jordan is the second richest African American in the world as of
Polish culture during World War II was suppressed by the occupying powers of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union both of whom were hostile to Poland s people and cultural heritage Policies aimed at cultural genocide resulted in the deaths of thousands of scholars and artists and the theft and destruction of innumerable cultural artifacts The maltreatment of the Poles was one of many ways in which the Nazi and Soviet regimes had grown to resemble one another wrote British historian Niall Ferguson
The occupiers looted and destroyed much of Poland s cultural and historical heritage while persecuting and murdering members of the Polish cultural elite Most Polish schools were closed and those that remained open saw their curricula altered significantly
Nevertheless underground organizations and individuals in particular the Polish Underground State saved much of Poland s most valuable cultural treasures and worked to salvage as many cultural institutions and artifacts as possible The Catholic Church and wealthy individuals contributed to the survival of some artists and their works Despite severe retribution by the Nazis and Soviets Polish underground cultural activities including publications concerts live theater education and academic research continued throughout the war
In Poland ceased to exist as an sovereign nation and throughout the th century remained partitioned by degrees between Prussian Austrian and Russian empires Not until the end of World War I was independence restored and the nation reunited although the drawing of boundary lines was of necessity a contentious issue Independent Poland lasted for only years before it was again attacked and divided among foreign powers
On September Germany invaded Poland initiating World War II in Europe and on September pursuant to the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact Poland was invaded by the Soviet Union Subsequently Poland was partitioned again between these two powers and remained under occupation for most of the war By October Germany and the Soviet Union had completely overrun Poland although the Polish government never formally surrendered and the Polish Underground State subordinate to the Polish government in exile was soon formed On October Nazi Germany annexed the western areas of pre war Poland and in the remainder of the occupied area established the General Government The Soviet Union had to temporarily give up the territorial gains it made in due to the German invasion of the Soviet Union but permanently re annexed much of this territory after winning it back in mid Over the course of the war Poland lost over of its pre war population amid an occupation that marked the end of the Second Polish Republic
Germany s policy toward the Polish nation and its culture evolved during the course of the war Many German officials and military officers were initially not given any clear guidelines on the treatment of Polish cultural institutions but this quickly changed Immediately following the invasion of Poland in September the Nazi German government implemented the first stages the small plan of Generalplan Ost The basic policy was outlined by the Berlin Office of Racial Policy in a document titled Concerning the Treatment of the Inhabitants of the Former Polish Territories from a Racial Political Standpoint Slavic people living east of the pre war German border were to be Germanized enslaved or eradicated depending on whether they lived in the territories directly annexed into the German state or in the General Government
Much of the German policy on Polish culture was formulated during a meeting between the governor of the General Government Hans Frank and Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels at d on October Goebbels declared that The Polish nation is not worthy to be called a cultured nation He and Frank agreed that opportunities for the Poles to experience their culture should be severely restricted no theaters cinemas or cabarets no access to radio or press and no education Frank suggested that the Poles should periodically be shown films highlighting the achievements of the Third Reich and should eventually be addressed only by megaphone During the following weeks Polish schools beyond middle vocational levels were closed as were theaters and many other cultural institutions The only Polish language newspaper published in occupied Poland was also closed and the arrests of Polish intellectuals began
In March all cultural activities came under the control of the General Government s Department of People s Education and Propaganda Abteilung fr Volksaufklrung und Propaganda whose name was changed a year later to the Chief Propaganda Department Hauptabteilung Propaganda Further directives issued in the spring and early summer reflected policies that had been outlined by Frank and Goebbels during the previous autumn One of the Department s earliest decrees prohibited the organization of all but the most primitive of cultural activities without the Department s prior approval Spectacles of low quality including those of an erotic or pornographic nature were however an exception those were to be popularized to appease the population and to show the world the real Polish culture as well as to create the impression that Germany was not preventing Poles from expressing themselves German propaganda specialists invited critics from neutral countries to specially organized Polish performances that were specifically designed to be boring or pornographic and presented them as typical Polish cultural activities Polish German cooperation in cultural matters such as joint public performances was strictly prohibited Meanwhile a compulsory registration scheme for writers and artists was introduced in August Then in October the printing of new Polish language books was prohibited existing titles were censored and often confiscated and withdrawn
In German policy evolved further calling for the complete destruction of the Polish people whom the Nazis regarded as subhumans Untermenschen Within ten to twenty years the Polish territories under German occupation were to be entirely cleared of ethnic Poles and settled by German colonists The policy was relaxed somewhat in the final years of occupation in view of German military defeats and the approaching Eastern Front The Germans hoped that a more lenient cultural policy would lessen unrest and weaken the Polish Resistance Poles were allowed back into those museums that now supported German propaganda and indoctrination such as the newly created Chopin museum which emphasized the composer s invented German roots Restrictions on education theater and music performances were eased
Given that the Second Polish Republic was a multicultural state German policies and propaganda also sought to create and encourage conflicts between ethnic groups fueling tension between Poles and Jews and between Poles and Ukrainians In d the Germans forced Jews to help destroy a monument to a Polish hero Tadeusz Kociuszko and filmed them committing the act Soon afterward the Germans set fire to a Jewish synagogue and filmed Polish bystanders portraying them in propaganda releases as a vengeful mob This divisive policy was reflected in the Germans decision to destroy Polish education while at the same time showing relative tolerance toward the Ukrainian school system As the high ranking Nazi official Erich Koch explained We must do everything possible so that when a Pole meets a Ukrainian he will be willing to kill the Ukrainian and conversely the Ukrainian will be willing to kill the Pole
In as the occupation regime was being established the Nazis confiscated Polish state property and much private property Countless art objects were looted and taken to Germany in line with a plan that had been drawn up well in advance of the invasion The looting was supervised by experts of the SS Ahnenerbe Einsatzgruppen units who were responsible for art and by experts of Haupttreuhandstelle Ost who were responsible for more mundane objects Notable items plundered by the Nazis included the Altar of Veit Stoss and paintings by Raphael Rembrandt Leonardo da Vinci Canaletto and Bacciarelli Most of the important art pieces had been secured by the Nazis within six months of September by the end of German officials estimated that over of the art previously in Poland was in their possession Some art was shipped to German museums such as the planned Fhrermuseum in Linz while other art became the private property of Nazi officials Over individual art pieces were taken including paintings by European painters works by Polish painters sculptures manuscripts maps and books including over printed before as well as hundreds of thousands of other objects of artistic and historic value Even exotic animals were taken from the zoos
Many places of learning and culture universities schools libraries museums theaters and cinemas were either closed or designated as Nur fr Deutsche For Germans Only Twenty five museums and a host of other institutions were destroyed during the war According to one estimate by war s end of the infrastructure of Poland s educational and research institutions and of its museums had been destroyed According to another only of pre war Poland s museums survived the war and just of these institutions were able to reopen Of pre war Poland s scientific institutions about half were totally destroyed and only a few survived the war relatively intact
Many university professors as well as teachers lawyers artists writers priests and other members of the Polish intelligentsia were arrested and executed or transported to concentration camps during operations such as AB Aktion This particular campaign resulted in the infamous Sonderaktion Krakau and the massacre of Lww professors During World War II Poland lost to of its physicians and dentists to of its lawyers to of its teachers to of its scientists and university professors and to of its clergy The Jewish intelligentsia was exterminated altogether The reasoning behind this policy was clearly articulated by a Nazi gauleiter In my district any Pole who shows signs of intelligence will be shot
As part of their program to suppress Polish culture the German Nazis attempted to destroy Christianity in Poland with a particular emphasis on the Roman Catholic Church In some parts of occupied Poland Poles were restricted or even forbidden from attending religious services At the same time church property was confiscated prohibitions were placed on using the Polish language in religious services organizations affiliated with the Catholic Church were abolished and it was forbidden to perform certain religious songs or to read passages of the Bible in public The worst conditions were found in the Reichsgau Wartheland which the Nazis treated as a laboratory for their anti religious policies Polish clergy and religious leaders figured prominently among portions of the intelligentsia that were targeted for extermination
To forestall the rise of a new generation of educated Poles German officials decreed that the schooling of Polish children would be limited to a few years of elementary education Reichsfhrer SS Heinrich Himmler wrote in a memorandum of May The sole purpose of this schooling is to teach them simple arithmetic nothing above the number how to write one s name and the doctrine that it is divine law to obey the Germans I do not regard a knowledge of reading as desirable Hans Frank echoed him The Poles do not need universities or secondary schools the Polish lands are to be converted into an intellectual desert The situation was particularly dire in the former Polish territories beyond the General Government which had been annexed to the Third Reich The specific policy varied from territory to territory but in general there was no Polish language education at all German policy constituted a crash Germanization of the populace Polish teachers were dismissed and some were invited to attend orientation meetings with the new administration where they were either summarily arrested or executed on the spot Some Polish schoolchildren were sent to German schools while others were sent to special schools where they spent most of their time as unpaid laborers usually on German run farms speaking Polish brought severe punishment It was expected that Polish children would begin to work once they finished their primary education at age to In the eastern territories not included in the General Government Bezirk Bialystok Reichskommissariat Ostland and Reichskommissariat Ukraine many primary schools were closed and most education was conducted in non Polish languages such as Ukrainian Belorussian and Lithuanian In the Bezirk Bialystok region for example of the schools that had existed before the war were closed down during the first two years of German occupation and by the end of the following year that figure had increased to
The state of Polish primary schools was somewhat better in the General Government though by the end of only of prewar schools were operational and only of prewar Polish children attended them A German police memorandum of August described the situation as follows
Pupils sit crammed together without necessary materials and often without skilled teaching staff Moreover the Polish schools are closed during at least five months out of the ten months of the school year due to lack of coal or other fuel Of twenty thirty spacious school buildings which Krakw had before today the worst two buildings are used Every day pupils have to study in several shifts Under such circumstances the school day which normally lasts five hours is reduced to one hour
In the General Government the remaining schools were subjugated to the German educational system and the number and competence of their Polish staff was steadily scaled down All universities and most secondary schools were closed if not immediately after the invasion then by mid By late no official Polish educational institutions more advanced than a vocational school remained in operation and they offered nothing beyond the elementary trade and technical training required for the Nazi economy Primary schooling was to last for seven years but the classes in the final two years of the program were to be limited to meeting one day per week There was no money for heating of the schools in winter Classes and schools were to be merged Polish teachers dismissed and the resulting savings used to sponsor the creation of schools for children of the German minority or to create barracks for German troops No new Polish teachers were to be trained The educational curriculum was censored subjects such as literature history and geography were removed Old textbooks were confiscated and school libraries were closed The new educational aims for Poles included convincing them that their national fate was hopeless and teaching them to be submissive and respectful to Germans This was accomplished through deliberate tactics such as police raids on schools police inspections of student belongings mass arrests of students and teachers and the use of students as forced laborers often by transporting them to Germany as seasonal workers
The Germans were especially active in the destruction of Jewish culture in Poland nearly all of the wooden synagogues there were destroyed Moreover the sale of Jewish literature was banned throughout Poland
Polish literature faced a similar fate in territories annexed by Germany where the sale of Polish books was forbidden The public destruction of Polish books was not limited to those seized from libraries but also included those books that were confiscated from private homes The last Polish book titles not already proscribed were withdrawn in even Polish prayer books were confiscated Soon after the occupation began most libraries were closed in Krakw about of the libraries were closed immediately while the remainder saw their collections decimated by censors The occupying powers destroyed Polish book collections including the Sejm and Senate Library the Przedziecki Estate Library the Zamoyski Estate Library the Central Military Library and the Rapperswil Collection In the last remaining Polish public library in the German occupied territories was closed in Warsaw During the war Warsaw libraries lost about a million volumes or of their collections More than of these losses were the direct result of purges rather than wartime conflict Overall it is estimated that about million volumes from state owned libraries and institutions perished during the war
Polish flags and other symbols were confiscated The war on the Polish language included the tearing down of signs in Polish and the banning of Polish speech in public places Persons who spoke Polish in the streets were often insulted and even physically assaulted The Germanization of place names prevailed Many treasures of Polish culture including memorials plaques and monuments to national heroes eg Krakw s Adam Mickiewicz monument were destroyed In Toru all Polish monuments and plaques were torn down Dozens of monuments were destroyed throughout Poland The Nazis planned to level entire cities
The Germans prohibited publication of any regular Polish language book literary study or scholarly paper In several German controlled printing houses began operating in occupied Poland publishing items such as Polish German dictionaries and antisemitic and anticommunist novels
Censorship at first targeted books that were considered to be serious including scientific and educational texts and texts that were thought to promote Polish patriotism only fiction that was free of anti German overtones was permitted Banned literature included maps atlases and English and French language publications including dictionaries Several non public indexes of prohibited books were created and over Polish writers were declared dangerous to the German state and culture The index of banned authors included such Polish authors as Adam Mickiewicz Juliusz Sowacki Stanisaw Wyspiaski Bolesaw Prus Stefan eromski Jzef Ignacy Kraszewski Wadysaw Reymont Stanisaw Wyspiaski Julian Tuwim Kornel Makuszyski Leopold Staff Eliza Orzeszkowa and Maria Konopnicka Mere possession of such books was illegal and punishable by imprisonment Door to door sale of books was banned and bookstores which required a license to operate were either emptied out or closed
Poles were forbidden under penalty of death to own radios The press was reduced from over publications to a few dozen all censored by the Germans All pre war newspapers were closed and the few that were published during the occupation were new creations under the total control of the Germans Such a thorough destruction of the press was unprecedented in contemporary history The only officially available reading matter was the propaganda press that was disseminated by the German occupation administration Cinemas now under the control of the German propaganda machine saw their programming dominated by Nazi German movies which were preceded by propaganda newsreels The few Polish films permitted to be shown about of the total programming were edited to eliminate references to Polish national symbols as well as Jewish actors and producers Several propaganda films were shot in Polish although no Polish films were shown after As all profits from Polish cinemas were officially directed toward German war production attendance was discouraged by the Polish underground a famous underground slogan declared Tylko winie siedz w kinie Only pigs attend the movies A similar situation faced theaters which were forbidden by the Germans to produce serious spectacles Indeed a number of propaganda pieces were created for theater stages Hence theatrical productions were also boycotted by the underground In addition actors were discouraged from performing in them and warned that they would be labeled as collaborators if they failed to comply Ironically restrictions on cultural performances were eased in Jewish ghettos given that the Germans wished to distract ghetto inhabitants and prevent them from grasping their eventual fate
Music was the least restricted of cultural activities probably because Hans Frank regarded himself as a fan of serious music In time he ordered the creation of the Orchestra and Symphony of the General Government in its capital Krakw Numerous musical performances were permitted in cafes and churches and the Polish underground chose to boycott only the propagandist operas Visual artists including painters and sculptors were compelled to register with the German government but their work was generally tolerated by the underground unless it conveyed propagandist themes Shuttered museums were replaced by occasional art exhibitions that frequently conveyed propagandist themes
The development of Nazi propaganda in occupied Poland can be divided into two main phases Initial efforts were directed towards creating a negative image of pre war Poland and later efforts were aimed at fostering anti Soviet antisemitic and pro German attitudes
After the Soviet invasion of Poland beginning September that followed the German invasion that had marked the start of World War II beginning September the Soviet Union annexed the eastern parts Kresy of the Second Polish Republic comprising square kilometres sq mi and a population of million Hitler and Stalin shared the goal of obliterating Poland s political and cultural life so that Poland would according to historian Niall Ferguson cease to exist not merely as a place but also as an idea
The Soviet authorities regarded service to the prewar Polish state as a crime against revolution and counter revolutionary activity and arrested many members of the Polish intelligentsia politicians civil servants and academics as well as ordinary persons suspected of posing a threat to Soviet rule More than a million Polish citizens were deported to Siberia many to Gulag concentration camps for years or decades Others died including over military officers who perished in the Katyn massacres
The Soviets quickly Sovietized the annexed lands introducing compulsory collectivization They proceeded to confiscate nationalize and redistribute private and state owned Polish property In the process they banned political parties and public associations and imprisoned or executed their leaders as enemies of the people In line with Soviet anti religious policy churches and religious organizations were persecuted On February the NKVD unleashed a campaign of terror against anti Soviet elements in occupied Poland The Soviets targets included persons who often traveled abroad persons involved in overseas correspondence Esperantists philatelists Red Cross workers refugees smugglers priests and members of religious congregations the nobility landowners wealthy merchants bankers industrialists and hotel and restaurant owners Stalin like Hitler worked to eliminate Polish society
The Soviet authorities sought to remove all trace of the Polish history of the area now under their control The name Poland was banned Polish monuments were torn down All institutions of the dismantled Polish state including the Lww University were closed then reopened mostly with new Russian directors Soviet Communist ideology became paramount in all teaching Polish literature and language studies were dissolved by the Soviet authorities and the Polish language was replaced with Russian or Ukrainian Polish language books were burned even in the primary schools Polish teachers were not allowed in the schools and many were arrested Classes were held in Belorussian Lithuanian and Ukrainian with a new pro Soviet curriculum As Polish Canadian historian Piotr Wrbel noted citing British historians M R D Foot and I C B Dear majority of scholars believe that In the Soviet occupation zone conditions were only marginally less harsh than under the Germans In September many Polish Jews had fled east after some months of living under Soviet rule some of them wanted to return to the German zone of occupied Poland
All publications and media were subjected to censorship The Soviets sought to recruit Polish left wing intellectuals who were willing to cooperate Soon after the Soviet invasion the Writers Association of Soviet Ukraine created a local chapter in Lww there was a Polish language theater and radio station Polish cultural activities in Minsk and Wilno were less organized These activities were strictly controlled by the Soviet authorities which saw to it that these activities portrayed the new Soviet regime in a positive light and vilified the former Polish government
The Soviet propaganda motivated support for Polish language cultural activities however clashed with the official policy of Russification The Soviets at first intended to phase out the Polish language and so banned Polish from schools street signs and other aspects of life This policy was however reversed at times first before the elections in October and later after the German conquest of France In November the Poles of Lww observed the th anniversary of Adam Mickiewicz s death Soon however Stalin decided to re implement the Russification policies He reversed his decision again however when a need arose for Polish language pro Soviet propaganda following the German invasion of the Soviet Union as a result Stalin permitted the creation of Polish forces in the East and later decided to create a Communist People s Republic of Poland
Many Polish writers collaborated with the Soviets writing pro Soviet propaganda They included Jerzy Borejsza Tadeusz Boy eleski Kazimierz Brandys Janina Broniewska Jan Brzoza Teodor Bujnicki Leon Chwistek Zuzanna Ginczanka Halina Grska Mieczysaw Jastrun Stefan Jdrychowski Stanisaw Jerzy Lec Tadeusz opalewski Juliusz Kleiner Jan Kott Jalu Kurek Karol Kuryluk Leopold Lewin Anatol Mikuko Jerzy Paski Leon Pasternak Julian Przybo Jerzy Putrament Jerzy Rawicz Adolf Rudnicki Wodzimierz Sobodnik Wodzimierz Sokorski Elbieta Szempliska Anatol Stern Julian Stryjkowski Lucjan Szenwald Leopold Tyrmand Wanda Wasilewska Stanisaw Wasilewski Adam Wayk Aleksander Weintraub and Bruno Winawer
Other Polish writers however rejected the Soviet persuasions and instead published underground Jadwiga Czechowiczwna Jerzy Hordyski Jadwiga Gamska empicka Herminia Naglerowa Beata Obertyska Ostap Ortwin Tadeusz Peiper Teodor Parnicki Juliusz Petry Some writers such as Wadysaw Broniewski after collaborating with the Soviets for a few months joined the anti Soviet opposition Similarly Aleksander Wat initially sympathetic to communism was arrested by the Soviet NKVD secret police and exiled to Kazakhstan
Polish culture persisted in underground education publications even theater The Polish Underground State created a Department of Education and Culture under Stanisaw Lorentz which along with a Department of Labor and Social Welfare under Jan Stanisaw Jankowski and later Stefan Mateja and a Department for Elimination of the Effects of War under Antoni Olszewski and Bronisaw Domosawski became underground patrons of Polish culture These Departments oversaw efforts to save from looting and destruction works of art in state and private collections most notably the giant paintings by Jan Matejko that were concealed throughout the war They compiled reports on looted and destroyed works and provided artists and scholars with means to continue their work and their publications and to support their families Thus they sponsored the underground publication bibua of works by Winston Churchill and Arkady Fiedler and of copies of a Polish primary school primer and commissioned artists to create resistance artwork which was then disseminated by Operation N and like activities Also occasionally sponsored were secret art exhibitions theater performances and concerts
Other important patrons of Polish culture included the Roman Catholic Church and Polish aristocrats who likewise supported artists and safeguarded Polish heritage notable patrons included Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha and a former politician Janusz Radziwi Some private publishers including Stefan Kamieski Zbigniew Mitzner and the Ossolineum publishing house paid writers for books that would be delivered after the war
In response to the German closure and censorship of Polish schools resistance among teachers led almost immediately to the creation of large scale underground educational activities Most notably the Secret Teaching Organization Tajna Organizacja Nauczycielska TON was created as early as in October Other organizations were created locally after they were increasingly subordinated and coordinated by the TON working closely with the Underground s State Department of Culture and Education which was created in autumn and headed by Czesaw Wycech creator of the TON Classes were either held under the cover of officially permitted activities or in private homes and other venues By about students took part in underground primary education in its secondary school system covered people and university level courses were attended by about students for comparison the pre war enrollment at Polish universities was about for the year More than secondary school pupils attended underground classes held by nearly teachers between and in four districts of the General Government centered on the cities of Warsaw Krakw Radom and Lublin Overall in that period in the General Government one of every three children was receiving some sort of education from the underground organizations the number rose to about for children old enough to attend secondary school It is estimated that in some rural areas the educational coverage was actually improved most likely as courses were being organized in some cases by teachers escaped or deported from the cities Compared to pre war classes the absence of Polish Jewish students was notable as they were confined by the Nazi Germans to ghettos there was however underground Jewish education in the ghettos often organized with support from Polish organizations like TON Students at the underground schools were often also members of the Polish resistance
In Warsaw there were over underground schools with teachers and students Underground Warsaw University educated students issuing masters and doctoral degrees Warsaw Politechnic under occupation educated students issuing engineering degrees doctoral ones and habilitations Jagiellonian University issued masters and doctoral degrees employed over professors and teachers and served more than students per year Throughout Poland many other universities and institutions of higher education of music theater arts and others continued their classes throughout the war Even some academic research was carried out for example by Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz a leading Polish philosopher and Zenon Klemensiewicz a linguist Nearly Polish scientists received funds from the Underground State enabling them to continue their research
The German attitude to underground education varied depending on whether it took place in the General Government or the annexed territories The Germans had almost certainly realized the full scale of the Polish underground education system by about but lacked the manpower to put an end to it probably prioritizing resources to dealing with the armed resistance For the most part closing underground schools and colleges in the General Government was not a top priority for the Germans In a German report on education admitted that control of what was being taught in schools particularly rural ones was difficult due to lack of manpower transportation and the activities of the Polish resistance Some schools semi openly taught unauthorized subjects in defiance of the German authorities Hans Frank noted in that although Polish teachers were a mortal enemy of the German states they could not all be disposed of immediately It was perceived as a much more serious issue in the annexed territories as it hindered the process of Germanization involvement in the underground education in those territories was much more likely to result in a sentence to a concentration camp
There were over underground newspapers among the most important were the Biuletyn Informacyjny of Armia Krajowa and Rzeczpospolita of the Government Delegation for Poland In addition to publication of news from intercepted Western radio transmissions there were hundreds of underground publications dedicated to politics economics education and literature for example Sztuka i Nard The highest recorded publication volume was an issue of Biuletyn Informacyjny printed in copies average volume of larger publication was copies The Polish underground also published booklets and leaflets from imaginary anti Nazi German organizations aimed at spreading disinformation and lowering morale among the Germans Books were also sometimes printed Other items were also printed such as patriotic posters or fake German administration posters ordering the Germans to evacuate Poland or telling Poles to register household cats
The two largest underground publishers were the Bureau of Information and Propaganda of Armia Krajowa and the Government Delegation for Poland Tajne Wojskowe Zakady Wydawnicze Secret Military Publishing House of Jerzy Rutkowski subordinated to the Armia Krajowa was probably the largest underground publisher in the world In addition to Polish titles Armia Krajowa also printed false German newspapers designed to decrease morale of the occupying German forces as part of Action N The majority of Polish underground presses were located in occupied Warsaw until the Warsaw Uprising in the summer of the Germans found over underground printing presses whose crews were usually executed or sent to concentration camps The second largest center for Polish underground publishing was Krakw There writers and editors faced similar dangers for example almost the entire editorial staff of the underground satirical paper Na Ucho was arrested and its chief editors were executed in Krakw on May Na Ucho was the longest published Polish underground paper devoted to satire issues were published starting in October The underground press was supported by a large number of activists in addition to the crews manning the printing presses scores of underground couriers distributed the publications According to some statistics these couriers were among the underground members most frequently arrested by the Germans
Under German occupation the professions of Polish journalists and writers were virtually eliminated as they had little opportunity to publish their work The Underground State s Department of Culture sponsored various initiatives and individuals enabling them to continue their work and aiding in their publication Novels and anthologies were published by underground presses over works were published underground over the course of the war Literary discussions were held and prominent writers of the period working in Poland included among others Krzysztof Kamil Baczyski Leslaw Bartelski Tadeusz Borowski Tadeusz Boy eleski Maria Dbrowska Tadeusz Gajcy Zuzanna Ginczanka Jarosaw Iwaszkiewicz future Nobel Prize winner Czesaw Miosz Zofia Nakowska Jan Parandowski Leopold Staff Kazimierz Wyka and Jerzy Zawieyski Writers wrote about the difficult conditions in the prisoner of war camps Konstanty Ildefons Gaczyski Stefan Flukowski Leon Kruczkowski Andrzej Nowicki and Marian Piechaa the ghettos and even from inside the concentration camps Jan Maria Gisges Halina Goczowa Zofia Grska Romanowiczowa Tadeusz Houj Kazimierz Andrzej Jaworski and Marian Kubicki Many writers did not survive the war among them Krzysztof Kamil Baczyski Wacaw Berent Tadeusz Boy eleski Tadeusz Gajcy Zuzanna Ginczanka Juliusz Kaden Bandrowski Stefan Kiedrzyski Janusz Korczak Halina Krahelska Tadeusz Hollender Witold Hulewicz Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski Wodzimierz Pietrzak Leon Pomirowski Kazimierz Przerwa Tetmajer and Bruno Schulz
With the censorship of Polish theater and the virtual end of the Polish radio and film industry underground theaters were created primarily in Warsaw and Krakw with shows presented in various underground venues Beginning in the theaters were coordinated by the Secret Theatrical Council Four large companies and more than smaller groups were active throughout the war even in the Gestapo s Pawiak prison in Warsaw and in Auschwitz underground acting schools were also created Underground actors many of whom officially worked mundane jobs included Karol Adwentowicz Elbieta Barszczewska Henryk Borowski Wojciech Brydziski Wadysaw Hacza Stefan Jaracz Tadeusz Kantor Mieczysaw Kotlarczyk Bohdan Korzeniowski Jan Kreczmar Adam Mularczyk Andrzej Pronaszko Leon Schiller Arnold Szyfman Stanisawa Umiska Edmund Wierciski Maria Wierciska Karol Wojtya who later became Pope John Paul II Marian Wyrzykowski Jerzy Zawieyski and others Theater was also active in the Jewish ghettos and in the camps for Polish war prisoners
Polish music including orchestras also went underground Top Polish musicians and directors Adam Didur Zbigniew Drzewiecki Jan Ekier Barbara Kostrzewska Zygmunt Latoszewski Jerzy Lefeld Witold Lutosawski Andrzej Panufnik Piotr Perkowski Edmund Rudnicki Eugenia Umiska Jerzy Waldorff Kazimierz Wikomirski Maria Wikomirska Bolesaw Woytowicz Mira Zimiska performed in restaurants cafes and private homes with the most daring singing patriotic ballads on the streets while evading German patrols Patriotic songs were written such as Siekiera motyka the most popular song of occupied Warsaw Patriotic puppet shows were staged Jewish musicians eg Wadysaw Szpilman and artists likewise performed in ghettos and even in concentration camps Although many of them died some survived abroad like Alexandre Tansman in the United States and Eddie Rosner and Henryk Wars in the Soviet Union
Visual arts were practiced underground as well Cafes restaurants and private homes were turned into galleries or museums some were closed with their owners staff and patrons harassed arrested or even executed Polish underground artists included Eryk Lipiski Stanisaw Miedza Tomaszewski Stanisaw Ostoja Chrostowski and Konstanty Maria Sopoko Some artists worked directly for the Underground State forging money and documents and creating anti Nazi art satirical posters and caricatures or Polish patriotic symbols for example kotwica These works were reprinted on underground presses and those intended for public display were plastered to walls or painted on them as graffiti Many of these activities were coordinated under the Action N Operation of Armia Krajowa s Bureau of Information and Propaganda In three giant m or ft puppets caricatures of Hitler and Benito Mussolini were successfully displayed in public places in Warsaw Some artists recorded life and death in occupied Poland despite German bans on Poles using cameras photographs and even films were taken Although it was impossible to operate an underground radio station underground auditions were recorded and introduced into German radios or loudspeaker systems Underground postage stamps were designed and issued Since the Germans also banned Polish sport activities underground sport clubs were created underground football matches and even tournaments were organized in Warsaw Krakw and Pozna although these were usually dispersed by the Germans All of these activities were supported by the Underground State s Department of Culture
During the Warsaw Uprising August October people in Polish controlled territory endeavored to recreate the former day to day life of their free country Cultural life was vibrant among both soldiers and the civilian population with theaters cinemas post offices newspapers and similar activities available The th Underground Tournament of Poetry was held during the Uprising with prizes being weaponry most of the Polish poets of the younger generation were also members of the resistance Headed by Antoni Bohdziewicz the Home Army s Bureau of Information and Propaganda even created three newsreels and over metres ft of film documenting the struggle
Eugeniusz Lokajski took some photographs before he died Sylwester Braun some of which survive Jerzy Tomaszewski some of which survived
Polish artists also worked abroad outside of occupied Europe Arkady Fiedler based in Britain with the Polish Armed Forces in the West wrote about the Polish Fighter Squadron Melchior Wakowicz wrote about the Polish contribution to the capture of Monte Cassino in Italy Other writers working abroad included Jan Lecho Antoni Sonimski Kazimierz Wierzyski and Julian Tuwim There were artists who performed for the Polish forces in the West as well as for the Polish forces in the East Among musicians who performed for the Polish II Corps in a Polska Parada cabaret were Henryk Wars and Irena Anders The most famous song of the soldiers fighting under the Allies was the Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino composed by Feliks Konarski and Alfred Schultz in There were also Polish theaters in exile in both the East and the West Several Polish painters mostly soldiers of the Polish II Corps kept working throughout the war including Tadeusz Piotr Potworowski Adam Kossowski Marian Kratochwil Bolesaw Leitgeber and Stefan Knapp
The wartime attempts to destroy Polish culture may have strengthened it instead Norman Davies wrote in God s Playground In as a prize for untold sacrifices the attachment of the survivors to their native culture was stronger than ever before Similarly close knit underground classes from primary schools to universities were renowned for their high quality due in large part to the lower ratio of students to teachers The resulting culture was however different from the culture of interwar Poland for a number of reasons The destruction of Poland s Jewish community Poland s postwar territorial changes and postwar migrations left Poland without its historic ethnic minorities The multicultural nation was no more
The experience of World War II placed its stamp on a generation of Polish artists that became known as the Generation of Columbuses The term denotes an entire generation of Poles born soon after Poland regained independence in whose adolescence was marked by World War II In their art they discovered a new Poland one forever changed by the atrocities of World War II and the ensuing creation of a communist Poland
Over the years nearly three quarters of the Polish people have emphasized the importance of World War II to the Polish national identity Many Polish works of art created since the war have centered on events of the war Books by Tadeusz Borowski Adolf Rudnicki Henryk Grynberg Miron Biaoszewski Hanna Krall and others films including those by Andrzej Wajda A Generation Kana Ashes and Diamonds Lotna A Love in Germany Korczak Katy TV series Four Tank Men and a Dog and Stakes Larger than Life music Powstanie Warszawskie and even comic books all of these diverse works have reflected those times Polish historian Tomasz Szarota wrote in
Educational and training programs place special emphasis on the World War II period and on the occupation Events and individuals connected with the war are ubiquitous on TV on radio and in the print media The theme remains an important element in literature and learning in film theater and the fine arts Not to mention that politicians constantly make use of it Probably no other country marks anniversaries related to the events of World War II so often or so solemnly
The Arihant class Sanskrit for Killer of Enemies is a class of nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines being built for the Indian Navy They were developed under the US billion Advanced Technology Vessel ATV project to design and build nuclear powered submarines
The lead vessel of the class INS Arihant was launched in and after extensive sea trials was confirmed as ready for operations on February Arihant is the first ballistic missile submarine to have been built by a country other than one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council
In December during the Indo Pakistani War of the US President Richard Nixon sent a carrier battle group named Task Force led by the nuclear powered USS Enterprise into the Bay of Bengal in an attempt to intimidate India In response the Soviet Union sent a submarine armed with nuclear missiles from Vladivostok to trail the US task force The event demonstrated the significance of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile submarines to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi Following the Smiling Buddha nuclear test the Director of Marine Engineering DME at Naval Headquarters initiated a technical feasibility study for an indigenous nuclear propulsion system Project
The Indian Navy s Advanced Technology Vessel project to design and construct a nuclear submarine took shape in the s Then Defence Minister George Fernandes confirmed the project in The initial intent of the project was to design nuclear powered fast attack submarines though following nuclear tests conducted by India in at Pokhran Test Range and the Indian pledge of no first use the project was re aligned towards the design of a ballistic missile submarine in order to complete India s nuclear triad
The Arihant class submarines are nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines built under the Advanced Technology Vessel ATV project They will be the first nuclear submarines designed and built by India The submarines are m ft long with a beam of m ft a draught of m ft displacement of tonnes long tons short tons and a diving depth of m ft The complement is about including officers and sailors The boats are powered by a single seven blade propeller powered by an MW hp pressurised water reactor and can achieve a maximum speed of knots km h when surfaced and knots km h when submerged
The submarines have four launch tubes in their hump and can carry up to K Sagarika missiles with one warhead each with a range of km or mi or K missiles with a range of km or mi The submarines are similar to the Akula class submarine of Russia The Indian Navy will train on INS Chakra an Akula class submarine leased from Russia in
The submarines are powered by a pressurised water reactor with highly enriched uranium fuel The miniaturized version of the reactor was designed and built by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre BARC at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research IGCAR in Kalpakkam It included a metre ft section of the submarine s pressure hull containing the shielding tank with water and the reactor a control room as well as an auxiliary control room for monitoring safety parameters The prototype reactor became critical on November and was declared operational on September Successful operation of the prototype for three years enabled the production version of the reactor for Arihant The reactor subsystems were tested at the Machinery Test Center in Visakhapatnam Facilities for loading and replacing the fuel cores of the naval reactors in berthed submarines were also established
The detailed engineering of the design was implemented at Larsen Toubro s submarine design center at their Hazira shipbuilding facility Tata Power SED built the control systems for the submarine The steam turbines and associated systems integrated with the reactor were supplied by Walchandnagar Industries The lead vessel underwent a long and extensive process of testing after its launch in July The propulsion and power systems were tested with high pressure steam trials followed by harbor acceptance trials that included submersion tests by flooding its ballast tanks and controlled dives to limited depths INS Arihant s reactor went critical for the first time on August On December the submarine set off for its extensive sea trials
Exact number of planned submarines remains unclear according to media reports about three to six submarines are planned to be built The first boat of the class INS Arihant is expected to be commissioned by The first four vessels are expected to be commissioned by In December the work on a second nuclear reactor began and the second boat INS Aridhaman is being prepared for sea trials The next three ships in the class after the lead ship will be larger and have missile launch tubes to carry up to K and a more powerful pressurized water reactor than INS Arihant A larger follow on class to the arihant class is also planned these new boats will be capable of carrying to ballistic missiles
SMS Markgraf was the third battleship of the four ship Knig class She served in the Imperial German Navy during World War I The battleship was laid down in November and launched on June She was formally commissioned into the Imperial Navy on October just over two months after the outbreak of war in Europe Markgraf was armed with ten centimeter in guns in five twin turrets and could steam at a top speed of knots km h mph Markgraf was named in honor of the royal family of Baden The name Markgraf is a rank of German nobility and is equivalent to the English Margrave or Marquess
Along with her three sister ships Knig Grosser Kurfrst and Kronprinz Markgraf took part in most of the fleet actions during the war including the Battle of Jutland on May and June At Jutland Markgraf was the third ship in the German line and heavily engaged by the opposing British Grand Fleet she sustained five large caliber hits and her crew suffered casualties Markgraf also participated in Operation Albion the conquest of the Gulf of Riga in late The ship was damaged by a mine while en route to Germany following the successful conclusion of the operation
After Germany s defeat in the war and the signing of the Armistice in November Markgraf and most of the capital ships of the High Seas Fleet were interned by the Royal Navy in Scapa Flow The ships were disarmed and reduced to skeleton crews while the Allied powers negotiated the final version of the Treaty of Versailles On June days before the treaty was signed the commander of the interned fleet Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the fleet to be scuttled to ensure that the British would not be able to seize the ships Unlike most of the scuttled ships Markgraf was never raised for scrapping the wreck is still sitting on the bottom of the bay
Markgraf was ordered under the provisional name Ersatz Weissenburg and built at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen under construction number Her keel was laid in November and she was launched on June At her launching ceremony the ship was christened by Frederick II Grand Duke of Baden the head of the royal family of Baden in honor of which the ship had been named Fitting out work was completed by October the day she was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet She had cost the Imperial German Government million Goldmarks
Markgraf displaced t long tons as built and t long tons fully loaded with a length of m ft in a beam of m ft in and a draft of m ft in She was powered by three Bergmann steam turbines three oil fired and twelve coal fired boilers which developed a total of shp kW and yielded a maximum speed of knots km h mph The ship had a range of nautical miles km mi at a cruising speed of knots km h mph The ship had a crew of officers and enlisted sailors
She was armed with ten cm in SK L guns arranged in five twin gun turrets two superfiring turrets each fore and aft and one turret amidships between the two funnels Her secondary armament consisted of fourteen cm in SK L quick firing guns six cm in SK L quick firing guns and five cm in underwater torpedo tubes one in the bow and two on each beam Markgraf s cm guns were removed and replaced with four cm anti aircraft guns The ship s main armored belt was millimeters in thick The deck was mm in thick the main battery turrets and forward conning tower were armored with mm in thick steel plates
Following her commissioning on October Markgraf conducted sea trials which lasted until December By January the ship had joined III Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet with her three sister ships On January III Squadron was detached from the fleet to conduct maneuver gunnery and torpedo training in the Baltic The ships returned to the North Sea on February too late to assist the I Scouting Group at the Battle of Dogger Bank
In the aftermath of the loss of SMS Blcher at the Battle of Dogger Bank Kaiser Wilhelm II removed Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl from his post as fleet commander on February Admiral Hugo von Pohl replaced him as commander of the fleet von Pohl carried out a series of sorties with the High Seas Fleet throughout The first such operation Markgraf s first with the fleet was a fleet advance to Terschelling on March the German fleet failed to engage any British warships during the sortie Another uneventful operation followed on April and another three days later on April Markgraf and the rest of the fleet remained in port until May when the fleet conducted another two day advance into the North Sea On September Markgraf and the rest of III Squadron supported a minelaying operation off Texel Another uneventful fleet advance followed on October
Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer became commander in chief of the High Seas Fleet on January when Admiral von Pohl became too ill from liver cancer to continue in that post Scheer proposed a more aggressive policy designed to force a confrontation with the British Grand Fleet he received approval from the Kaiser in February The first of Scheer s operations was conducted the following month on March with an uneventful sweep of the Hoofden Another sortie followed three weeks later on the th with another on April On April the battlecruisers of Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper s I Scouting Group conducted a raid on the English coast Markgraf and the rest of the fleet sailed in distant support The battlecruiser Seydlitz struck a mine while en route to the target and had to withdraw The other battlecruisers bombarded the town of Lowestoft unopposed but during the approach to Yarmouth they encountered the British cruisers of the Harwich Force A short artillery duel ensued before the Harwich Force withdrew Reports of British submarines in the area prompted the retreat of the I Scouting Group At this point Scheer who had been warned of the sortie of the Grand Fleet from its base in Scapa Flow also withdrew to safer German waters
Markgraf was present during the fleet operation that resulted in the Battle of Jutland which took place on May and June The German fleet again sought to draw out and isolate a portion of the Grand Fleet and destroy it before the main British fleet could retaliate Markgraf was the third ship in the German line behind her sisters Knig and Grosser Kurfrst and followed by Kronprinz The four ships made up the V Division of the III Battle Squadron and they were the vanguard of the fleet The III Battle Squadron was the first of three battleship units directly astern were the Kaiser class battleships of the VI Division III Battle Squadron The III Squadron was followed by the Helgoland and Nassau classes of the II Battle Squadron in the rear guard were the obsolescent Deutschland class pre dreadnoughts of the I Battle Squadron
Shortly before the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group encountered the British st Battlecruiser Squadron under the command of Vice Admiral David Beatty The opposing ships began an artillery duel that saw the destruction of Indefatigable shortly after and Queen Mary less than half an hour later By this time the German battlecruisers were steaming south to draw the British ships toward the main body of the High Seas Fleet At Knig s crew spotted both the I Scouting Group and the st Battlecruiser Squadron approaching The German battlecruisers were steaming to starboard while the British ships steamed to port At Scheer ordered a two point turn to port to bring his ships closer to the British battlecruisers and a minute later the order to open fire was given
Markgraf opened fire on the battlecruiser Tiger at a range of yards m Markgraf and her two sisters fired their secondary guns on British destroyers attempting to make torpedo attacks against the German fleet Markgraf continued to engage Tiger until by which time the faster battlecruisers managed to move out of effective gunnery range During this period the battleships Warspite and Valiant of the th Battle Squadron fired on the leading German battleships At one of the British ships scored a inch cm shell hit on Markgraf Shortly thereafter the destroyer Moresby fired a single torpedo at Markgraf and missed from a range of about yd m Malaya fired a torpedo at Markgraf at but the torpedo missed due to the long range Around the same time Markgraf engaged a cruiser from the nd Light Cruiser Squadron before shifting her fire back to the th Battle Squadron for ten minutes During this period two more inch shells hit Markgraf though the timing is unknown The hit at struck on a joint between two inch thick side armor plates the shell burst on impact and holed the armor The main deck was buckled and approximately t long tons short tons of water entered the ship The other two shells failed to explode and caused negligible damage
Shortly after the German cruiser Wiesbaden had become disabled by a shell from the British battlecruiser Invincible Rear Admiral Paul Behncke in Knig attempted to position his four ships to cover the stricken cruiser Simultaneously the British III and IV Light Cruiser Squadrons began a torpedo attack on the German line while advancing to torpedo range they smothered Wiesbaden with fire from their main guns The obsolescent armored cruisers of the st Cruiser Squadron also joined in the melee Markgraf and her sisters fired heavily on the British cruisers but even sustained fire from the battleships main guns failed to drive them off Markgraf fired both her cm and cm guns at the armored cruiser Defence Under a hail of fire from the German battleships Defence exploded and sank credit is normally given to the battlecruiser Ltzow though Markgraf s gunners also claimed credit for the sinking
Markgraf then fired on the battlecruiser Princess Royal and scored two hits The first hit struck the inch armor covering X barbette was deflected downward and exploded after penetrating the inch deck armor The crew for the left gun were killed the turret was disabled and the explosion caused serious damage to the upper deck The second shell penetrated Princess Royal s inch belt armor ricocheted upward off the coal bunker and exploded under the inch deck armor The two shells killed and wounded At the same time Markgraf s secondary guns fired on the cruiser Warrior which was seriously damaged by heavy shells and forced to withdraw Warrior foundered on the trip back to port the following morning
Around Admiral John Jellicoe s main force of battleships entered the battle Orion began firing at Markgraf at she fired four salvos of inch Armor Piercing Capped APC shells and scored a hit with the last salvo The shell exploded upon impacting the armor protecting the No cm gun casemate The shell failed to penetrate but holed the armor and disabled the gun The explosion seriously injured two and killed the rest of the gun crew A heavy shell nearly struck the ship at the same time and at a bent propeller shaft forced Markgraf s crew to turn off the port engine naval historian John Campbell speculated that this shell was the one that damaged the shaft Her speed dropped to or kn or km h or mph though she remained in her position in the line
Shortly after the German battleships engaged the nd Light Cruiser Squadron Markgraf fired primarily cm shells In this period Markgraf was engaged by Agincourt s inch guns which scored a single hit at The shell failed to explode and shattered on impact on the inch side armor causing minimal damage Two of the adjoining inch plates directly below the inch armor were slightly forced inward and some minor flooding occurred The heavy fire of the British fleet forced Scheer to order the fleet to turn away Due to her reduced speed Markgraf turned early in an attempt to maintain her place in the battle line this however forced Grosser Kurfrst to fall out of formation Markgraf fell in behind Kronprinz while Grosser Kurfrst steamed ahead to return to her position behind Knig After successfully withdrawing from the British Scheer ordered the fleet to assume night cruising formation though communication errors between Scheer aboard Friedrich der Grosse and Westfalen the lead ship caused delays Several British light cruisers and destroyers stumbled into the German line around In the ensuing short engagement Markgraf hit the cruiser Calliope five times with her secondary guns The fleet fell into formation by with Grosser Kurfrst the th vessel in the line of capital ships
Around several British destroyers mounted a torpedo attack against the rear half of the German line Markgraf initially held her fire as the identities of the destroyers were unknown But gunners aboard Grosser Kurfrst correctly identified the vessels as hostile and opened fire while turning away to avoid torpedoes which prompted Markgraf to follow suit Heavy fire from the German battleships forced the British destroyers to withdraw At Markgraf and several other battleships fired at what they thought was a submarine
The High Seas Fleet managed to punch through the British light forces without drawing the attention of Jellicoe s battleships and subsequently reached Horns Reef by on June Upon reaching Wilhelmshaven Markgraf went into harbor while several other battleships took up defensive positions in the outer roadstead The ship was transferred to Hamburg where she was repaired in AG Vulcan s large floating dock Repair work was completed by July In the course of the battle Markgraf had fired a total of shells from her main battery and rounds from her cm guns She was hit by five large caliber shells which killed men and wounded
Following repairs in July Markgraf went into the Baltic for trials The ship was then temporarily assigned to the I Scouting Group for the fleet operation on August Due to the serious damage incurred by Seydlitz and Derfflinger at Jutland the only battlecruisers available for the operation were Von der Tann and Moltke which were joined by Markgraf Grosser Kurfrst and the new battleship Bayern The British were aware of the German plans and sortied the Grand Fleet to meet them By Scheer had been warned of the Grand Fleet s approach and unwilling to engage the whole of the Grand Fleet just weeks after the decidedly close engagement at Jutland turned his forces around and retreated to German ports
Markgraf was present for the uneventful advance in the direction of Sunderland on October Unit training with the III Squadron followed from October to November Two days later the ship formally rejoined III Squadron On the th a pair of U boats grounded on the Danish coast Light forces were sent to recover the vessels and III Squadron which was in the North Sea en route to Wilhelmshaven was ordered to cover them During the operation the British submarine J torpedoed both Grosser Kurfrst and Kronprinz and caused moderate damage For most of Markgraf was occupied with guard duties in the North Sea interrupted only by a refit period in January and periodic unit training in the Baltic
In early September following the German conquest of the Russian port of Riga the German navy decided to eliminate the Russian naval forces that still held the Gulf of Riga The Admiralstab Navy High Command planned an operation to seize the Baltic island of sel and specifically the Russian gun batteries on the Sworbe Peninsula On September the order was issued for a joint operation with the army to capture sel and Moon Islands the primary naval component was to comprise the flagship Moltke along with the III and IV Battle Squadrons of the High Seas Fleet The II Squadron consisted of the four Knig class ships and was by this time augmented with the new battleship Bayern The IV Squadron consisted of the five Kaiser class battleships Along with nine light cruisers three torpedo boat flotillas and dozens of mine warfare ships the entire force numbered some ships supported by over aircraft and six zeppelins The invasion force amounted to approximately officers and enlisted men
Opposing the Germans were the old Russian pre dreadnoughts Slava and Tsesarevich the armored cruisers Bayan Admiral Makarov and Diana destroyers and several torpedo boats and gunboats Three British C class submarines where also stationed in the Gulf The Irben Strait the main southern entrance to the Gulf of Riga was heavily mined and defended by a number of coastal artillery batteries The garrison on sel numbered nearly men though by it had been reduced to to percent strength
The operation began on October when Moltke and the four Knig class ships covered the landing of ground troops by suppressing the shore batteries covering Tagga Bay Markgraf fired on the battery located on Cape Ninnast After the successful amphibious assault III Squadron steamed to Putziger Wiek although Markgraf remained behind for several days On the th Markgraf left Tagga Bay to rejoin her squadron in the Gulf of Riga but early on the following morning she ran aground at the entrance to Kalkgrund The ship was quickly freed and she reached the III Squadron anchorage north of Larina Bank on the th The next day Markgraf steamed to Moon Sound and on the th participated in the bombardment of Russian positions on the island of Kyn The ship returned to Arensburg on October and two days later was detached from Operation Albion to return to the North Sea
Markgraf struck a pair of mines in quick succession while in the Irben Strait and took in metric tons long tons short tons of water The ship continued on to Kiel via Neufahrwasser in Danzig she then went on to Wilhelmshaven where the mine damage was repaired The work was completed at the Imperial Dockyard from to November After repairs were completed Markgraf returned to guard duty in the North Sea She missed an attempted raid on a British convoy on April as she was in dock in Kiel from March to May for the installation of a new foremast
Markgraf and her three sisters were to have taken part in a final fleet action at the end of October days before the Armistice was to take effect The bulk of the High Seas Fleet was to have sortied from their base in Wilhelmshaven to engage the British Grand Fleet Scheer by now the Grand Admiral Groadmiral of the fleet intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy in order to obtain a better bargaining position for Germany despite the expected casualties However many of the war weary sailors felt the operation would disrupt the peace process and prolong the war On the morning of October the order was given to sail from Wilhelmshaven the following day Starting on the night of October sailors on Thringen and then on several other battleships including Markgraf mutinied The unrest ultimately forced Hipper and Scheer to cancel the operation Informed of the situation the Kaiser stated I no longer have a navy
Following the capitulation of Germany in November most of the High Seas Fleet ships under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter were interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow Prior to the departure of the German fleet Admiral Adolf von Trotha made clear to von Reuter that he could not allow the Allies to seize the ships under any conditions The fleet rendezvoused with the British light cruiser Cardiff which led the ships to the Allied fleet that was to escort the Germans to Scapa Flow The massive flotilla consisted of some British American and French warships Once the ships were interned their guns were disabled through the removal of their breech blocks and their crews were reduced to officers and enlisted men
The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the Treaty of Versailles Von Reuter believed that the British intended to seize the German ships on June which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty Unaware that the deadline had been extended to the rd Reuter ordered the ships to be sunk at the first opportunity On the morning of June the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers and at Reuter transmitted the order to his ships Markgraf sank at The British soldiers in the guard detail panicked in their attempt to prevent the Germans from scuttling the ships they shot and killed Markgraf s captain Walter Schumann who was in a lifeboat and an enlisted man In total the guards killed nine Germans and wounded twenty one The remaining crews totaling some officers and enlisted men were imprisoned
Markgraf was never raised for scrapping unlike most of the other capital ships that were scuttled Markgraf and her two sisters had sunk in deeper water than the other capital ships which made any salvage attempt more difficult The outbreak of World War II in put a halt to all salvage operations and after the war it was determined that salvaging the deeper wrecks was financially impractical The rights to future salvage operations on the wrecks were sold to Britain in Owing to the fact that the steel that composed their hulls was produced before the advent of nuclear weapons Markgraf and her sisters are among the few accessible sources of low background steel which has occasionally been removed for use in scientific devices Markgraf and the other vessels on the bottom of Scapa Flow are a popular dive site and are protected by a policy barring divers from recovering items from the wrecks
The Coldrum Long Barrow also known as the Coldrum Stones and the Adscombe Stones is a chambered long barrow located near to the village of Trottiscliffe in the south eastern English county of Kent Constructed circa BCE during Britain s Early Neolithic period today it survives only in a ruined state
Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe Although representing part of an architectural tradition of long barrow building that was widespread across Neolithic Europe the Coldrum Stones belong to a localised regional variant of barrows produced in the vicinity of the River Medway now known as the Medway Megaliths Of these it is in the best surviving condition and lies near to both Addington Long Barrow and Chestnuts Long Barrow on the western side of the river Three further surviving long barrows Kit s Coty House the Little Kit s Coty House and the Coffin Stone are located on the Medway s eastern side
Built out of earth and around fifty local sarsen megaliths the long barrow consisted of a sub rectangular earthen tumulus enclosed by kerb stones Within the eastern end of the tumulus was a stone chamber into which human remains were deposited on at least two separate occasions during the Early Neolithic Osteoarchaeological analysis of these remains has shown them to be those of at least seventeen individuals a mixture of men women children and adults At least one of the bodies had been dismembered prior to burial potentially reflecting a funerary tradition of excarnation and secondary burial As with other barrows Coldrum has been interpreted as a tomb to house the remains of the dead perhaps as part of a belief system involving ancestor veneration although archaeologists have suggested that it may also have had further religious ritual and cultural connotations and uses
After the Early Neolithic the long barrow fell into a state of ruined dilapidation perhaps experiencing deliberate deposition in the late medieval period either by Christian zealots or treasure hunters Local folklore grew up around the site associating it with the burial of a prince and the countless stones motif The ruin attracted the interest of antiquarians in the th century while archaeological excavation took place in the early th After limited reconstruction in ownership was transferred to heritage charity The National Trust It is open without charge to visitors all year around
The Coldrum Stones are named after a nearby farm Coldrum Lodge which has since been demolished The monument lies in a rather isolated site north east of the nearby village of Trottiscliffe about metres from a prehistoric track known as the Pilgrim s Way The tomb can be reached along a pathway known as Coldrum Lane which is only accessible on foot The nearest car park to Coldrum Lane can be found off of Pinesfield Lane in Trottiscliffe Another nearby village is Addington which is located one and a quarter miles away
The Early Neolithic was a revolutionary period of British history Beginning in the fifth millennium BCE it saw a widespread change in lifestyle as the communities living in the British Isles adopted agriculture as their primary form of subsistence abandoning the hunter gatherer lifestyle that had characterised the preceding Mesolithic period Archaeologists have been unable to prove whether this adoption of farming was because of a new influx of migrants coming in from continental Europe or because the indigenous Mesolithic Britons came to adopt the agricultural practices of continental societies Either way it certainly emerged through contact with continental Europe probably as a result of centuries of interaction between Mesolithic people living in south east Britain and Linear Pottery culture LBK communities in north eastern France The region of modern Kent would have been a key area for the arrival of continental European settlers and visitors because of its position on the estuary of the River Thames and its proximity to the continent
Between and BCE all of the British Isles came to abandon its former Mesolithic hunter gatherer lifestyle to be replaced by the new agricultural subsistence of the Neolithic Age Although a common material culture was shared throughout most of the British Isles in this period there was great regional variation regarding the nature and distribution of settlement architectural styles and the use of natural resources Throughout most of Britain there is little evidence of cereal or permanent dwellings from this period leading archaeologists to believe that the Early Neolithic economy on the island was largely pastoral relying on herding cattle with people living a nomadic or semi nomadic way of life Although witnessing some land clearance Britain was largely forested in this period and it is unclear what level of deforestation the area of Kent had experienced in the Early Neolithic widespread forest clearance only took place on the chalklands of south east Britain in the Late Bronze Age Environmental data from the area around the White Horse Stone supports the idea that the area was still largely forested in the Early Neolithic covered by a woodland of oak ash hazel alder and Maloideae
Across Western Europe the Early Neolithic marked the first period in which humans built monumental structures in the landscape These were tombs that held the physical remains of the dead and though sometimes constructed out of timber many were built using large stones now known as megaliths Individuals were rarely buried alone in the Early Neolithic instead being interned in collective burials with other members of their community The construction of these collective burial monumental tombs both wooden and megalithic began in continental Europe before being adopted in Britain in the first half of the fourth millennium BCE
The Early Neolithic people of Britain placed far greater emphasis on the ritualised burial of the dead than their Mesolithic forebears had done Many archaeologists have suggested that this is because Early Neolithic people adhered to an ancestor cult that venerated the spirits of the dead believing that they could intercede with the forces of nature for the benefit of their living descendants Archaeologist Robin Holgate stressed that rather than simply being tombs the Medway Megaliths were communal mouments fulfilling a social function for the communities who built and used them Thus it has furthermore been suggested that Early Neolithic people entered into the tombs which doubled as temples or shrines to perform rituals that would honour the dead and ask for their assistance For this reason historian Ronald Hutton termed these monuments tomb shrines to reflect their dual purpose
In Britain these tombs were typically located on prominent hills and slopes overlooking the surrounding landscape perhaps at the junction between different territories Archaeologist Caroline Malone noted that the tombs would have served as one of a variety of markers in the landscape that conveyed information on territory political allegiance ownership and ancestors Many archaeologists have subscribed to the idea that these tomb shrines served as territorial markers between different tribal groups although others have argued that such markers would be of little use to a nomadic herding society Instead it has been suggested that they represent markers along herding pathways Many archaeologists have suggested that the construction of such monuments reflects an attempt to stamp control and ownership over the land thus representing a change in mindset brought about by Neolithicisation Others have suggested that these monuments were built on sites already deemed sacred by Mesolithic hunter gatherers
Archaeologists have differentiated these Early Neolithic tombs into a variety of different architectural styles each typically associated with a different region within the British Isles Passage graves characterised by their narrow passage made of large stones and one or multiple burial chambers covered in earth or stone were predominantly located in northern Britain and southern and central Ireland Alternately across northern Ireland and central Britain long chambered mounds predominated while in the east and south east of Britain earthen long barrows represented the dominant architectural trend These earthen long barrows were typically constructed of timber because building stone was scarce in southern Britain archaeologist Aubrey Burl argued that these timber tombs might have been even more eye catching than their stone counterparts perhaps consisting of towering carved poles flamboyantly painted but that evidence of such sculptures has not survived The Medway Megaliths represent just one of these regional groups within the wider West European tradition of tomb building in this period
Although now all in a ruinous state and not retaining their original appearance at the time of construction the Medway Megaliths would have been some of the largest and most visually imposing Early Neolithic funerary monuments in Britain Grouped along the River Medway as it cuts through the North Downs they constitute the most south easterly group of megalithic monuments in the British Isles and the only megalithic group in eastern England Archaeologists Brian Philp and Mike Dutto deemed the Medway Megaliths to be some of the most interesting and well known archaeological sites in Kent while archaeologist Paul Ashbee described them as the most grandiose and impressive structures of their kind in southern England
They can be divided into two separate clusters one to the west of the River Medway and the other on Blue Bell Hill to the east with the distance between the two clusters measuring at between and km The western group includes Coldrum Long Barrow Addington Long Barrow and the Chestnuts Long Barrow The eastern group consists of Kit s Coty House Little Kit s Coty House the Coffin Stone and several other stones which might have once been parts of chambered tombs It is not known if they were all built at the same time or whether they were constructed in succession while similarly it is not known if they each served the same function or whether there was a hierarchy in their usage
The Medway long barrows all conformed to the same general design plan and are all aligned on an east to west axis Each had a stone chamber at the eastern end of the mound and they each probably had a stone facade flanking the entrance The chambers were constructed from sarsen a dense hard and durable stone that occurs naturally throughout Kent having formed out of silicified sand from the Eocene Early Neolithic builders would have selected blocks from the local area and then transported them to the site of the monument to be erected
Such common architectural features among these tomb shrines indicate a strong regional cohesion with no direct parallels elsewhere in the British Isles For instance they would have been taller than most other tomb shrines in Britain with internal heights of up to ft Nevertheless as with other regional groupings of Early Neolithic tomb shrines such as the Cotswold Severn group there are also various idiosyncrasies in the different monuments such as Coldrum s rectilinear shape the Chestnut long barrow s facade and the long thin mounds at Addington and Kit s Coty This variation might have been caused by the tomb shrines being altered and adapted over the course of their use in this scenario the monuments would represent composite structures
It seems apparent that the people who built these monuments were influenced by pre existing tomb shrines that they were already aware of Whether those people had grown up locally or moved into the Medway area from elsewhere is not known Based on a stylistic analysis of their architectural designs Stuart Piggott thought that they had originated in the area around the Low Countries while Glyn Daniel instead believed that the same evidence showed an influence from Scandinavia John H Evans instead suggested an origin in Germany and Ronald F Jessup thought that their origins could be seen in the Cotswold Severn megalithic group Ashbee noted that their close clustering in the same area was reminiscent of the megalithic tomb shrine traditions of continental Northern Europe and emphasised that the Medway Megaliths were a regional manifestation of a tradition widespread across Early Neolithic Europe He nevertheless stressed that a precise place of origin was impossible to indicate with the available evidence
The monument originally consisted of a sarsen stone chamber covered by a low earthen mound which was bounded by prostrate slabs As such the archaeologist Paul Ashbee asserted that the monument could be divided into three particular features the chamber the barrow and the sarsen stone surround It is located on the edge of a large lynchet scarp although it is difficult to ascertain what views would have been possible from the monument at the time of construction due to a lack of information on how densely forested the vicinity was However if the area was not highly wooded then views of the surrounding landscape would have been possible The monument s axis points toward both the North Downs and the Medway Valley which is similar to the other Medway Megaliths Archaeologist Sian Killick suggested that the Coldrum Long Barrow might have been built within view of a nearby settlement and that this may have been a key factor in the experience of ceremonies and rituals taking place at the tombs and may also have defined a link between the tomb builders and the landscape
It had been built using about stones The barrow is sub rectangular in plan and about meters feet in length At its broader eastern end where the chamber is located the monument measures metres feet while at the narrower western end it is metres feet in breadth As such the barrow is a truncated wedge shape The megalithic builders responsible for the Coldrum Stones positioned it on the top of a small ridge adjacent to the North Downs and constructed it facing eastward towards the River Medway
The chamber of the monument measures metres feet in length and metres feet inches in width although it was potentially much larger when originally constructed The chamber s internal height would have been at least metres feet inches In its current state the northern side of the chamber is made up of two slabs one being feet long feet inches deep and foot inches thick and the other feet long feet deep and feet thick Conversely the chamber s southern side consists of a single slab measuring feet inches in length feet inches in depth and foot inches in depth at its thicker eastern end The western end of the chamber is closed off with a slab measuring about feet inches wide with a thickness of foot and a depth of around feet A collapsed broken slab lies at the opening eastern end of the chamber It is also possible that a largely rectangular slab at the bottom of the slope had once been part of the eastern end of the chamber Excavation has revealed that flint masonry was used to pack around the chamber and support its sarsens twentieth century renovation has seen this largely replaced with cement allowing the stones to continue standing upright
It is possible that there was a facade in front of the chamber as is evident at other chambered tombs in Britain such as West Kennet Long Barrow and Wayland s Smithy It is also possible that there was a portal stone atop the chamber as was apparent at Kit s Coty House and Lower Kit s Coty House Many of the larger slabs of stone that have fallen down the slope on the eastern end of the monument may have been parts of this facade or portal
The earthen mound that once covered the tomb is now visible only as an undulation approximately foot inches in height In the nineteenth century the mound was higher on the western end of the tomb although this was removed by excavation to reveal the sarsens beneath during the s It is likely that in the Early Neolithic the mound had a quarry ditch surrounding it and it is inside this ditch that the kerb stones now sit
The kerb stones around the tomb display some patterning those on the northern side are mostly rectilinear while those on the southern side are smaller and largely irregular in shape It is probable that there was an ancillary dry stone wall constructed using blocks of ironstone from the geological Folkestone beds as is evident at Chestnuts Long Barrow Given that such blocks of stone rarely occur naturally it may have been quarried
A concave line of abrasion and polishing can be found on both one of the central kerb stones on the western end of the monument and a kerb stone on the south east of the monument These have been attributed to the sharpening of flint and other stone axe blades on these sarsens It is possible that these tools were sharpened for use in cutting and carving the timber levers and struts which would have been used in erecting the stones and constructing the tomb Similar evidence for the sharpening of tools has been found at West Kennet Long Barrow as well as later prehistoric monuments such as Stonehenge
Coldrum Long Barrow is comparatively isolated from the other Medway Megaliths in this it is unique given that the other surviving examples are clustered into two groups However it is possible that another chambered tomb was located nearby a razed elongated earthen mound with an east west orientation is located in a hollow at the foot of the downs just under a quarter of a mile to the north of the Coldrum Stones It may be that this represents the remnants of another such monument which has had its stones removed or buried Several large sarsens to the south of the Coldrums might represent the remnants of a further such tomb since destroyed
Ashbee suggested that given its size and comparisons with other long barrows such as Fussell s Lodge the Coldrum tomb could have housed the remains of over a hundred individuals Excavations conducted in the early th century have led to the methodical discovery and removal of what was believed to be the remains of twenty two human individuals These remains were examined by Sir Arthur Keith the conservator of the museum at the Royal College of Surgeons He published his results in in a paper largely concerned with discerning racial characteristics of the bodies
A subsequent re analysis of the bones was conducted in the early st century and published in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society in the project presented osteological analysis Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to inform on the demography burial practices diet and subsistence and chronology of the Coldrum population Disputing earlier conclusions it stated that the minimum number of individuals was seventeen These were then further identified as probably belonging to nine adults probably five males and four females two sub adults four older children and two younger children one around five years old the other between and months old
Keith had suggested that the crania he examined displayed similar features which he attributed to the different individuals belonging to one family or several families united by common descent Similar observations had been made regarding the crania from other long barrows in Britain although osteoarchaeologists Martin Smith and Megan Brickley noted that this was not necessarily representative of a family group Instead they stated that it would also be consistent with a population that was still relatively small and scattered in which most individuals were interrelated
Wysocki s team noted that in all but one case the fracture morphologies are consistent with dry bone breakage Three of the skulls exhibited evidence that they had experienced violence a probable adult female had an unhealed injury on the left frontal while an adult of indeterminate sex had an unhealed fracture on the left frontal and a second adult female had a healed depressed fracture on the right frontal
Isotope analysis of the remains revealed C values that were typical of those found at many other Southern British Neolithic sites albeit with significantly higher values of C which grew over time Although this data is difficult to interpret it was identified as probably reflecting a terrestrial diet high in animal protein that over time was increasingly supplemented with freshwater river or estuarine foods In the case of the older individuals whose remains were interned in the tomb the tooth enamel was worn away and the dentine had become exposed on the chewing area of the crowns
Radiocarbon dating of the remains suggested Early Neolithic activity began at the site during calibrated BCE probability or cal BCE probability when the first human remains were buried at the site It then suggested that after an interval of either years probability or years probability further depositions of human remains were made inside the tomb This second phase probably began in cal BCE probability or cal BCE probability The radiocarbon dating of the human remains does not provide a date for the construction of Coldrum Long Barrow itself it is possible that the individuals died either some time before or after the monument s construction
Cut marks were identified on a number of the bones two femora two innominates and one cranium with osteoarchaeological specialists suggesting that these had been created post mortem as the bodies were dismembered and the bones removed from their attached ligaments However they further suggested that the lack of such cut marks on certain bones was suggestive that the body had already undergone partial decomposition or the removal of soft tissues prior to the process of dismemberment The precision of the cut marks suggests that this dismemberment was done carefully they do not suggest frenzied hacking or mutilation None of the criteria that osteoarchaeologists deem diagnostic of cannibalism were found on the bones
This cut marked human bone assemblage represented the largest yet identified from within a Neolithic long barrow in Southern Britain although similar evidence for dismemberment has been found from a number of other Neolithic British sites such as West Trump Eyford Aldestrop and Haddenham There are two possibilities for how this material developed The first is that the bodies of the dead were excarnated or exposed to the elements followed by a secondary burial within the tomb The second is that they were placed in the tomb where the flesh decomposed before the bodies were then rearranged within the tomb itself These practices may have been accompanied by necrophagy shamanism or magical practices direct evidence for which does not survive
The inclusion of occupational debris over the bones was not unique to the site but common in chambered tombs from southern England On the basis of an example discovered at Kit s Coty House Ashbee thought it apparent that the contents of the Coldrum s chamber would have been compartmentalised by medial slabs which served the same purpose as the side chambers of West Kennet and Wayland s Smithy
All of the surviving megalithic tombs from the Early Neolithic period have suffered from neglect and the ravages of agriculture Although archaeologist Paul Ashbee noted that the Coldrum Stones represent Kent s least damaged megalithic long barrow it too has suffered considerable damage having become dilapidated and fallen apart over the six millennia since its original construction Most prominently the eastern side has largely collapsed with the stones that once helped to hold up the side of the barrow having fallen to the bottom of the slope Conversely it is possible that the sarsens at the bottom of the slope were not part of the original monument but were stones found in nearby fields which were deposited there by farmers
Excavation of Chestnuts Long Barrow revealed that it had been systematically destroyed in one event and Ashbee suggested that the same may have happened to the Coldrum Stones He believed that the kerb stones around the barrow were toppled laid prostrate in the surrounding ditch and then buried during the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century by Christians seeking to obliterate non Christian monuments Conversely the archaeologist John Alexander who excavated Chestnuts suggested that the Medway tombs were destroyed by robbers seeking to locate treasure within them As evidence he pointed to the Close Roll of which ordered the opening of barrows on the Isle of Wight in search for treasure a practice which may have spread to Kent around the same time Alexander believed that the destruction n Kent may have been brought about by a special commissioner highlighting that the expertness and thoroughness of the robbery at Chestnuts would have necessitated resources beyond that which a local community could likely produce Ashbee further suggested that in subsequent centuries locals raided the damaged Coldrum tomb for loamy chalk and stone which was then re used as building material
In a paper published in the Folklore journal John H Evans recorded the existence of a local folk belief that a battle was fought at the site of the Coldrum Stones and that a Black Prince was buried within its chamber He suggested that the tales of battles taking place at this site and at other Medway Megaliths had not developed independently among the local population but had percolated down from the theories of antiquaries who believed that the Early Medieval Battle of Aylesford which was recorded in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle took place in the area
Evans also recorded that there was a folk belief in the area that applied to all of the Medway megaliths and which had been widespread up to the last generation this was that it was impossible for any human being to successfully count the number of stones in the monuments This countless stones motif is not unique to this particular site and can be found at various other megalithic monuments in Britain The earliest textual evidence for it is found in an early sixteenth century document where it applies to the stone circle of Stonehenge in Wiltshire although in an early seventeenth century document it was being applied to The Hurlers a set of three stone circles in Cornwall Later records reveal that it had gained widespread distribution in England as well as a single occurrence each in Wales and Ireland The folklorist S P Menefee suggested that it could be attributed to an animistic understanding that these megaliths had lives of their own
In the early twenty first century a tradition developed in which the Hartley Morris Men a morris dancing side travel to the site at dawn every May Day in order to sing up the sun This consists of a number of dances performed within the stones on top of the barrow followed by a song performed at the base of the monument
The earliest antiquarian accounts of Coldrum Long Barrow were never published There are claims that at the start of the nineteenth century the Reverend Mark Noble Rector of Barming prepared a plan of the site for Gentleman s Magazine although no copies have been produced to verify this Between and the Reverend Beale Post authored Druidical Remains at Coldrum in which he described the monument although it remained unpublished at the time Associating the site with the druids of Britain s Iron Age Post s suggestion was that the name Coldrum derived from the linguistically Celtic Gael Dun and that the chiefs of some of the Belgic Gauls were interned there He further reported that in both and skulls had been found at the site In an antiquarian named Thomas Wright published a note on the Coldrum Stones and other Medway Megaliths in The Archaeological Journal Wright had been alerted to their existence by a local vicar the Reverend Lambert B Larking and proceeded to visit them with him Describing the Coldrums Wright mentioned a smaller circle of stones to the others in the area with a subterranean cromlech in the middle He further added that it is a tradition of the peasantry that a continuous line of stones ran from Coldrum direct to the well known monument called Kit s Cotty sic House attributing this belief to the variety of megaliths which were scattered throughout the landscape
In the antiquarian J M Kemble excavated at the site with the help of the Reverend Larking providing a report of their findings to the Central Committee of the British Archaeological Association Describing the monument as a stone circle they asserted that they discovered Anglo Saxon pottery at the site and noted that as well as being called the Coldrum Stones the monument also had the name of the Adscombe Stones which Kemble believed originated with the Old English word for funeral pile ad In August the Archaeological Institute who were then holding their week long meeting in Rochester took a tour to visit the site guided by the antiquary Charles Roach Smith That year the monument was described in a copy of Gentleman s Magazine by Yorkshire antiquary Charles Moore Jessop who believed it to be a Celtic stone circle
In the antiquarian A L Lewis first visited the site and was informed by locals that several years previously a skull had been uncovered from inside or near to the chamber but that they believed it to be that of a gypsy A later account elaborated on this stating that two individuals excavated in the centre of the dolmen without permission discovering a human skeleton the skull of which was then re buried in the churchyard at Meopham In an note published in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Lewis noted that while many tourists visited Kit s Coty House very few goes to or ever hears of a yet more curious collection of stones at Colderham or Coldrum Lodge He believed that the monument consisted of both a chamber and an oval of stones suggesting that they were two distinct erections In the archaeologist Flinders Petrie included the existence of the stones at Coldreham in his list of Kentish earthworks although noting that a previous commentator had described the stones as being in the shape of an oval he instead described them as forming a rectilinear enclosure around the chamber He then included a small basic plan of the monument
In August two amateur archaeologists George Payne and A A Arnold came across the monument which they noted was known among locals as the Coldrum Stones and Druid Temple according to Payne the huge stones were so overgrown with brambles and brushwood that they could not be discerned He returned the next year noting that at this point the brushwood had been cut away to reveal the megaliths In his book Collectanea Cantiana Payne noted that although it had first been described in print in since that time no one seems to have taken the trouble to properly record them or make a plan an unusual claim given that a copy of Petrie s published plan existed in his library For this reason after gaining permission from the landowner he convinced Major A O Green Instructor in Survey at Brompton to conduct a survey of the monument in August He also wrote to the archaeologist Augustus Pitt Rivers encouraging him to schedule the Coldrum Stones as a legally protected site under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act Payne described the Coldrum Stones as the finest monument of its class in the county and one worthy of every care and attention Comparing it to other monuments of its type in Britain he asserted that it was undoubtedly of sepulchral origin belonging to a period anterior to the Roman domination of Britain Payne also noted a folk tradition that there were stone avenues connecting Coldrum to the Addington Long Barrow although added that he was unable to discover any evidence for the existence of this feature
In George Clinch published a note on the Medway Megaliths in the Royal Anthropological Institute s journal Man in which he referred to the Coldrum Stones as at once the most remarkable and the least known of the whole series Suggesting that its design indicates that it was built during a late date in the neolithic age he compared the workmanship in producing the megaliths to that at the stone circle of Stonehenge in Wiltshire although noted that they differed in that the Coldrum Stones clearly represented a sepulchral pile Ultimately he ended his note by urging for the site to be protected under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act In that same issue Lewis included an added note in which he rejected the idea that the monument had once been covered by an earthen tumulus because he could see no evidence that anything of that kind ever existed and instead he interpreted the site as a stone circle comparing it to the examples at Avebury Arborlow and Stanton Drew suggesting that the central chamber was a shrine
The Coldrum Stones have been excavated on multiple occasions On April the amateur archaeologist F J Bennett began excavation at the site after previously having uncovered some Neolithic lithics from Addington Long Barrow He soon discovered human bones under only a few inches of chalky soil He returned to the site for further excavation in August this time with his niece and her husband both of whom were dentists with an interest in craniology on that day they discovered pieces of a human skull which they were able to largely reconstruct A few days later he returned to excavate on the north west corner of the dolmen with the architect E W Filkins that day they found a second skull further bones a flint tool and pieces of pottery
Later that month George Payne and F W Reader met with Bennett to discuss his finds With the aid of two other interested amateur archaeologists Mr Boyd and Miss Harker both from Malling excavation resumed in early September In the archaeologists Martin Smith and Megan Brickley asserted that Bennett s excavations had taken heed of the advice of Pitt Rivers that excavations should be recorded in full They noted that Bennett had provided clear plan and section drawings photographs of the monument and careful attempts to consider site formation processes Suggesting that the monument was constructed on agricultural land in his published report Bennett cited the ideas of anthropologist James Frazer in The Golden Bough to suggest that the Coldrum Stones monument may at one time have been dedicated though not necessarily initially so to the worship of the corn god and of agriculture He proceeded to theorise that the human remains found at the site were the victims of human sacrifice killed in fertility rites However Evans later stated that we have no means of knowing whether human sacrifice had taken place at the site
In September Filkins once again began excavating at the site this time with the aid of a resident of Gravesend Charles Gilbert Their project was financed through grants provided by the British Association and the Society of Antiquaries with Filkins noting that at the time of its commencement a miniature jungle had grown up around the site which had to be cleared Excavation continued sporadically until at least Human remains were discovered and placed into the possession of Sir Arthur Keith of the Royal College of Surgeons This excavation revealed all the existing sarsens surrounding the monument a number of which had previously been buried beneath earth The stones of the dolmen were shored up with concrete foundations where Filkins deemed it necessary Although Filkins excavation was comprehensive it did ignore stone holes packing stones and their relationship to the mound In Ashbee noted that while from a present day perspective it is possible to see shortcomings in terms of the general standards of the early part of this century there is much to commend
In his publication dealing with Kent the archaeologist O G S Crawford then working as the archaeological officer for the Ordnance Survey listed the Coldrum Stones alongside the other Medway Megaliths In the Coldrum Stones were given to The National Trust who dedicated it as a memorial to the Kentish historian Benjamin Harrison A plaque was erected to mark this which erroneously termed the monument a stone circle in the archaeologist Leslie Grinsell expressed the view that it is hoped that this error may be rectified in the near future Still owned by the Trust the site is open to visitors all year round free of charge On their website the Trust advises visitors to look for stunning views from the top of the barrow John H Evans characterised the site as the most impressive of the Medway Megaliths while Grinsell described it as the finest and most complete of the group
Krasnyi Kavkaz from Russian Red Caucasus was a cruiser of the Soviet Navy that began construction during World War I but was still incomplete during the Russian Revolution Her design was heavily modified by the Soviets and she was completed in During World War II she supported Soviet troops during the Siege of Odessa Siege of Sevastopol and the Kerch Feodosiya Operation in the winter of She was awarded the Guards title on April She was reclassified as a training ship in May before being used as a target in
Laid down on October at the Rossud Dockyard as Admiral Lazarev for the Imperial Russian Navy as a cruiser of the Svetlana class she was launched on June Construction was abandoned in during the October Revolution when the ship was complete In the second half of the Marine Department of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi was engaged in completion of ship On January the ship was formally renamed in Hetman Petro Doroshenko but Mykolaiv was captured shortly afterward by the Entente The hull was relatively undamaged and the Soviets decided to finish the ship to a modified design She was renamed Krasnyi Kavkaz on December and completed to a modernized design being commissioned on January
Krasnyi Kavkaz was initially intended to accommodate eight inch mm guns in four twin turrets but this was impossible given her small and lightly constructed hull Three twin turrets mounting the new caliber mm in B K gun under development also proved impracticable and the Soviets had to settle for four MK single mm gun turrets two at each end Her superstructure was massively revised to fit these turrets and all of the original casemated millimeter in B Pattern guns were removed As completed her secondary armament was only four caliber mm Lender AA guns mounted between her funnels Her original internal torpedo tubes were replaced by four triple millimetre in torpedo mounts mounted on each side of the main deck abaft the forecastle break She was given an aircraft handling crane but a catapult wasn t installed aft of her rear funnel until when a Heinkel catapult was imported from Germany She was also fitted for mine rails with a capacity of up to mines
The light cruiser Komintern collided with her in May shortly after her commissioning and badly damaged her bow It was extensively rebuilt and increased her overall length by over metres ft In she made port visits in Turkey Greece and Italy
She was refitted before Operation Barbarossa probably about her catapult was removed and her anti aircraft armament was greatly increased Her four mm Lender AA guns were exchanged for four Italian Minizini twin gun caliber mm in AA mounts and she received four single mounts for the semi automatic mm K were fitted as well as six mm in AA machine guns Two single mounts for mm in K guns were also fitted one on each side of the quarterdeck just aft of the rearmost main gun turret Some of these guns may have been received earlier the sources are unclear While under repair at Poti in late she landed her aft pair of torpedo tubes and received two more Minizini mounts salvaged from the sunken cruiser Chervona Ukraina Ten single mounts for the naval version of the mm AA gun was also fitted By she was also carrying one quadruple Vickers machine gun MK III mount on top of each of her superfiring main gun turrets and she may have been using Oerlikon mm cannon
Krasnyi Kavkaz in company with the cruisers Chervona Ukraina Komintern and a number of destroyers laid down a defensive mine barrage protecting the Black Sea Fleet base at Sevastopol on June She provided gunfire support to Soviet forces defending Odessa and escorted convoys bringing the th Rifle Division into Odessa during the month of September She also transported one battalion of the rd Marine Regiment from Sevastopol in a successful amphibious assault behind Romanian lines to destroy Romanian coastal batteries near Fontanka and Dofinovka She escorted convoys from October that evacuated the th Rifle Division from Odessa to Sevastopol and escorted the final evacuation convoy during the night of October During the Siege of Sevastopol she provided gunfire support and evacuated cut off troops from elsewhere in the Crimea into Sevastopol and brought in reinforcements from Caucasian ports She helped to transport the th Rifle Division from Novorossiysk and Tuapse to Sevastopol between and December and the th Rifle Division between and December bombarding German positions in the interim
During the Kerch Feodosiya Operation Krasnyi Kavkaz sailed into the harbor of Feodosiya on December and disembarked reinforcements and provided gunfire support for Soviet troops already ashore She was hit seventeen times by Axis artillery and mortar fire in retaliation On and January she ferried supplies and reinforcements for the Soviet bridgehead on the Kerch Peninsula On the return voyage she was severely damaged by German Junkers Ju Stuka dive bombers from II StG Four near misses close to her stern damaged her steering her left propeller shaft blew off one propeller and put enough holes in her stern that flooding caused her draft to increase by metres ft She made it to Novorossiysk escorted by the destroyer Sposobnyi where she was patched up enough to make to Poti where more permanent repairs could be made These took until October and the opportunity was taken to reinforce her anti aircraft armament
She was awarded the Guards title on April in recognition of her performance Between and October Krasnyi Kavkaz her half sister Krasnyi Krym and three destroyers ferried men of the th th and th Guards Rifle Brigades from Poti to Tuapse to reinforce the defenses there On the night of February the Soviets made a series of amphibious landings to the west of Novorossiysk behind German lines Krasnyi Krym Krasnyi Kavkaz and three destroyers provided fire support for the main landing but the Soviet troops there were wiped out by February although one secondary landing was successful The loss of three destroyers attempting to interdict the German evacuation of the Taman Bridgehead on October caused Stalin to forbid the deployment of large naval units without his express permission and this meant the end of Krasnyi Kavkaz s active participation in the war
Little is known about her activities after the end of the war other than she was redesignated as a training ship on May She was sunk as a target ship by SS N missiles on November
Route also known as the Colonel Rodman Highway is a mile km long numbered state highway located in Washington County and southern Kent County Rhode Island United States The route is a major north south freeway in the southern Providence metropolitan area directly linking Providence with eastern Washington County the beaches of Narragansett and South Kingstown and the city of Newport Route begins as a two lane divided highway at an intersection with US Route US in the town of North Kingstown becoming a limited access freeway after miles km The route has four numbered interchanges before terminating in the city of Warwick where the northbound lanes merge into Interstate I
The origins of Route date back to when construction began on a short unnumbered arterial from US to the modern location of exit at Routes and in Wickford In the Rhode Island Department of Public Works began work on a mile km freeway from modern exit north to the merge with I The freeway designated as Route was completed in At that time the Route designation was also applied to the Wickford arterial In the missing link in Route between exits and was completed and opened The Rhode Island Department of Transportation has long term plans to upgrade the southernmost portion of Route to freeway status by constructing overpasses at Oak Hill Road and West Allenton Road and a grade separation with US Although the project was originally scheduled to be completed by the million project has been postponed indefinitely
Route begins at a fork in the alignment of US Route in the community of North Kingstown the two left lanes of US default onto Route north with the right hand lane carrying Tower Hill Road and US north into the village of Wickford Route heads in a northwestern direction as a four lane divided highway crossing West Allenton Road at an at grade intersection with a traffic signal after approximately miles km The highway continues on a northwesterly projection passing to the northeast of Kettle Hole Pond and to the southwest of Secret Lake in a heavily forested region After Secret Lake the highway curves to the north crossing Oak Hill Road at another at grade intersection
Shortly after the intersection with Oak Hill Road Route transitions from a divided arterial highway into a four lane limited access freeway The freeway passes to the west of Belleville Pond and begins to parallel the alignment of Route Ten Rod Road near the community of Lafayette Route passes over Amtrak s Northeast Corridor railroad before entering the business district of Wickford Junction The freeway interchanges with Routes and at exit a partial cloverleaf interchange After the interchange Route bends to the northeast beginning a parallel alignment with Route that continues to its northern terminus Route crosses into the town of East Greenwich passing under South Road before interchanging with Route at exit a partial cloverleaf interchange
After exit Route passes the Rhode Island Army National Guard base to the east and to the Hunt River to the west Route northbound interchanges with Route at exit Route or the Quonset Freeway is a four lane limited access freeway and spur route of Route that serves the Quonset Business Park and the village of Davisville Heading southbound exit is split into exit B which serves the Quonset Freeway and exit A which serves Route Frenchtown Road another spur route connecting the highway to US and Route After exit Route continues northward as a six lane expressway passing farmlands to the west and entering a suburban region of East Greenwich The highway crosses under an overpass at Middle Road before interchanging with Route the freeway s final spur at another partial cloverleaf interchange Exit is also used to access Route and I south which has no direct freeway connection with Route north Shortly after exit the Route designation ends and the mainline of the highway defaults onto I north
In the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a million equivalent to million in bond issue to fund the construction of a mile km four lane divided arterial bypass of US Route in Wickford Construction on the highway began in and was completed in at which time the roadway opened as an unnumbered state highway leading from US to Routes and in Wickford
During the late s a few years after the completion of the arterial the Rhode Island Department of Public Works RIDPW proposed a relocation of Route which at the time was the major thoroughfare in the area No action was taken until when the RIDPW introduced a study for the Relocated Route proposal During the study drivers who used the Colonel Rodman Highway arterial and were bound for the state capital of Providence were redirected onto Route an accident prone four lane undivided highway near the modern exit In the planned Route freeway was given the new number of Route leaving Route on its existing alignment A public hearing was held by the state of Rhode Island on the proposed freeway which was to be four lanes and have a divided grassy median This proposal was later accepted and construction began two years later
Construction of a mile km long section of Route from what is now exit in East Greenwich to I in Warwick began in and was completed in That year the mile km arterial south of the modern exit was also designated as part of Route The divided highway remains largely intact to this date as the stretch of Route from US to Routes and at exit the only piece of the arterial that has been significantly altered is the construction of a bridge over Amtrak s Northeast Corridor line By the early s Route was complete north of exit and south of what would become exit but there was a still a missing piece in the highway between the two exits In the s the state of Rhode Island faced several budget problems and environmental concerns both of which delayed the construction of the missing link for nearly eleven years Environmental studies on the missing link began in and the state estimated that the mile km long section of freeway would cost million equivalent to million in to construct
In the Rhode Island Department of Transportation RIDOT began construction of the new segment of Route between exits and The project which ultimately went over budget at million equivalent to million in was financed from a million federal grant In during excavation for the new right of way the Department of Transportation found archeological items from the Narragansett Indians dating from about to years prior Although the findings were not centralized in the area this caused delays for the extension of the freeway On August RIODT completed construction and performed a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new highway
In January two police cruisers were severely damaged during a chase on Route A driver was speeding in the southbound lanes of Route near exit when the driver exited at Route Frenchtown Road two police officers got into serious accidents in their attempts to pursue the vehicle After the crashes the American Civil Liberties Union restarted efforts to amend police chase policy and avoid further crash related injuries for officers in the line of duty
In construction began on the Quonset Freeway a relocated Route that serves the Quonset Business Park from Route The project included the reconstruction and reworking of exit off Route which was a southbound only exit serving both Route and Route when constructed The exit was converted into a trumpet interchange with new ramps between Route Route and Route and was completed in December one year ahead of schedule The project included the construction of a new northbound exit serving Route east
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation RIDOT has laid out long term plans for improvements to both the southern and northern termini of Route During the s and s RIDOT announced plans to eliminate the three traffic lights along the southern end of the highway The department planned to replace the existing signalized US and Route merge converting it into a grade separated interchange with an extensive overpass This would cut off access to three local roads that intersect US near the signal The plan also included the replacement of the two other signaled intersections at West Allenton Road and Oak Hill Road with overpasses the overpass for West Allenton Road is planned to be constructed as a new exit In the s the state purchased and demolished several houses in the region to allow for an expanded Route right of way in the vicinity of West Allenton Road
The upgrade proposal proved to be very unpopular with North Kingstown residents who lived on the affected local roads Additionally RIDOT laid the highway out so that Route would cross through wetlands in the area This sparked environmental concerns as one of the large wetlands that would be affected Froberg s Marsh was deemed to be of high value by Rhode Island environmentalists Despite local and environmental concerns RIDOT still considers the Route upgrade to be the safest way to improve traffic flow in the region While the Department of Transportation considered upgrading nearby Route to freeway standards as a potential alternative this plan was ultimately rejected because of its effects on wells in the area Although the project was originally scheduled to be completed by the million project has been postponed indefinitely
RIDOT also has long range plans to construct direct freeway connections linking Route north with I south and I north with Route south As of November environmental studies are being prepared for a reconfiguration of the interchange
Italics denote future exit numbers
West End Girls is a song by British pop duo Pet Shop Boys Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe the song was released twice as a single The song is influenced by hip hop music with lyrics concerned with class and the pressures of inner city life which were inspired partly by T S Eliot s poem The Waste Land It was generally well received by contemporary music critics and has been frequently cited as a highlight in the duo s career
The first version of the song was produced by Bobby Orlando and was released on Columbia Records Bobcat Records imprint in April becoming a club hit in the United States and some European countries After the duo signed with EMI the song was re recorded with producer Stephen Hague for their first studio album Please In October the new version was released reaching number one in the United Kingdom and the United States in
In the song won Best Single at the Brit Awards and Best International Hit at the Ivor Novello Awards In years after its release the song was awarded Song of The Decade between the years and by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters In the song was voted by the British public as the nation s th favourite s number one in a poll for ITV
The song was performed by Pet Shop Boys at the Summer Olympics closing ceremony and was included as part of the soundtrack of the game Grand Theft Auto V on the Non Stop Pop radio station
In Neil Tennant met producer Bobby Orlando while on an assignment in New York interviewing Sting for Smash Hits After listening to some demos Orlando offered to produce for the duo
In the duo recorded eleven songs with Orlando at Unique Studios in New York West End Girls Opportunities Let s Make Lots of Money One More Chance I Want A Lover A Man Could Get Arrested I Get Excited Two Divided by Zero Rent It s A Sin Pet Shop Boys and Later Tonite Orlando played most of the instruments on West End Girls including the jazz riff at the end Lowe played one chord and the bassline It included a drum part lifted from Michael Jackson s Billie Jean and an arrangement involving what Tennant called Barry White chords Orlando was thrilled by the song s production his idea was to make a rap record in a British accent
In April West End Girls was released becoming a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco and a minor dance hit in Belgium and France but was only available in the United Kingdom as a import In March after long negotiations Pet Shop Boys cut their contractual ties with Orlando and hired manager Tom Watkins who signed them with EMI They re recorded West End Girls with producer Stephen Hague and re released the song in late topping the charts in both the UK and the US
In an interview on BBC s Synth Britannia programme Video on YouTube at h m s Neil Tennant explains the role of the then new sampling technology on the track and how every single sound came from the newly introduced E mu Emulator keyboard
West End Girls is a synthpop song influenced by hip hop music The song s socially conscious streak as well as the propulsive bass line derives from Grandmaster Flash s protest rap song The Message Lowe and Hague created a snaky obsessive rhythm punch for the music replacing the song s previously sparse beats and minimal keyboard lines
Tennant started to write the song when he was staying at his cousin s house in Nottingham while watching a gangster film Just when he was going to sleep he came up with the lines Sometimes you re better off dead there s a gun in your hand and it s pointing at your head The lyrics were inspired by TS Eliot s poem The Waste Land particularly in the use of different narrative voices and arcane references The song s lyrics are largely concerned with class inner city pressure Tennant later said that some listeners had assumed the song referred to prostitutes but was actually about rough boys getting a bit of posh
The lyric From Lake Geneva to the Finland Station refers to the train route taken by Vladimir Lenin when he was smuggled by the Germans to Russia during World War I a pivotal event in the Russian Revolution Indeed it is highly likely the lyric was inspired by the book To the Finland Station by Edmund Wilson a very famous work on the history of revolutionary thought and Socialism that Tennant would have at least heard of if not read as a student The Bobby Orlando produced version of the single included another line All your stopping stalling and starting Who do you think you are Joe Stalin which was removed for the version
West End Girls has been generally well received by music critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic in a review of the album Please called the song hypnotic adding that it s not only a classic dance single it s a classic pop single In a review for the group s second studio album Actually Rob Hoerburger from Rolling Stone magazine commented that West End Girls was as catchy as anything on the radio in praising its enticing bass line and foreboding synth riffs but felt that it was almost nullified by peevish spoken asides and the cryptic posturing of the duo s lyrics In a review of the live album Concrete Michael Hubbard from musicOMH said that West End Girls was one of the songs that round out a collection that never feels too long or superfluous adding that it goes some way to installing Tennant and Lowe as national treasures
Nitsuh Abebe from Pitchfork Media in a review of their compilation album PopArt Pet Shop Boys The Hits commented that in the song we meet Tennant not as a singer but as a speaker adding that he mumbles the verses to us not like a star but like a stranger in a raincoat slinking alongside you and pointing out the sights
In West End Girls won for Best Single at The BRIT Awards and for Best International Hit at the Ivor Novello Awards In the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters gave to West End Girls the Ivor Novello Award for Song of The Decade between the years and
The video was directed by Andy Morahan and Eric Watson and consists of shots of the duo around London At the beginning of the video noises from the city can be heard a camera passes Lowe on the street and focus on two vintage dolls in a shop window Then appears a sequence of quick cuts with shots of the city s different sub cultures the video freezes and cuts to Tennant and Lowe who walk through an empty Wentworth Street in Petticoat Lane Market They stand in front of a red garage door Tennant is in front dressed with a long coat white shirt and dark necktie directly addressing the camera with Lowe standing behind him with a blank expression Lowe is filmed in double exposure and appears almost ghostlike In other shots Tennant walks imperiously while Lowe follows behind as if one were a master and the other an apprentice
Then the video shows various shots at Waterloo station as the chorus starts In slow motion the camera pans across the WHSmith shop on the station concourse as the duo walk past It cuts to a brief shot of a No red double decker bus showing the destination as Aldgate also advertising the stage show Evita then black and white shots of the Tower Bridge Westminster and the Westminster Palace Clock Tower from the sky The duo poses on the South Bank of the River Thames in a pastiche of a postcard image with the Houses of Parliament as a background
The camera shows shots of young women and passes through arcades and cinemas in Leicester Square The camera now passes South Africa House showing protestors in the Non Stop Picket an anti apartheid vigil The video cuts to a closeup of Tennant singing the chorus with a purple neon sign passing across his face At the end the camera passes again through Leicester Square where people queue to see Fletch and Desperately Seeking Susan The video was nominated for Best New Artist in a Video at the MTV Video Music Awards but lost to a ha s Take On Me
West End Girls was first released in April through writer and producer Bobby Orlando s label The song was a club hit in the United States and in some European countries such as Belgium where it debuted at number on the VRT Top chart on July peaking at four weeks later In Canada West End Girls first entered the RPM singles chart in April reaching a peak position of in June
Having signed with EMI the group released their first major label single Opportunities Let s Make Lots of Money in mid but it failed to attract attention The Pet Shop Boys then decided to re record West End Girls and issue this new version as a single Producer Stephen Hague helmed the new re recorded version of West End Girls
The re recorded version of West End Girls was released in the United Kingdom in October debuting on the UK Singles Chart at number and within eight weeks of its release it had reached the top of the chart It maintained the number one position for two weeks and received a gold certification by the British Phonographic Industry BPI in January Across Europe West End Girls also topped the singles chart in Norway as well as peaking in the top three in Belgium Germany Ireland the Netherlands Sweden and Switzerland
In Canada where the original recording of West End Girls had already been a minor hit in the re recorded version was issued as a single in early The re recorded song entered the chart in March peaking at number one for one week on May In the United States West End Girls debuted on the Billboard Hot at number reaching the number one position on May and remained on the chart for weeks The song also peaked at number one on Billboard s Hot Dance Music Club Play chart for two weeks
Chris Lowe keyboards artwork design
In East covered West End Girls for their album Walthamstow with limited chart success
West End Girls Faces on Posters Mix
West End Girls Kicking in Chairs
Wrapped in Red is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Kelly Clarkson released on October by RCA Records The album is a follow up to her first greatest hits album Greatest Hits Chapter One and its companion extended play The Smoakstack Sessions Vol Produced by Greg Kurstin it is her first Christmas album and her first record to be solely released by RCA Wrapped in Red consists of sixteen tracks featuring five co penned original songs and eleven cover versions of Christmas standards and carols two of which are duets featuring recording artists Ronnie Dunn Reba McEntire and Trisha Yearwood
Weary of constantly being asked for her primary genre Clarkson had long desired to record a Christmas album as a means to defy genre limitations She commissioned Kurstin who had studied jazz music under the tutelage of Jaki Byard to produce the entire album Drawing inspirations from the soundtracks to the features A Charlie Brown Christmas and White Christmas as well as the Christmas albums by Mariah Carey McEntire and Phil Spector they experimented on various styles and sounds using Spector s famed Wall of Sound technique to a create a contemporary holiday theme to classics The Christmas music of Wrapped in Red comprises a variety of the genres such pop jazz country and soul marking a departure from the pop rock sound established from her previous studio albums while its lyrics share a singular theme of the color red which represents a plethora of emotions during the holidays
Wrapped in Red debuted on the Billboard chart at number and topped the Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart with copies sold in its first week of release For nine consecutive weeks Wrapped in Red stayed on the top ten of both charts and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and Music Canada By the end of it became the year s best selling Christmas release in the United States and the second best selling Christmas release in Canada Its lead single Underneath the Tree became an international top forty Christmas hit song and was radio s most played new holiday song of In promoting Wrapped in Red she appeared in red dresses on various televised appearances and filmed an accompanying television special Kelly Clarkson s Cautionary Christmas Music Tale at The Venetian Las Vegas which premiered on NBC on December In Clarkson released the title track as the second single and hosted an annual Christmas benefit concert Miracle on Broadway at the Bridgestone Arena on December
Clarkson had expressed interest in recording a Christmas album for years having recorded various Christmas songs such as Oh Holy Night and My Grown Up Christmas List on the American Idol The Great Holiday Classics I ll Be Home for Christmas on iTunes Session and being featured on Blake Shelton s Christmas album Cheers It s Christmas Weary of constantly being asked for her primary genre she felt that recording a Christmas album would finally pave a way for her to explore other different genres She remarked I always get asked what genre I m in Is this country or pop or rock What are you And what s cool about making the Christmas album was Oh there are no limitations We can do whatever we want She further added The thing about Christmas is that it almost doesn t matter what mood you re in or what kind of a year you ve had it s a fresh start I m going to clear the air and take stock of the good that s happened
Discussions about making her sixth studio album being a Christmas record began on December a month after releasing her first greatest hits album Greatest Hits Chapter One Having found the opportunity to do so Clarkson commissioned producer and multi instrumentalist Greg Kurstin whom she had previously collaborated with on her albums Stronger and Chapter One to solely produce the whole album Despite having been raised in a Jewish faith and unfamiliar with Christmas songs Kurstin still agreed to produce the project As a result the record marked the second time her studio album only had a single producer the first being David Kahne solely producing My December in It also marked the fourth time Kurstin had solely produced an entire studio album apart from being a member of the musical groups The Bird and the Bee and Geggy Tah the first three being Lily Allen s It s Not Me It s You in Sia s We Are Born in and The Shins Port of Morrow in
Recording sessions of the basic instrumental tracks for Wrapped in Red took place in Kurstin s Echo Studio in Los Angeles while orchestral sessions were recorded at EastWest Studios in Hollywood and featured vocals recorded in The Barn studio in Nashville In recording tracks for the album Clarkson and Kurstin wanted to showcase as many different styles as they could by experimenting in various sounds and styles to create fresh contemporary sound to classic sounding music He recalled It was a lot of fun for us because we got to go back to our roots When Kelly started singing it was clear she had the chops and had been trained to do anything Further adding We really experimented It was so much fun and liberating And it pays off Kurstin who studied with jazz musician Jaki Byard at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music recruited various jazz and soul musicians such as James Gadson Kevin Dukes Roy McCurdy and Bill Withers to perform on the record to resonate a Memphis soul sound He also collaborated with Joseph Trapanese to arrange and conduct a chamber orchestra
In providing instrumentation for the record Kurstin used all of his instruments such as a Mellotron and a Chamberlin taping them from a distance to stimulate the Wall of Sound a recording technique originally developed by Phil Spector that was popular in the early s He enlisted Clarkson to provide all the background vocals herself Clarkson who grew up singing in a chorus was pleased with the aspect saying Blending is something I knew how to do from childhood Sometimes I d have to do an alto instead of a soprano because they needed a bigger sound But I ve never had to do anything like this before doing all my backup vocals essentially being my own choir Together they began to record in May and continued through the summer of that year beginning by recording White Christmas with Clarkson in the vocal booth and with Kurstin on a piano She commented The production is all him I would be just like Hey can we make this more jazz Hey can we make this more bluesy And he just like Harry Potter made this happen It s so weird
Clarkson has cited the color red as the album s only theme A color traditionally associated with Christmas she affiliated the color to various emotions in the holidays Wanting to stray away from her usual pop sound she described Wrapped in Red s music as a representation to explore different genres such as jazz country and Memphis soul She recalled What s cool about Christmas albums is you can do jazz rock and roll you can do pop you can do blues like you can do all that stuff and it works cause it s all classic and it s Christmasy sounding She also noted that the album s multitude of styles positively contributes to her artistic goal saying My best friend from childhood heard it and said This is what you sound like before everything else And I agree It s my core sound Back in the day when artists came out with things like Fall to Pieces and Bridge over Troubled Water those songs transcended genres It wasn t Where is it going to fit You catered to whatever the song calls for And that s exactly what I did without having to have an umbrella for everything
In gathering inspirations for Wrapped in Red Clarkson started by listening to Bing Crosby s and Rosemary Clooney s soundtracks from the feature film White Christmas as well as Mariah Carey s Merry Christmas and Merry Christmas to You by Reba McEntire While Kurstin who used to play in a jazz band took influences from A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio and A Christmas Gift for You by Phil Spector as his inspirations which resulted to the album s Wall of Sound resonance Clarkson also cited that her relationship with her then fianc Brandon Blackstock had inspired some of the album s lyrical content
Clarkson shares writing credits on all five original songs on Wrapped in Red some of which were written in December to avoid writing Christmas tunes during the summer season She co wrote the opening and the title track Wrapped in Red with Ashley Arrison Aben Eubanks and Shane McAnally A Christmas ballad the song was inspired by a scene in the holiday feature film Love Actually in which someone confesses unrequited love towards another Critics singled out the track the one that resonates the Wall of Sound the most The second track Underneath the Tree was written by Clarkson and Kurstin making it the first time they had co written a track together Clarkson remarked Greg and I have worked a lot together but usually I just come in and I just sing We ve never have actually written a song together at this point And he and I were like Let s just try to write something for the record RCA Records chief executive Peter Edge remarked that its release as a single was partly inspired by the success of All I Want for Christmas Is You by Carey The following track is a rendition of the holiday standard Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas which Clarkson had selected for its saccharine content
Clarkson favored Run Run Rudolph as her favorite classic saying Just because it got to be a little more rock and roll She also remarked that Please Come Home for Christmas Bells Will Be Ringing was the first song selected for inclusion after her mother s recommendation and the song s melancholic lyrics Written by Clarkson and Eubanks Every Christmas was the first song to be written for the album She revealed that the song narrates of her holiday life prior to meeting Blackstock McEntire s stepson saying Every Christmas I was just like This is going to be different right I m going to actually find someone and not be pathetically alone for the rest of my life The seventh track is a cover of Elvis Presley s Blue Christmas Its follow up a rendition of Baby It s Cold Outside features Ronnie Dunn Clarkson had approached Dunn thinking that his personality suited the song s content well saying Like it s straight up his personality to say all of that to try and get you to stay and have a drink Winter Dreams Brandon s Song was written by Clarkson Arrison and Eubanks as a companion piece to Every Christmas Dedicated to Blackstock the song accounts her holiday after meeting him She remarked Christmas changes it morphs it comes to life a little more It s just a happier time
The tenth track White Christmas was the first song to be recorded for Wrapped in Red A cover of Rodgers and Hammerstein s My Favorite Things follows up as the eleventh track Clarkson opted for the Broadway performance of the song to stray away from Julie Andrews s version citing I think you shouldn t go near anywhere of what she s doing because she s so good Clarkson and Kurstin co wrote Carats with Cathy Dennis and Livvi Franc Originally written a pop song they converted it as a Christmas song to fit the album s theme describing it as a crossover between Eartha Kitt s Santa Baby and Madonna s Material Girl A rendition of Imogen Heap s Just for Now was described by Clarkson as her highly dysfunctional environment saying Can we just stop for like five minutes and have like a normal Christmas setting The song begins by sampling the melody of the Christmas tune Carol of the Bells The closing track a rendition of the traditional carol Silent Night features McEntire and Trisha Yearwood and ends in an a capella setting between the trio In addition two tracks were also included in the deluxe edition of the album the first Clarkson s cover of I ll Be Home for Christmas from iTunes Session and the second her rendition of the first stanza of the ecclesiastical hymn Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel
Wrapped in Red was first released internationally on October by RCA Records through Sony Music Entertainment It then received a North American release on October by RCA as part of its holiday promotional campaign with the soundtracks to the feature films Black Nativity and The Best Man Holiday with Wrapped in Red being promulgated as the one that will transcend formats and become a new holiday classic In an interview with Billboard RCA marketing executive Aaron Borns remarked that the album was their main release of the holidays quoting The angle on this album is that like all great Christmas records it s about amazing vocal performances That s what this is intended to be an album launched this year but timeless and genre defying In preparation for its release in the United States RCA shipped a half million units on Amazoncom and Target which exclusively released a deluxe edition A red LP pressing of Wrapped in Red by United Record Pressing followed the CD release on November marking the first time an album by Clarkson was released on a vinyl record A deluxe LP and CD edition was also released on the Sony Music store which included a scarf a holiday ornament and a snow globe all of which were decorated in red as inspired from the album A international promotion campaign was also planned for Clarkson but was later halted due her pregnancy On October Wrapped in Red was reissued by RCA with a special edition CD DVD release exclusive to Walmart stores in the United States A green LP pressing of the album will also have a limited copy release on December
On October White Christmas was released as a promotional single from Wrapped in Red Three days after Underneath the Tree premiered on Clarkson s Vevo channel A television Christmas special titled Kelly Clarkson s Cautionary Christmas Music Tale was filmed by concert director Hamish Hamilton on October the eve after its street date at The Venetian Las Vegas A pastiche of A Christmas Carol the Christmas special featured live performances of selections from Wrapped in Red one of which features McEntire and Yearwood Produced by Done and Dusted Cautionary Christmas Music Tale premiered on NBC in the United States and Global in Canada on December being pegged by RCA as the album s primary promotional medium NBC s premiere broadcast of the special was seen by million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research It also received a share among adults between the ages of to generated NBC s second biggest overall audience its time slot NBC had also a rerun broadcast of Cautionary Christmas Music Tale on Christmas Day which was seen by an additional million viewers
Clarkson had also promoted Wrapped in Red in various televised performances all of which she was dressed in red attire She first performed Underneath the Tree on the The Today Show on November On December she performed Run Run Rudolph and Blue Christmas on the Christmas at Rockefeller Center television special Clarkson had then performed Underneath the Tree on more televised events such as on the fifth season of the The Voice on December The Ellen DeGeneres Show on December and on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on December On December Clarkson returned to The Today Show on its Christmas Day broadcast performing Blue Christmas Selected tracks from the album were also used in advertisements such as Run Run Rudolph which was used in a Belk holiday advertisement and Underneath the Tree which was featured in an Amazoncom and Amazon Kindle Fire HDX advertisement with an appearance by Clarkson performing the song On December She will host a Christmas concert Miracle on Broadway at the Bridgestone Arena An annual Christmas benefit concert Miracle on Broadway will feature live performances of various Christmas songs by McEntire Yearwood Garth Brooks Ronnie Dunn Kacey Musgraves Hayley Williams Charles Esten and Meghan Trainor some of whom will also join Clarkson in performing selections from Wrapped in Red
Wrapped in Red s lead single Underneath the Tree was released to radio airplay on November Praised in its initial release music critics approvingly compared the song to All I Want for Christmas is You and blazoned it as a future Christmas standard Reviewing for Slant Magazine Sal Cinquemani wrote that track is likely to become Clarkson s very own contemporary standard while The Independent s Hugh Montgomery applauded it as a winner on all fronts After debuting on the Billboard Holiday chart at number it became holiday top ten hit by peaking at number eight on the chart It also topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for four consecutive weeks becoming Clarkson s third track and the fifteenth holiday song to top the chart Underneath the Tree also charted on the main Billboard Hot chart at number seventy eight and became a top forty hit internationally including the Billboard Canadian Hot chart the Dutch Top chart and the Official UK Singles Chart USA Today reported that Underneath the Tree was American radio s most played new holiday song of while Edison Media Research reported that the single was the first holiday song to receive a considerable support on mainstream contemporary hit radio in almost years Wrapped in Red s second single the title track was serviced to radio airplay on November On the week ending December it debuted on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart at number on the week ending December
At Metacritic which assigns a normalized rating out of to reviews from mainstream critics the album received an average score of based on reviews and scoring higher than any other album by Clarkson AllMusic s senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it a three and a half stars He described its uptempo arrangements as well as Clarkson s vocal performance as bold and brassy and its mid tempo arrangements as even more alluring He also noted the track selection favors the bold but that she fares well in this setting always sounding like the strongest element in the mix Towards the end of his review he wrote that Perhaps the concept and execution are conventional but even in this utterly expected setting Clarkson retains her fiery individual spirit and that s what makes Wrapped in Red appealing to the letter it delivers what it promises Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine also gave it a similar rating He noted that the album largely offers a respite from the pop rock template she s been relentlessly pursuing since Breakaway with less shouting and more of the varied range and texture on full display that helped coronate her the winner of the inaugural season of American Idol For better or worse a decade of recording and touring has roughed up the edges of her voice lending a lived in quality that imbues lyrics about love and longing with an authenticity that might have otherwise been missing had she recorded these songs just a few years earlier
NPR s Ken Tucker described the album as a glossy but heartfelt work and approvingly compared its contrasting philosophy to Nick Lowe s Quality Street A Seasonal Selection for All the Family both of which he described as will put you in a holiday mood Matt Casarino of PopMatters gave the album a generally favorable review claiming that Clarkson plays it safe and spends too much time showing off her upper register but Wrapped in Red is a warm and romantic addition to the Christmas pop Zeitgeist adding Wrapped in Red doesn t need edge it s just dynamic and varied enough to be satisfying and it s light years better than any of the whitewashed Christmas crap Simon Cowell has inflicted on the world Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe gave a favorable review particularly lauding Underneath the Tree and described Clarkson s rendering the Christmas standards as fairly straight She added She starts gently on Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas before belting out the money notes She ambles assuredly through the soulful favorite Please Come Home for Christmas Bells Will Be Ringing and hangs by the piano for a torchy White Christmas Newsday s music columnist Glenn Gamboa wrote that Clarkson handles it all expertly hitting remarkably high notes on Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and swinging jazzily on Baby It s Cold Outside with Dunn The new songs make Wrapped in Red a real gift as the title track and Underneath the Tree channel the Phil Spector Christmas albums and Carats somehow blends Stronger and Santa Baby Reviewing for HitFix Melinda Newman gave the album an A rating praising Clarkson s vocal performances and noting that she and Kurstin have clearly studied legendary Christmas albums of yore most notably Spector s A Christmas Gift For You and Andy Williams Merry Christmas to lovingly recreate Christmas standards as well as craft new ones in the image of those sets Chris Klimek of Slate declared Wrapped in Red as the best of s new Christmas records noting for its vintage sound He also observed that its five original tracks most notably Wrapped in Red and Underneath the Tree have reasonable odds of remaining in the yuletide rotation five years from now In his review for The New York Times Jon Caramanica wrote that Clarkson is very likely the only singer working in pop with a real possibility of creating a modern holiday classic along the lines of Carey s All I Want for Christmas Is You and remarked that her takes on familiar songs however accomplished are also faithful in the way that someone mindful of pop history would be
Wrapped in Red became a commercial success in the United States Prior it its release music commercial analysts predicted that the album would likely sell at least copies in its first week of release in the region and foresaw it to be the front runner as the bestselling holiday release of the season On the week ending November it debuted on the Billboard chart at number with copies sold in all retailers a decrease from Stronger s first week sales of copies in Nielsen Music analyst Dave Bakula attributed its low performance to the falling market share of the holiday music in general which saw percent decrease in The album s chart debut on the Billboard earned Clarkson her sixth consecutive top three studio album as well as the highest debut for a Christmas record by a female artist since Susan Boyle s first Christmas album The Gift debuted at the top of the chart in Wrapped in Red also debuted three other different charts most notably at the top of the Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart On the week ending November by charting at number six on the Billboard the album became the lone Sony release inside the chart s top ten with the others being Universal Music Group releases
Despite its modest debut week Wrapped in Red began to gain traction at the beginning of the holiday season selling up to copies during the Thanksgiving week It experienced its best sales week after benefiting from NBC s premiere broadcast of Cautionary Christmas Music Tale selling up to copies on its seventh week of release For nine consecutive weeks it stayed in the top ten of the Billboard the most by any studio album by Clarkson On December the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America making it her fifth platinum studio album Wrapped in Red subsequently became the bestselling Christmas release of by selling over copies according to Nielsen Soundscan making her the first American female artist to have the number one Christmas album of the Soundscan era Twelve of the album cuts from Wrapped in Red have also entered the Billboard Holiday Digital Songs chart during its first week of release led by Silent Night Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and Underneath the Tree at numbers one two and four respectively Other songs have also appeared in various Billboard charts throughout the holiday season songs such as Blue Christmas and Please Come Home for Christmas charted on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart peaking at numbers and respectively whereas My Favorite Things Run Run Rudolph Please Come Home for Christmas Silent Night and Wrapped in Red peaked on the Billboard Canada AC chart at numbers eight seven and respectively Tracks such as My Favorite Things have charted on the Billboard Mexico Ingls Airplay chart at number while Silent Night attained a position in both the Billboard Holiday and the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts peaking at numbers and respectively Amazoncom listed Wrapped in Red as their second bestselling album during the holiday season and listed it as their sixth bestselling title of The album has sold copies in the US as of November And in peaked at on the holiday chart
Internationally Wrapped in Red had a relatively limited commercial performance In Canada the album debuted on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart at number on the week ending November making it her fifth top ten debut on the Nielsen tracked chart It peaked on the chart at number on the week ending December Wrapped in Red became the second bestselling Christmas album of in Canada with copies sold in the region behind A Christmas Gift to You by Johnny Reid In Australia the album debuted on the ARIA Albums Chart at number on the week ending November and peaked at number on the week ending December In Switzerland it debuted on the Schweizer Hitparade at number on the week ending November In the United Kingdom Wrapped in Red charted on the Official UK Albums Chart at number on the week ending December Despite its limited performance Sony Corporation listed the album as their fifth bestselling release worldwide during the holiday season which included albums album cut tracks and singles sales
All tracks were produced by Greg Kurstin with vocal production on Every Christmas made by Jason Halbert
Just for Now contains a portion of the composition Carol of the Bells written by Peter J Wilhousky
Tracks from the concert DVD were filmed from the television special Kelly Clarkson s Cautionary Christmas Music Tale
Credits lifted from the album s liner notes
The Christmas nor easter was an intense cyclone along the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada It developed from an area of low pressure in the southeast Gulf of Mexico near the Florida Keys and moved across the state of Florida As it entered the warm waters of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean it began to rapidly intensify exhibiting traits of a tropical system including the formation of an eye It attained a pressure of millibars on December and and after moving northward it came ashore near New York City on Christmas Eve Because of the uncertain nature of the storm the National Hurricane Center NHC did not classify it as a tropical cyclone
Heavy rain from the developing storm contributed to significant flooding in South Carolina Much of the rest of the East Coast was affected by high winds coastal flooding and beach erosion New York State and New England bore the brunt of the storm damage was extensive on Long Island and in Connecticut households lost electric power during the storm Widespread damage and power outages also occurred throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts where the storm generated foot m waves along the coast Because of the warm weather pattern that contributed to the storm s development precipitation was limited to rain Two people were killed and damage amounted to at least million
The storm originated in an upper level low pressure system that moved southeastward from the central Great Plains into the Deep South of the United States After reaching the southeast Gulf of Mexico the disturbance underwent cyclogenesis and the resultant system moved through Florida on December in response to an approaching trough National Hurricane Center forecaster Jack Beven noted that as it moved out into the Bahamas it appeared to take on the characteristics of a tropical storm The uncertain nature of the storm prevented the NHC from issuing advisories on it and forecasters lacked sufficient data to fully assess the cyclone for potential tropical characteristics The same trough that pushed the storm across Florida had moved to the north allowing for high pressure to develop in the upper levels of the atmosphere
Deemed a hybrid storm the cyclone rapidly intensified in warm waters of up to F C from the Gulf Stream combined with a cold air mass over the United States The system continued to rapidly intensify while moving within the Gulf Stream it developed central convection an unusual trait for an extratropical cyclone and at one point exhibited an eye Despite these indications of tropical characteristics There was no front associated with it and it had a warm core but the radius of maximum winds was more than nautical miles mi km so under the standard NHC criteria it didn t qualify as a tropical storm On December and the nor easter intensified to attain a barometric pressure of mb inHg An upper level low pressure system that developed behind the storm began to intensify and grew to be larger in size than the original disturbance In an interaction known as the Fujiwhara effect the broad circulation of the secondary low swung the primary nor easter northwestward towards southern New York and New England The original low passed along the south shore of Long Island and made landfall near New York City on December Subsequently it moved over southeastern New York State On December the system began to rapidly weaken as it moved towards Nova Scotia before the pair of low pressure systems moved out to sea in tandem in the early hours of December
In South Carolina flooding associated with the cyclone was considered to be the worst since Over inches mm of rainfall was reported while winds brought down trees and ripped awnings In addition the coast suffered the effects of beach erosion Thousands of electric customers in the state lost power As a result of the heavy rainfall several dams became overwhelmed by rising waters Extensive flooding of roads and highways was reported many of which were closed as a result Up to feet m of water flooded some homes in the region Approximately people in Florence County were forced to evacuate because of the flooding and at least homes were damaged Two deaths were reported in the state One woman was killed when her vehicle hydroplaned and struck a tree and another person drowned after her car was struck by another vehicle Total damage in South Carolina amounted to at least million
Strong winds occurred along the North Carolina coast Diamond Shoals reported sustained winds of miles per hour km h and offshore winds gusted to miles per hour km h On Wrightsville Beach rough surf eroded an foot m ledge into the beach On Carolina Beach dunes were breached and some roads including portions of North Carolina Highway were closed
As the primary storm entered New England the secondary low produced minor coastal flooding in the Tidewater region of Virginia on December Winds of to miles per hour to km h and tides to to feet to m above normal were reported In Sandbridge Virginia Beach Virginia a beachfront home collapsed into the sea Several roads throughout the region suffered minor flooding Strong winds resulting from the tight pressure gradient between the nor easter and an area of high pressure located over the United States brought down a few utility poles which sparked a brush fire on December The fire quickly spread by the wind burned a field The winds brought down several trees
Damage was light in Maryland Some sand dunes and wooden structures were damaged and above normal tides occurred In New Jersey high winds caused power outages and knocked down trees and power lines Minor coastal flooding of streets and houses was reported Otherwise damage in the state was minor
The storm brought heavy rainfall and high winds to New York State and New York City on December and Gusts of to miles per hour to km h downed hundreds of trees and many power lines on Long Island Several homes in addition to many cars sustained damage Roughly Long Island Lighting Company customers experienced power outages at some point during the storm As the cyclone progressed northward into New York State high winds occurred in the Hudson Valley region Throughout Columbia Ulster and Rensselaer Counties trees tree limbs and power lines were downed by the winds At Stephentown a gust of miles per hour km h was reported Ulster County suffered substantial impacts with large trees being uprooted and striking homes Across eastern New York State households lost power as a result of the nor easter On the North Fork of Long Island in Southold a seaside home partially collapsed into the water
In Connecticut the storm was described as being more significant than anticipated Gale force wind gusts reaching miles per hour km h blew across the state from the northeast and later from the east Trees tree limbs and power lines were downed causing damage to property and vehicles The high winds caused widespread power outages affecting up to electric customers As a result electric companies sought help from as far as Pennsylvania and Maine to restore electricity Bruno Ranniello a spokesman for Northeast Utilities reported that We ve had outages in virtually every community In New Haven the nor easter ripped three barges from their moorings One of the barges traveled across the Long Island Sound and ran aground near Port Jefferson New York A man in Milford was killed indirectly when a tree that was partially downed by the storm fell on him during an attempt to remove it from a relative s yard Northeast Utilities which reported the majority of the power outages estimated storm damage in the state to be about million USD million USD
Effects were less severe in New Hampshire and Vermont In southern New Hampshire a line of thunderstorms produced torrential rainfall causing flooding on parts of New Hampshire Route Flash flooding of several tributaries feeding into the Piscataquog River was reported In Maine the storm brought high winds and heavy rain Along the coast of southern Maine and New Hampshire beach erosion was reported Additionally minor flooding was reported across the region as a result of heavy surface runoff and small ice jams In Rhode Island the power outages were the worst since Hurricane Bob of the Atlantic hurricane season Throughout the state approximately customers were without electric power As with Massachusetts downed trees and property damage were widespread There were many reports of roof shingles being blown off roofs and of damage to gutters In Warwick several small boats were damaged after being knocked into other boats The highest reported wind gust in the state was miles per hour km h at Ashaway Rhode Island Statewide damage totaled about million
Massachusetts particularly Cape Cod and Nantucket bore the brunt of the nor easter Reportedly wind gusts approached miles per hour km h on Cape Cod and offshore waves reached feet m At Walpole wind gusts peaked at miles per hour km h while on Nantucket gusts of miles per hour km h were reported The winds left electric customers without power during the storm primarily in the eastern part of the state Power was out for some as long as hours Property damage was widespread and many trees signs and billboards were blown down A large tent used by the New England Patriots was ripped and blown off its foundation The winds also spread a deadly house fire in North Attleboro Although not directly related to the storm it caused seven fatalities Because tides were low little coastal flooding occurred Outside the Prudential Tower Center in Boston the storm toppled a foot m Christmas tree Rainfall of to inches to mm was recorded throughout the eastern part of the state contributing to heavy runoff that washed away a foot m section of a highway Total damage in Massachusetts was estimated at about million
Sholay pronunciation meaning Embers is a Indian Hindi language action adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy and produced by his father G P Sippy The film follows two criminals Veeru and Jai played by Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan hired by a retired police officer Sanjeev Kumar to capture the ruthless dacoit Gabbar Singh Amjad Khan Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri also star as Veeru and Jai s love interests Sholay is considered a classic and one of the best Indian films It was ranked first in the British Film Institute s poll of Top Indian Films of all time In the judges of the th annual Filmfare Awards named it the Best Film of Years
The film was shot in the rocky terrain of Ramanagara in the southern state of Karnataka over a span of two and a half years After the Central Board of Film Certification mandated the removal of several violent scenes Sholay was released with a length of minutes In the original director s cut of minutes became available on home media When first released Sholay received negative critical reviews and a tepid commercial response but favourable word of mouth publicity helped it to become a box office success It broke records for continuous showings in many theatres across India and ran for more than five years at Mumbai s Minerva theatre By some accounts Sholay is the highest grossing Indian film of all time adjusted for inflation
The film drew heavily from the conventions of Westerns and is a defining example of the masala film which mixes several genres in one work Scholars have noted several themes in the film such as glorification of violence conformation to feudal ethos debate between social order and mobilised usurpers homosocial bonding and the film s role as a national allegory The combined sales of the original soundtrack scored by R D Burman and the dialogues released separately set new sales records The film s dialogues and certain characters became extremely popular contributing to numerous cultural memes and becoming part of India s daily vernacular In January Sholay was re released to theatres in the D format
In the small village of Ramgarh the retired policeman Thakur Baldev Singh Sanjeev Kumar summons a pair of small time thieves that he had once arrested Thakur feels that the duo Veeru Dharmendra and Jai Amitabh Bachchan would be ideal to help him capture Gabbar Singh Amjad Khan a dacoit wanted by the authorities for a reward Thakur tells them to surrender Gabbar to him alive for an additional reward
The two thieves thwart the dacoits sent by Gabbar to extort the villagers Soon afterwards Gabbar and his goons attack Ramgarh during the festival of Holi In a tough battle Veeru and Jai are cornered Thakur although he has a gun within his reach does not help them Veeru and Jai fight back and the bandits flee The two are however upset at Thakur s inaction and consider leaving the village Thakur explains that Gabbar had killed nearly all of his family members and cut off both his arms a few years earlier which is why he could not use the gun He had concealed the dismemberment by always wearing a shawl
Living in Ramgarh the jovial Veeru and cynical Jai find themselves growing fond of the villagers Veeru is attracted to Basanti Hema Malini a feisty talkative young woman who makes her living by driving a horse cart Jai is drawn to Radha Jaya Bhaduri Thakur s reclusive widowed daughter in law who subtly returns his affections
Skirmishes between Gabbar s gang and Jai Veeru finally result in the capture of Veeru and Basanti by the dacoits Jai attacks the gang and the three are able to flee Gabbar s hideout with dacoits in pursuit Fighting from behind a rock Jai and Veeru nearly run out of ammunition Veeru unaware that Jai was wounded in the gunfight is forced to leave for more ammunition Meanwhile Jai who is continuing the gunfight singlehandedly decides to sacrifice himself by using his last bullet to ignite dynamite sticks on a bridge from close range
Veeru returns and Jai dies in his arms Enraged Veeru attacks Gabbar s den and catches the dacoit Veeru nearly beats Gabbar to death when Thakur appears and reminds Veeru of the promise to hand over Gabbar alive Thakur uses his spike soled shoes to severely injure Gabbar and destroy his hands The police then arrive and arrest Gabbar After Jai s funeral Veeru leaves Ramgarh and finds Basanti waiting for him on the train Radha is left alone again
Sanjeev Kumar as Thakur Baldev Singh usually addressed as Thakur
Amitabh Bachchan as Jai Jaidev
Jaya Bhaduri as Radha Thakur s daughter in law
Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh
Satyen Kappu as Ramlaal Thakur s servant
A K Hangal as Rahim Chacha the imam in the village
Sachin as Ahmed son of the imam
Jagdeep as Soorma Bhopali a comical wood trader
Leela Mishra as Mausi Basanti s maternal aunt
Asrani as the Jailor a comical character modelled after Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator
Keshto Mukherjee as Hariram prison barber and Jailor s side kick
Mac Mohan as Sambha Gabbar Singh s sidekick
Viju Khote as Kaalia another of Gabbar s men whom he kills in a game of Russian roulette
Iftekhar as Inspector Khurana Radha s Father
Helen in a special appearance in song Mehbooba Mehbooba
Jalal Agha in a special appearance in song Mehbooba Mehbooba
The idea for Sholay began as a four line snippet which screenwriter pair Salim Javed told G P Sippy and Ramesh Sippy two other producer director teams had earlier rejected the idea Ramesh Sippy liked the concept and hired them to develop it The original idea of the film involved an army officer who decided to hire two ex soldiers to avenge the murder of his family The army officer was later changed to a policeman because Sippy felt that it would be difficult to get permission to shoot scenes depicting army activities Salim Javed completed the script in one month incorporating names and personality traits of their friends and acquaintances
The film was loosely styled after Akira Kurosawa s film Seven Samurai and drew heavily from the conventions of Westerns especially Sergio Leone s Spaghetti Westerns such as Once Upon a Time in the West and John Sturges film The Magnificent Seven Sholay was also influenced by the westerns of Sam Peckinpah such as The Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and by George Roy Hill s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid A scene depicting an attempted train robbery was inspired by a similar scene in North West Frontier and a scene showing the massacre of Thakur s family has been compared with the massacre of the McBain family in Once Upon a Time in the West Some plot elements were borrowed from the Indian films Mera Gaon Mera Desh and Khote Sikkay
The character Gabbar Singh was modelled on a real life dacoit of the same name who had menaced the villages around Gwalior in the s Any policeman captured by the real Gabbar Singh had his ears and nose cut off and was released as a warning to other policemen The character was also influenced by the villain El Indio played by Gian Maria Volont of Sergio Leone s For a Few Dollars More Soorma Bhopali a minor comic relief character was based on an acquaintance of actor Jagdeep a forest officer from Bhopal named Soorma The real life Soorma eventually threatened to press charges when people who had viewed the film began referring to him as a woodcutter The main characters names Jai and Veeru mean victory and heroism in Hindi
The producers considered Danny Denzongpa for the role of bandit chief Gabbar Singh but he could not accept it as he was committed to act in Feroz Khan s Dharmatma under production at the same time Amjad Khan who was the second choice prepared himself for the part by reading the book Abhishapta Chambal which told of the exploits of Chambal dacoits The book was written by Taroon Kumar Bhaduri the father of fellow cast member Jaya Bhaduri As cast members had read the script ahead of time many were interested in playing different parts Pran was considered for the role of Thakur Baldev Singh but Sippy thought Sanjeev Kumar was a better choice Initially Dharmendra was also interested to play the role of Thakur He eventually gave up the role when Sippy informed him that Sanjeev Kumar would play Veeru if that happened and would be paired with Hema Malini who Dharmendra was trying to woo Dharmendra knew that Kumar was also interested in Malini Sippy wanted Shatrughan Sinha to play the part of Jai but there were already several big stars signed and Amitabh Bachchan who was not extremely popular yet lobbied hard to get the part for himself
During the film s production four of the leads became romantically involved Bachchan married Bhaduri four months before filming started This led to shooting delays when Bhaduri became pregnant with their daughter Shweta By the time of the film s release she was pregnant with their son Abhishek Dharmendra had begun wooing Malini during their earlier film Seeta Aur Geeta and used the location shoot of Sholay to further pursue her During their romantic scenes Dharmendra would often pay the light boys to spoil the shot thereby ensuring many retakes and allowing him to spend more time with her The couple married five years after the film s release
Much of Sholay was shot in the rocky terrain of Ramanagara a town near Bangalore Karnataka The filmmakers had to build a road from the Bangalore highway to Ramanagara for convenient access to the sets Art director Ram Yedekar had an entire township built on the site A prison set was constructed near Rajkamal Studio in Mumbai also outdoors to match the natural lighting of the on location sets One part of Ramanagara was for a time called Sippy Nagar as a tribute to the director of the film As of a visit to the Sholay rocks where much the film was shot was still being offered to tourists travelling through Ramanagara
Filming began on location on October with a scene featuring Bachchan and Bhaduri The film had a lavish production for its time with frequent banquets and parties for the cast took two and a half years to make and went over budget One reason for its high cost was that Sippy re filmed scenes many times to get his desired effect Yeh Dosti a minute song sequence took days to shoot two short scenes in which Radha lights lamps took days to film because of lighting problems and the shooting of the scene in which Gabbar kills the imam s son lasted days The train robbery sequence shot on the Mumbai Pune railway route near Panvel took more than weeks to complete
Sholay was the first Indian film to have a stereophonic soundtrack and to use the mm widescreen format However since actual mm cameras were expensive at the time the film was shot on traditional mm film and the picture was subsequently converted to a frame Regarding the process Sippy said A mm sic format takes the awe of the big screen and magnifies it even more to make the picture even bigger but since I also wanted a spread of sound we used six track stereophonic sound and combined it with the big screen It was definitely a differentiator The use of mm was emphasised by film posters on which the name of the film was stylised to match the CinemaScope logo Film posters also sought to differentiate the film from those which had come before one of them added the tagline The greatest star cast ever assembled the greatest story ever told
The director s original cut of Sholay has a different ending in which Thakur kills Gabbar along with some additional violent scenes Gabbar s death scene and the scene in which the imam s son is killed were cut from the film by India s Censor Board as was the scene in which Thakur s family is massacred The Censor Board was concerned about the violence and that viewers may be influenced to violate the law by punishing people severely Although Sippy fought to keep the scenes eventually he had to re shoot the ending of the film and as directed by the Censor Board have the police arrive just before Thakur can kill Gabbar The censored theatrical version was the only one seen by audiences for fifteen years The original unedited cut of the film finally came out in a British release on VHS in Since then Eros International has released two versions on DVD The director s cut of the film preserves the original full frame and is minutes in length the censored widescreen version is minutes long
Scholars have noted several themes in the film such as glorification of violence conformation to feudal ethos debate between social order and mobilised usurpers homosocial bonding and the film s role as a national allegory
Koushik Banerjea a sociologist in the London School of Economics notes that Sholay exhibits a sympathetic construction of rogue masculinity exemplified by the likeable outlaws Jai and Veeru Banerjea argues during the film the moral boundary between legality and criminality gradually erodes Film scholar Wimal Dissanayake agrees that the film brought a new stage in the evolving dialectic between violence and social order to Indian cinema Film scholar M Madhava Prasad states that Jai and Veeru represent a marginalised population that is introduced into conventional society Prasad says that through the elements of revenge included in the plot and the application of Jai and Veeru s criminality for the greater good the narrative reflects reactionary politics and the audience is compelled to accept feudal order Banerjea explains that though Jai and Veeru are mercenaries they are humanised by their emotional needs Such dualism makes them vulnerable in contrast to the pure evil of Gabbar Singh
Gabbar Singh the film s antagonist was well received by the audience despite his pervasive sadistic cruelty Dissanayake explains that the audience was fascinated by the dialogues and mannerisms of the character and this element of spectacle outweighed his actions a first for Indian melodrama He notes that the picturisation of violence in the film was glamourised and uninhibited He further notes that unlike earlier melodramas in which the female body occupies the audience s attention as an object of male fetish in Sholay the male body becomes the centrepiece It becomes the battleground where good and evil compete for supremacy Dissanayake argues that Sholay can be viewed as a national allegory it lacks a comforting logical narrative it shows social stability being repeatedly challenged and it shows the devaluation of human life resulting from a lack of emotions Taken together these elements comprise the allegorical representation of India The narrative style of Sholay with its violence revenge and vigilante action is occasionally compared by scholars to the political unrest in India at the time of its release This tension culminated in the Emergency rule by decree declared by prime minister Indira Gandhi in
Dissanayeke and Sahai note that although the film borrowed heavily from the Hollywood Western genre particularly in its visuals it was successfully Indianised As an example William van der Heide has compared a massacre scene in Sholay with a similar scene in Once Upon a Time in the West Although both films were similar in technical style Sholay emphasised Indian family values and melodramatic tradition while the Western was more materialistic and restrained in its approach Maithili Rao in Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema notes that Sholay infuses the style of the Western genre into a feudalistic ethos Ted Shen of the Chicago Reader notes Sholay s hysterical visual style and intermittent populist message Cultural critic and Islamist scholar Ziauddin Sardar lampoons the film in his book The Secret Politics of Our Desires Innocence Culpability and Indian Popular Cinema both for its caricature and stereotyping of Muslim and women characters and for what he calls mockery of innocent villagers Sardar notes that the two most prominent Muslim characters in the film are Soorma Bhopali a buffoonish criminal and an impotent victim of the bandits the imam Meanwhile the sole function of one female character Radha is to suffer her fate in silence while the other female lead Basanti is just a garrulous village belle
Some scholars have indicated that Sholay contains homosocial themes Ted Shen describes the male bonding shown in the film as bordering on camp style Dina Holtzman in her book Bollywood and Globalization Indian Popular Cinema Nation and Diaspora states that the death of Jai and resultant break of bonding between the two male leads is necessary for the sake of establishing a normative heterosexual relationship that of Veeru and Basanti
R D Burman composed the film s music and the lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi The songs used in the film and released on the original soundtrack are listed below Following that is a list of unused tracks and dialogues which were released later on an updated soundtrack The album s cover image depicts an emotional scene from the film in which Basanti is forced to sing and dance on the song Haa Jab Tak Hai Jaan on broken glass under the blazing sun to save Veeru s life
The song Mehbooba Mehbooba was sung by its composer R D Burman who received his sole Filmfare Award nomination for playback singing for his effort The song which is often featured on Bollywood hit song compilations samples Say You Love Me by Greek singer Demis Roussos Mehbooba Mehbooba has been extensively anthologised remixed and recreated A version was created in by the Kronos Quartet for their Grammy nominated album You ve Stolen My Heart featuring Asha Bhosle It was also remixed and sung by Himesh Reshammiya along with Bhosle in his debut acting film Aap Kaa Surroor Yeh Dosti has been called the ultimate friendship anthem It was remixed and sung by Shankar Mahadevan and Udit Narayan for the Malayalam film Four Friends and also in it was used to symbolise India s friendship with the United States during a visit from President Barack Obama
Several songs from the soundtrack were included in the annual Binaca Geetmala list of top filmi songs Mehbooba Mehooba was listed at No on the list and at No on the list Koi Haseena was listed at No in and No in Yeh Dosti was listed at No in Despite the soundtrack s success at the time the songs from Sholay attracted less attention than the film s dialogue a rarity for Bollywood The producers were thus prompted to release records with only dialogue Taken together the album sales totalled an unprecedented units and became one of the top selling Bollywood soundtracks of the s
Music critic Oli Marlow reviewed the soundtrack in calling it a unique fusion of religious folk and classical music with influences from around the world He also commented on the sound design of the film calling it psychedelic and saying that there was a lot of incredible incidental music in the film that was not included in the soundtrack releases In a paper submitted to London s Symposium on Sound in Cinema film critic Shoma A Chatterji said Sholay offers a model lesson on how sound can be used to signify the terror a character evokes Sholay is also exemplary in its use of soundmatching to jump cut to a different scene and time without breaking the continuity of the narrative yet intensifying the drama
Sholay was released on August Indian Independence Day in Mumbai Due to lacklustre reviews and a lack of effective visual marketing tools it saw poor financial returns in its first two weeks From the third week however viewership picked up owing to positive word of mouth During the initial slow period the director and writer considered re shooting some scenes so that Amitabh Bachchan s character would not die When business picked up they abandoned this idea After being helped additionally by a soundtrack release containing dialogue snippets Sholay soon became an overnight sensation The film was then released in other distribution zones such as Delhi Uttar Pradesh Bengal and Hyderabad on October It became the highest grossing Bollywood film of and film ranking website Box Office India has given the film a verdict of All Time Blockbuster
Sholay went on to earn a still standing record of golden jubilees across India and was the first film in India to celebrate a silver jubilee at over theatres It was shown continuously at Mumbai s Minerva theatre for over five years Sholay was the Indian film with the longest theatrical run until Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge broke its record of weeks in
Exact figures are not available on the budget and box office earnings of Sholay but film trade websites provide estimates of its success According to Box Office India Sholay earned about million nett gross valued at about US in in India during its first run which was many times its million valued at about US in budget Those earnings were a record that remained unbroken for nineteen years which is also the longest amount of time that a film has held the record Its original gross was increased further with re releases during the late s s s and early s It is often cited that after adjusting the figures for inflation Sholay is one of the highest grossing films in the history of Indian cinema although such figures are not known with certainty In Box Office India gave billion US million as Sholay s adjusted net gross whereas Times of India in a report of business of Indian films reported over billion US million as the adjusted gross
Initial critical reviews of Sholay were negative Among contemporary critics KL Amladi of India Today called the film a dead ember and a gravely flawed attempt Filmfare said that the film was an unsuccessful mincing of Western style with Indian milieu making it an imitation western neither here nor there Others labelled it as sound and fury signifying nothing and a second rate take off of the film Mera Gaon Mera Desh Trade journals and columnists initially called the film a flop In a article in the journal Studies An Irish Quarterly Review author Michael Gallagher praised the technical achievement of the film but otherwise criticised it stating As a spectacle it breaks new ground but on every other level it is intolerable formless incoherent superficial in human image and a somewhat nasty piece of violence
Over time the critical reception to Sholay greatly improved it is now considered a classic and among the greatest Hindi language films In a BBC review the well rounded characters and simple narrative of the film were commended but the comical cameos of Asrani and Jagdeep were considered unnecessary On the film s th anniversary the Hindustan Times wrote that it was a trailblazer in terms of camera work as well as music and that practically every scene dialogue or even a small character was a highlight In The Film Society of Lincoln Center described Sholay as an extraordinary and utterly seamless blend of adventure comedy music and dance labelling it an indisputable classic Chicago Review critic Ted Shen criticised the film in for its formulaic plot and slapdash cinematography and noted that the film alternates between slapstick and melodrama In their obituary of the producer GP Sippy the New York Times said that Sholay revolutionized Hindi filmmaking and brought true professionalism to Indian script writing
Sholay was nominated for nine Filmfare Awards but the only winner was M S Shinde who won the award for Best Editing The film also won three awards at the Bengal Film Journalists Association Awards Hindi section Best Actor in Supporting Role for Amjad Khan Best Cinematographer Colour for Dwarka Divecha and Best Art Director for Ram Yedekar Sholay received a special award at the th Filmfare Awards in Best Film of Years
Sholay has received many Best Film honours It was declared the Film of the Millennium by BBC India in It topped the British Film Institute s Top Indian Films of all time poll of and was voted the greatest Indian movie in a Sky Digital poll of one million British Indians in It was also included in Time Magazine s Best of Bollywood list in and in CNN IBN s list of the greatest Indian films of all time in
Sholay inspired many films and pastiches and spawned a subgenre of films the Curry Western which is a play on the term Spaghetti Western It was an early and most definitive masala film and a trend setter for multi star films The film was a watershed for Bollywood s scriptwriters who were not paid well before Sholay after the film s success script writing became a more respected profession
Certain scenes and dialogues from the film earned iconic status in India such as Kitne aadmi the How many men were there Jo dar gaya samjho mar gaya One who is scared is dead and Bahut yaarana laagta hai Looks like you two are very close all dialogues of Gabbar Singh These and other popular dialogues entered the people s daily vernacular Characters and dialogues from the film continue to be referred to and parodied in popular culture Gabbar Singh the sadistic villain ushered in an era in Hindi films characterised by seemingly omnipotent oppressors as villains who play the pivotal role in setting up the context of the story such as Shakal played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda of Shaan Mogambo Amrish Puri of Mr India and Bhujang Amrish Puri of Tridev Filmfare in named Gabbar Singh the most iconic villain in the history of Indian cinema and four actors were included in its list of Iconic Performances for their work in this film
The film is often credited with making Amitabh Bachchan a superstar two years after he became a star with Zanjeer Some of the supporting actors remained etched in public memory as the characters they played in Sholay for example Mac Mohan continued to be referred to as Sambha even though his character had just one line Major and minor characters continue to be used in commercials promos films and sitcoms Amjad Khan acted in many villainous roles later in his career He also played Gabbar Singh again in the spoof Ramgarh Ke Sholay and reprised the role in commercials The British Film Institute in wrote that fear of Gabbar Singh is still invoked by mothers to put their children to sleep The film Gabbar Singh named after the character became the highest grossing Telugu film up to that point Comedian Jagdeep who played Soorma Bhopali in the film attempted to use his Sholay success to create a spinoff He directed and played the lead role in the film Soorma Bhopali in which Dharmendra and Bachchan had cameos
In Sholay was digitally remastered and shown again to packed theatres in India including Mumbai s Minerva where it had run successfully years earlier An attempt to remake Sholay Ram Gopal Varma s film Aag starring Amitabh Bachchan as the villain was a commercial and critical disaster Because of television and home media Sholay is widely available and still popular Twenty years after its release Sholay was first shown on the Indian DD National television channel where it drew the highest ratings ever for a film broadcast Video game producer Mobilewin released the Sholay Ramgarh Express game for mobile phones in along with other Sholay themed content such as wallpapers video clips and ringtones
Sholay has been the subject of two books and many articles Wimal Dissanayake and Malti Sahai s Sholay A Cultural Reading attempts a comprehensive scholarly study that sets the film within the broader history of popular cinema in India Anupama Chopra s Sholay The Making of a Classic provides an inside look at the film s production based on interviews with the director stars and crew members
Sholay has been labelled by Chopra as the gold standard in Indian cinema and a reference point for audiences and trade analysts Over the years the film has reached a mythic stature in popular culture and has been called the greatest Hindi film of all time It belongs to only a small collection of films including Kismet Mother India Mughal e Azam and Hum Aapke Hain Koun which are repeatedly watched throughout India and are viewed as definitive Hindi films with cultural significance The lasting effect of Sholay on Indian cinema was summarised by Anupama Chopra when in she called it no longer just a film but an event In the book Sholay The Making of a Classic the noted director Shekhar Kapur stated there has never been a more defining film on the Indian screen Indian film history can be divided into Sholay BC and Sholay AD The film was jointly released in Pakistan by Geo films and Mandviwalla Entertainment on April almost years after its theatrical release The film s premiere in the country was held in Karachi
Filmmaker Ketan Mehta s company Maya Digital was responsible for converting Sholay into the D format Mehta was approached by G P Sippy s grandson Sasha Sippy about the project in In March Shaan Uttam Singh the grandson of producer G P Sippy said that he would sponsor a conversion of the film to D and release it in late this was later postponed to late and eventually finalised for January It took million US million to convert Sholay to D
Under the leadership of computer animator Frank Foster people worked to convert the film into the digital D format for which every scene had to be individually restored colour corrected and re composited in D to match the depth New set pieces particularly those suited to the new format were also included such as digital logs which scatter in the direction of the camera during the first half of the film when the train collides with them the gunshot scene which frees Jai and Veeru from their handcuffs and panoramic views of Gabbar s hideout in the caves
The theatrical trailer and release date were unveiled by the original script writers Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar The two original leads Bachchan and Dharmendra were also involved in promoting the re release The film was released in screens in India and additional screens overseas It earned approximately million US million during its re release not enough to recover its conversion cost
Adam Stansfield September August was an English professional footballer who played as a striker He competed professionally for Yeovil Town Hereford United and Exeter City and won promotion from the Football Conference to The Football League with all three teams
Having played for three counties as a child Stansfield began his career in non league with Cullompton Rangers and Elmore and had unsuccessful trials at league teams At the age of he signed his first professional contract with Yeovil Town after impressing their manager Gary Johnson in a match against them In his first season he helped them win the FA Trophy scoring in the final The following season Yeovil won the Conference and promotion into The Football League although Stansfield was ruled out with a broken leg in the first game In he transferred to Hereford United where he won promotion to The Football League via the play offs and repeated the feat with Exeter City a year later He also helped Exeter earn promotion into League One in At international level Stansfield played five matches and scored one goal for England s national semi professional team winning the Four Nations Tournament
Stansfield was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in April He returned to training after surgery and chemotherapy but died on August that year A foundation in his name was posthumously set up by his family to provide sporting opportunities and raise awareness of colorectal cancer He has posthumously been featured on a Flybe airliner livery and tourist currency in Exeter
Stansfield was born in Plymouth Devon as the third of four children and supported Nottingham Forest On June he married Marie with whom he had three sons Devon journalist Gary Andrews remembered Stansfield as a man who would spend time with his family after matches while speaking to fans and the press He wrote that I had the pleasure of interviewing Adam on a regular basis I say pleasure because his answers were thoughtful and intelligent and he came across as a man who was delighted to be back home with his friends and family
Stansfield s first club was Evesham Colts under s He played at county level for Worcestershire Leicestershire and Devon When his family settled back in Devon he joined Twyford Spartans scoring goals in matches He played in Tiverton Town s youth team as a left back before reverting to being a striker at his first senior club non League side Cullompton Rangers He later moved to Elmore where he attracted trials from Exeter City Wolverhampton Wanderers and Torquay United all of which were unsuccessful His siblings joined the Royal Air Force and he thought of joining them but continued searching for a breakthrough in professional football
In October Stansfield s performances for Elmore impressed Yeovil Town manager Gary Johnson to sign him He made his debut in the Conference on November playing the entirety of a loss away to Southport His first goal came on December concluding a victory at Northwich Victoria His first season at Huish Park was a success finishing as the top scorer with goals of which came in the club s victorious FA Trophy run He scored twice in a fourth round replay at Doncaster Rovers as Yeovil came from down for an eventual victory In the final on May he scored the second goal of a win over Stevenage Borough at the Millennium Stadium
On the first day of the following season Stansfield was substituted through injury after minutes of an eventual home draw with Gravesend Northfleet to be replaced by Abdoulai Demba It was later confirmed to be a break of the tibia and fibula He missed the remainder of the season in which Yeovil won the Conference to be promoted to The Football League for the first time
He recovered to feature in the next campaign making his league debut on August In that match Yeovil s first in The Football League he came on as an th minute substitute for Kirk Jackson in a win against Carlisle United His first of six goals in the Third Division season came on September opening a home win over Swansea City He was given a rare start in that match as first choice forward Kevin Gall was away with Wales under
On June Stansfield returned to the Conference with Hereford United signed by Graham Turner to replace their previous season s top scorer Steve Guinan who had been sold to Cheltenham Town He scored goals across the season including two on March in a win at Farnborough Town In that match he came on in the th minute for Daniel Carey Bertram who had also scored two Hereford reached the promotion play offs where they lost in the semi finals to Stevenage In the following season they won promotion by the play offs with Stansfield starting in the final on May at the Walkers Stadium in Leicester a extra time victory over Halifax Town
On June with his contract expired Stansfield decided to remain in the Conference joining Exeter City He told local radio that his aim was not to achieve promotion or reach a certain tally of goals but to influence the club s younger players
He scored nine times in league games in his first season including two in a home win over relegated Southport on April in order to seal a play off place Eleven days later in the second leg of the play off semi final away to Oxford United he scored a goal which took the match to extra time and eventually a penalty shootout which his side won In the final on May at Wembley Stadium he came on as a th minute substitute for goalscorer Lee Phillips in a loss to Morecambe
On April Stansfield scored in Exeter s draw at Burton Albion which qualified them for that season s play offs He started in the final whereby the team returned to The Football League for the first time in five years with a Wembley win over Cambridge United
He scored goals in league games as they won a second consecutive promotion into League One in the season This included consecutive braces on September and October in wins over Macclesfield Town away and Gillingham home The following campaign despite never having previously played at as high a level he was a regular starter for Exeter in League One scoring eight goals in a season curtailed by his cancer diagnosis
Stansfield earned five caps and scored one goal for the England national semi professional team He featured in the edition of the Four Nations Tournament and made his debut in England s opening match a draw with Wales at York Street in Boston on May Stansfield was injured in the first half of the last match a win against Scotland at Rockingham Road in Kettering on May while Wales won the title In while back in the Conference with Hereford he was again called up for the tournament by manager Paul Fairclough Stansfield played in two matches as England won the tournament with three wins
Stansfield suffered from persistent abdominal pain in the early part of and was admitted to hospital for tests at the end of March On April Exeter City confirmed to the media that he had been diagnosed with a form of colorectal cancer Manager Paul Tisdale told local news programme BBC Spotlight that there s little good on this subject but if there s someone who can deal with it and meet it head on with real purpose Adam s the man
Later that month Stansfield underwent surgery to remove part of his colon Club vice chairman Julian Tagg reported that the operation was successful and that Stansfield appeared happy and was making jokes He joined the Exeter squad for the first day of pre season training in July appearing weak from chemotherapy His condition deteriorated rapidly and he died on August with his death being announced shortly after Exeter s loss to Ipswich Town in the Football League Cup
As a mark of respect Dagenham Redbridge postponed the game Exeter were due to play against them at Victoria Road four days after his death Exeter retired his shirt number for nine seasons
Stansfield s body was taken from St James Park to his funeral service at Exeter Cathedral on August attended by over mourners A private family service was held later
Stansfield continues to be remembered by fans of Exeter On August as they started the new season against Portsmouth a giant flag resembling his club shirt was displayed by the crowd
At his funeral Stansfield s widow Marie had an idea to set up the Adam Stansfield Foundation which by the fourth anniversary of his death had raised over It works in offering children football in Devon Somerset and Herefordshire the three counties in which he played professionally as well as increasing opportunities for the disabled to take part in the sport The foundation also aims to increase awareness of bowel cancer
From to an aeroplane belonging to Flybe bore an image of Stansfield with other aeroplanes belonging to the company featuring such former footballers as George Best and Kevin Keegan In Stansfield was featured on Exeter Pound notes in the city
Exeter City and Yeovil Town agreed that on their meeting at St James Park on August there would be a minute s applause in the seventh minute and ninth for the numbers he wore at each club Earlier the same day there was also a match between the two clubs supporters in Topsham Devon to raise funds for his foundation
General Saprang Kalayanamitr Thai rtgs Sa phrang Kanlayanamit also known as Poei Thai or Big Poei Thai born July in Lampang Thailand is a retired officer of the Royal Thai Army Assistant Secretary General of the Council for National Security Commander of the junta s man anti protest force Chairman of the Board of Directors of Airports of Thailand AoT and also Chairman of the Boards of TOT and CAT Telecom two major Thai state owned telecommunication companies
Saprang grew up in an aristocratic military family and graduated from the th Class of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School and the th Class of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy He served for nearly three decades in the Army cavalry corp and was promoted to rd Army Region Commander in He was a key leader of the September coup that overthrew the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
Saprang is one of the fiercest critics of Thaksin Shinawatra calling him a traitor and claiming that he should be banished to live forever in the jungle Upon appointment to chair Airports of Thailand and TOT he purged the management initiated investigations into the overthrown government and donated million baht of the agency s funds to the Army He fired the President of TOT for questioning an million baht donation that the agency made to the Army As head of CAT Telecom he was accused of blocking attempts to launch People s Television a new television station founded by ex leaders of Thaksin s Thai Rak Thai party
Saprang was considered one of the top contenders to lead the army and the junta after CNS leader Sonthi Boonyaratkalin s mandatory retirement in However in September he was demoted to be Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Defense Ministry while his rival General Anupong Paochinda was promoted to lead the Army As a result Saprang retired from the Army in
Born July in Lampang Thailand Saprang graduated from the th Class of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School AFAPS and the th Class of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy His classmates included General Paisan Katanyu appointed Deputy Army Commander after the coup Admiral Bannawit Kengrien appointed to the National Legislative Assembly after the coup and leader of its Suvarnabhumi Airport committee and General Lertrat Rattavanich He later graduated from the rd class of the National Defence College of Thailand in His NDC thesis concerned the role of military forces in the control of illegal narcotics His NDC classmates included Kraisi Karnasuta governor of state energy company EGAT
Saprang started his military career in as Rifle Platoon Leader in the rd Infantry Battalion th Regimental Combat Team He claims to have fought battles during the course of his military career
He was appointed Commander of the st Infantry Battalion of the th Infantry Regiment in stationed in Nakhonsawan on the northwestern border with Burma In he became Commander of the st Infantry Battalion in the th Infantry Regiment stationed in Surasee Fort Kanchanaburi on the western border with Burma
He was then promoted to be Regimental Commanding Officer of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School in In he began a six year stint as Regimental Commanding Officer of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy
In April Saprang was shortly transferred to the Ministry of Defense as a staff officer before being promoted in October to Commanding General of the th Infantry Division at the time stationed in Pran Buri Prachuap Khiri Khan Province In he was promoted to rd Corps Commander In it was strongly rumored that Saprang might be promoted to command the th Army replacing General Pongsak Ekbannasingh General Pongsak had been criticized for ineffectually fighting the South Thailand insurgency after successful arson attacks occurred in just one night Pongsak ended up being replaced in April by Pisarn Wattanawongkhiri
In a surprise to many observers Saprang was promoted to rd Army Area Commander in October headquartered in Phitsanulok and responsible most of northern and northeastern Thailand Analysts had expected Prime Minister Thaksin to promote his own classmates from AFAPS Class to the powerful position instead At the same time also in a surprise move Deputy Army Commander Sonthi Boonyaratkalin was promoted to Army Commander
Saprang and Sonthi started planning for the coup to months in advance in approximately February Coup planning occurred prior to the April elections during Thaksin s controversial sale of Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings and the peak of the People s Alliance for Democracy s campaign to oust the government In July Saprang gave an interview where he stated that Thai politics was below standard and that the Kingdom s leadership was weak He also claimed that Thailand had a false democracy He denied that such criticism constituted military interference in politics At the same time the Thai media speculated that in the October annual Army reshuffle Saprang would not be promoted to Assistant Army Commander and would not be allowed to retain his position of rd Army Area Commander In July Saprang s own Deputy Commander in the rd Army Area Major General Manas Paorik warned the media that a certain military officer who aspires to become Assistant Army Commander was planning a coup
In the weeks leading up to coup Saprang openly mobilised soldiers and northern residents to rebel against the government Saprang played a key role on the evening of September securing Thaksin s home town and power base of Chiang Mai That same night he was appointed assistant Secretary General of the CNS The coup was executed just a week before the announcement of the Army s annual reshuffle
A week after the coup Saprang was promoted to Assistant Army Commander alongside fellow coup leader Anupong Paochinda His predecessor General Pornchai Kranlert had not taken part in the coup and was transferred to an inactive position Saprang was also promoted from Lieutenant General to General
On December it was revealed that the Cabinet had approved over half a billion baht worth of funding for a man secret anti protest special operations force of which General Saprang was Commander The so called CNS Special Operations Center funded with million baht diverted from the Defense Ministry Police Office and government emergency reserve fund had been secretly established by the CNS on December in order to control protests
Saprang was appointed by the junta to become Chairman of the Board of Directors of Airports of Thailand AoT and also Chairman of the Boards of TOT and CAT Telecom two major state owned telecommunication companies Saprang s first move as TOT Chairman was to hand pick three Army colonels and vocal Thaksin critic Vuthiphong Priebjrivat to sit on the state enterprise s Board of Directors Saprang transferred TOT President Somkuan Bruminhent to an inactive position and appointed Vuthiphong new President He then hand picked all other directors
Saprang noted in an interview that if telecommunication businesses are in private hands the country won t be safe The junta had earlier announced plans to cancel the initial public offering of both TOT and CAT Telecom and to merge the two state enterprises
Under Saprang s leadership TOT reaffirmed its ownership rights to all existing backbone telecommunications networks under a new strategy to act as a genuine national telecom company The new strategy was expected to increase political and business tensions Under the Build Transfer Operate BTO concession agreements that TOT signed with private telecom operators the TOT technically owns all fixed line mobile and optical fibre networks in Thailand However it had never exercised those rights in the past
Vuthiphong was fired from the TOT board and his position of acting TOT President in June He immediately accused the Army of using the TOT as an unmonitored slush fund He claimed that an unnamed Army unit had requested that TOT buy it million baht worth of electronic equipment Upon receiving the request Vuthipong demanded to know why neither the Army nor the Defence Ministry used their own secret budgets to purchase the equipment and why an internal Army unit rather than the Kingdom s main national security organisations had made the request Saprang denied that there was any lack of transparency in the request for financial support Vuthipong claimed that the equipment should only have cost million baht not million baht He was fired and expelled from the Board soon after refusing to sign off on the deal The Board later appointed Col Natee Sukolrat as the new TOT President and accepted the army s donation request
Under his leadership TOT s performance dropped Revenues for the first half of fell year on year while net profit fell Fixed line revenue dropped while public telephone and international call revenue by each
As Chairman of CAT Telecom Saprang was accused by the founders of People s Television PTV a new satellite television station of being behind CAT Telecom s refusal to grant an internet link from Bangkok to a satellite up link station in Hong Kong PTV was established by several ex executives of the Thai Rak Thai party CAT Telecom claimed that it never received PTV s application for internet access
Under Saprang s leadership subscribers of Thai Mobile a TOT CAT joint venture mobile phone operator were cut off temporarily in early May when owners TOT and CAT Telecom failed to pay the bills of a major supplier Thai Mobile had accumulated significant losses and the company was not able to make its debt payments or supplier payments The partners had stopped payments to the supplier Samart Corporation for nearly a year until Samart threatened to suspend services within three days After no payment it delivered on its threat TOT was subsequently able to negotiate with Samart to restart the service
A week after Saprang hinted at a reshuffle of AoT top management AoT President Chotisak Asapaviriya was forced to resign citing health reasons while the Directors of Suvarnabhumi Airport and AoT Commercial Operations were dismissed Police Commissioner General Seripisut Temiyavej was appointed as an AoT Director
As AoT Chairman Saprang spearheaded an effort to reopen Don Muang Airport in parallel with the newly opened Suvarnabhumi Airport despite objections from the Civil Aviation Department airlines and internal studies within Airports of Thailand airlines threatened to halt flights to Thailand if they were forced to move back to Don Muang airport
Saprang also refused to authorize urgent repairs on the airport tarmac despite warnings from engineers Karun Chandrarangsu president of the Engineering Institute of Thailand noted Suvarnabhumi is like a patient in a coma who continues to suffer from severe bleeding Stopping the blood flow now is more urgent and important than debating what caused the injury The Engineering Institute of Thailand sent a formal warning to AoT in November about the urgent need to drain water from beneath the tarmac and noted that immediate action should be taken The AOT did nothing about the problem Suebsak Promboon of the EIT noted The situation might not have become this bad if the water had been drained then Suebsak Promboon a senior foundation engineer and a member of the Tortrakul Yomnak led airport tarmac inspection panel accused the AOT of refusing to take any actions to solve the problems at the airport
The airport faced ongoing operational challenges including a computer virus that shut down the automated luggage bomb scanning system in June A study by the International Air Transport Association IATA released in July found the airport unsafe citing numerous spots where checked passengers can meet people who have not passed through security checkpoints
Serious security gaps at Suvarnabhumi Airport became known to the public beginning in early The International Air Transport Association IATA found that there were many spots in the passenger terminal where checked passengers can meet people who have not passed through security checks and could receive unchecked objects and then carry them on board aircraft The IATA also suggested that AoT deploy its own security staff instead of contracting out the job to the Loxley ICTS consortium AoT threatened the consortium with contract termination but didn t follow through with its threat even though the consortium failed to live up to its contract Six months later AoT stated that it still couldn t make up its mind on how it should improve airport security AoT said it was open to all possible options and has taken no action to upgrade the problem
On Tuesday February Saprang led a member delegation to Europe on what was claimed to be a week long trip to study safety and security measures at major European airports Many delegates and accompanying members shared the same surname and the trip which cost million baht was attacked for squandering state funds for personal pleasure disbursing unrealistic expenses and inflating costs The travel agent along received a baht commission fee for booking the trip Saprang denied any wrongdoing and claimed he was the victim of a smear campaign He also noted that If you knew my character you would know that even if a relative joined the trip he should have realised that he should work hard He also noted that instead of being a viewed as a defendant he should be viewed as a hero for bringing down the Thaksin government Saprang then summoned the leader of the AoT labor union in order to identify who leaked information about the trip to his accusers
The first quarter after Saprang was appointed Chairman AoT profits plunged compared to the previous year despite higher traffic volumes and increased passenger service charters and airline fees Operating expenses surged contributing to the AoT s worst quarterly earnings report since it was listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand
The AoT board also granted million baht to the Army which had requested a financial donation AoT also lent some of its explosives detectors to the Army for use in the South Thailand insurrection
Financial performance continued to spiral downwards in the rd quarter of Net profit for the period ending June fell by from a year before despite higher traffic and a increase in revenue The fall in profit was attributed to AoT s court case against King Power the operator of duty free shops within Suvarnabhumi Airport King Power s concession was suspended while the case was in court forcing AOT to stop reporting earnings from the concessionaire
Saprang had long been a fierce critic of Thaksin Shinawatra and prior to the coup had even called Thaksin s supporters within the military evil After the coup Saprang called Thaksin a traitor and said that he should be banished to live forever in the jungle
He also accused Thaksin of spying on the military while he was Prime Minister
Although Saprang and General Sonthi accused Thaksin of insulting and disrespecting King Bhumibol he noted that the junta did not pursue lse majest charges against Thaksin because the police corrupted the evidence and delivered such a weak case that the attorney general could not file a lawsuit A vocal self proclaimed royalist he insisted that various groups actively tried to challenge the monarchy and that he couldn t stand it He noted I am a soldier born to protect the Crown They could only challenge the monarchy over my dead body
Saprang also suspected that Oliver Jufer a Swiss man who was jailed for lse majest for spraying paint on a portrait of image of King Bhumibol was hired by somebody to perform his vandalism Saprang ordered a military investigation into the matter The results have not been made public
Saprang had a public confrontation with former Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh regarding the Bangkok New Year s Eve bombings after Chavalit accused him of incompetence Saprang claimed that the evidence and intelligence information proves that the bombs were the dirty work of politicians who lost power and benefits Bad soldiers loyal to bad politicians collaborated with them with the intention to topple this government However his claim was contradicted just an hour later by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont
In May Saprang claimed that he had information regarding the seizure of instructional manual on terrorism in Bangkok from a London apartment by English soldiers and police He said he could not disclose any further information but told the public to connect the dots themselves Days later a bomb exploded outside of Chitrlada Palace Saprang later clarified his remark saying the Bangkok terrorism manual discovery had been made in the early s Deputy Chief of the British Mission in Bangkok Andy Pierce said he was concerned by Saprang s remarks which he insisted were baseless
Saprang was implicated in the resignation of Finance Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula on February The Bangkok Post reported that Pridiyathorn resigned in protest after a CNS member lobbied him to sell shares of IRPC formerly known as Thai Petrochemical Industry back to a former shareholder The newspaper identified Saprang as the unnamed CNS member Saprang s brother Chienchuang was a key financial advisor to Prachai Liaophairat the estranged founder of TPI
Chienchuang s relations with the junta came under further public scrutiny when it was revealed that he was hired by the junta in order to lead a campaign to discredit deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra Politicians hired as part of the CNS campaign included Chat Pattana party leader Korn Dabbaransi Democrats Korn Chatikavanij Alongkorn Palabutr and Korbsak Sabavasu Prapat Panya chatraksa a key Thai Rak Thai member who defected to the Chat Thai party plus ex senator Kraisak Choonhavan Academics hired by the CNS included Wuttipong Piebjriya wat Sophon Supapong Narong Phet prasert and Somkiat Osotspa
Saprang was an extremely vocal critic of those who he perceived as his political opponents In an interview with Thai Rath Thailand s most popular newspaper on April he called an unspecified enemy a mad dog who he claimed was destroying the monarchy He said that it was necessary to shoot the dog with a machine gun In the same interview he threatened violent response to the bold words that came from the mouths of evil people who did not know restraint He urged decisive action so that the public would believe that good had triumphed over evil
Saprang was considered a strong contender to lead the junta given the mandatory retirement of Army commander in chief and CNS President Sonthi Boonyaratkalin in September He unofficially competed with fellow Assistant Army Commander Anupong Paochinda who as st Army Area Commander secured Bangkok on the night of the coup The Bangkok Post reported in October that Sonthi was grooming Anupong to be his successor by giving him responsibilities over coup logistics a greater task than had been assigned to Saprang The Asia Times quoted a former MP as saying that Anupong is seen as the real force behind the coup Saprang is more vocal but he has no real base The only way he could be seen as a promising leader is by pushing the country to the brink
In an interview Saprang warned that the three pillars of society the nation the religion and the monarchy might crumble If rogue politicians return to power following the next post coup general election
Saprang also held the opinion that military coups against the government should never be ruled out The abrogated constitution had outlawed coups A replacement constitution was at the time of Saprang s statement being drafted by a military appointed panel
Saprang was sidelined in security plans preceding the Constitutional Tribunal s May ruling on the dissolution of the Thai Rak Thai and Democrat Parties After the coup Sonthi had delegated the task of securing Bangkok to Saprang The pre ruling plan put Sonthi directly in charge of Bangkok crowd security allying him with alum of AFPS Class including Army Chief of Staff General Montri Sangkhasap and First Army Region commander Lt General Prayuth Chan ocha
Panitan Wattanayagorn a military scholar at Chulalongkorn University and a personal adviser to Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont noted in early September that if the army is going to take a full step into politics then it will be Saprang If only a half step then Anupong And if it intends to beat a full retreat or take one step back it will be Army chief of staff Montri Sangkhasap
On September Saprang s rival Assistant Army Commander in Chief Gen Anupong Paochinda was appointed as the new commander in chief of the Army replacing the retiring General Sonthi Anupong s mandatory retirement occurred Sonthi was after resignation appointed Deputy Prime Minister Saprang was transferred to become Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defense Saprang s ally Defence Ministry Deputy Permanent Secretary Admiral Bannawit Kengrien called Saprang s transfer a demotion and a punishment However Saprang himself claimed that he did not feel slighted for being passed over noting that everything is over for him Bannawit himself was later transferred from Defence Ministry Deputy Permanent Secretary to be a Chief Adviser of the Ministry replaced by Chief Advisor General Toosarat Muang am Bannawit denied that his own transfer was the result of his criticism of Saprang s transfer Bannawit then announced that he would resign from the military and enter politics There was also rampant speculation that Saprang himself would resign and enter politics Although the Kyodo News Agency noted speculation that Saprang would stage a coup against Anupong Saprang denied coup rumors saying that another coup would be suicide
Saprang is the youngest of children of Lieutenant Colonel Sri Thai and Phenkaew Kalayanamitr Thai Sri was the eldest of the children of Phraya Sucharitraksa ruler Chao Muang of the northern border city of Tak
The Kalayanamitrs are a military aristocratic family with Chinese Hokkien Northern Thai roots Saprang s ancestor Luang Phichai Waree original name Ung Mang Thai migrated to Siam during the reign of King Taksin plying the samphao trade and was given a feudal title during the reign of King Rama I
Saprang has evoked his aristocratic background in order to increase his credibility in public confrontations Saprang is married to Viphada Thai and has sons Army Cadet Ekawee Thai Air Force Cadet Akharawat Thai Air Force Cadet Ekwarit Thai
Saprang stands centimeters tall and as of March weighed kilograms
The Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video was an award that was presented to recording artists at the th Grammy Awards in and the st Grammy Awards in for quality concept music videos The Grammy Awards Grammys is an annual ceremony that was established in and was originally called the Gramophone Awards awards are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to honor artistic achievement technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry without regard to album sales or chart position
Beginning in the Academy began to honor quality music videos with the Video of the Year category which was discontinued with the establishment of the MTV Video Music Awards in and was replaced with two awards Best Video Short Form and Best Video Album Criteria changes for the and ceremonies resulted in the Best Concept Music Video award being presented alongside the award for Best Performance Music Video Best Concept Music Video award recipients were the English rock band Genesis for Land of Confusion and the American singer Weird Al Yankovic for Fat The Academy returned to the previous format in though the categories are now known as Best Short Form Music Video and Best Long Form Music Video
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences began to honor quality music videos with the Grammy Award for Video of the Year category in The first two award recipients were former member of The Monkees Michael Nesmith for the hour long video Elephant Parts also known as Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts and Olivia Newton John for Olivia Physical The Video of the Year category was discontinued in when MTV established the MTV Video Music Awards whose top award is also presented for Video of the Year For the th Grammy Awards the Academy replaced the category with awards for Best Video Short Form and Best Video Album For the awards held in and the criteria changed and awards for the categories Best Concept Music Video and Best Performance Music Video were presented The Academy returned to the previous format in though the categories were renamed Best Music Video Short Form and Best Music Video Long Form In the categories were retitled Best Short Form Music Video and Best Long Form Music Video respectively
For the th Grammy Awards Best Concept Music Video nominees included David Bowie for Day In Day Out Kate Bush for The Whole Story the English rock band Genesis for Land of Confusion David Lee Roth for David Lee Roth and Janet Jackson for Control The Videos Part II The music video for Bowie s Day In Day Out directed by Julien Temple included offending scenes such as a man urinating on Ronald Reagan s Hollywood Walk of Fame star which was edited out for television broadcast Bush s imaginative video sampler accompanies her greatest hits album of the same name and includes music videos for songs throughout her career to that point The music video for Land of Confusion a song included on the band s album Invisible Touch contained Spitting Image puppets of Ronald Reagan Margaret Thatcher and other notable individuals David Lee Roth s self titled video consisted of promotional clips created for his debut solo EP Crazy from the Heat and album Eat Em and Smile Jackson s video collection which was certified gold in the United States contained six promotional videos recorded for singles from her album Control Awards were presented to members of Genesis Tony Banks Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford as the performing artists Jim Yukich and John Lloyd as the video directors and Jon Blair as the video producer
Nominees for the st Grammy Awards were the Hampton String Quartet for Get a Job George Harrison for When We Was Fab the American rock band Talking Heads for Storytelling Giant Weird Al Yankovic for Fat and Neil Young for This Note s for You Get a Job a song recorded originally by the American group The Silhouettes appears on the Hampton String Quartet s album What If Mozart Wrote Roll Over Beethoven a collection of s R B and pop music songs performed in the styles of Beethoven Debussy Mozart and other composers When We Was Fab a song from the album Cloud Nine is constructed from quotations written when The Beatles were at the height of their fame and features Harrison playing a sitar The music video shows Elton John dressed as a walrus a reference to the song I Am the Walrus Storytelling Giants is a collection of Talking Heads music videos and additional material linking them together Two of the nominated music videos had connections to Michael Jackson Fat is a parody of Jackson s song Bad and the video for This Note s for You depicts a Jackson look alike s hair catching fire a parody of an incident that occurred during a shoot for a Pepsi television advertisement in In the Fat video Yankovic becomes a grossly overweight guy through the use of cosmetics and special effects and leads a group of overweight people on a parade The award was presented to Yankovic as the performing artist along with Jay Levey as the video director and Susan Zwerman as the video producer
Hadji Ali c November was a vaudeville performance artist thought to be of Egyptian descent who was famous for acts of controlled regurgitation His best known feats included water spouting smoke swallowing and nut and handkerchief swallowing followed by disgorgement in an order chosen by the audience Ali s most famous stunt and the highlight of his act was drinking copious amounts of water followed by kerosene and then acting by turns as a human flamethrower and fire extinguisher as he expelled the two liquids onto a theatrical prop While these stunts were performed a panel of audience members was invited to watch the show up close to verify that no trickery was employed
Although never gaining wide fame Ali had a dedicated following on the vaudeville circuit in the United States He performed for heads of state including Tsar Nicholas II of Russia Judy Garland named him her favorite vaudevillian and David Blaine identified Ali as his favorite magician Portions of his act were captured in the short film Strange as It Seems and in Politiquerias the Spanish language version of Laurel and Hardy s Chickens Come Home Two documentaries contain footage of Ali taken from Politiquerias s Gizmo and s Vaudeville Ali s unusual gastric abilities led to rumors that the Rockefeller Institute had offered a large sum of money to obtain his stomach post mortem After he died in England his body was offered to Johns Hopkins University for study though the offer was declined
Hadji Ali was born into a working class family in approximately or depending on the source consulted probably in Egypt His fame was as a practitioner of a recognized vaudeville subgenre known as a regurgitation act involving the swallowing of material or objects and their regurgitation in various ways Ali became aware as a child that he possessed an unusual gastric ability He explained in response to audience questions at a performance held at St Mary s Hospital in Niagara Falls New York in May that while swimming in the Nile as a ten year old boy he naturally discovered that he could swallow a large amount of water and blow it out like a whale spouting He continued to develop and refine the ability as he grew older A more dramatic version of these events was provided by Ali s daughter Almina Ali in an interview in England after his death She stated that his abilities were first learned through a single incident while bathing in the Nile he inadvertently swallowed a fish and an ample volume of water Instead of dying as those present thought he might Ali simply regurgitated the liquid and the fish without ill effect
Ali learned that his regurgitation talents had the potential to entertain and to earn money through performance at the age of fifteen
I tried out my tricks first of all in the street swallowing many glasses of water and then pouring forth a great fountain from one side of the road to the other A cafe proprietor saw me doing this one day and chased me down the street I thought he wanted to beat me up but no all he did was to put a coin in my hand and ask me to repeat the trick Finally he was so delighted that he asked me to come to his cafe and entertain the customers
Taking his abilities on the road Ali met an Italian man in Cairo who signed him to a contract for music hall performances Ali performed under contract throughout Europe and at times for heads of state According to Ali in or about he was summoned by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to perform at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg Russia He stated that the Tsar must have liked my performance because he awarded me a special decoration which is now one of my most treasured possessions Following World War I Ali began managing his own affairs and toured the world learning more tricks as he went
Ali came to the United States with Almina in the mid s They performed together at fairs carnivals and in vaudeville sometimes advertised under the collective name Hadji Ali Co Almina played the part of assistant in her father s act billed in his shows as The Princess Ali alone had a variety of stage names including The Great Egyptian Miracle Man The Amazing Regurgitator The Egyptian Enigma The Human Aquarium The Human Volcano and The th Wonder of the Scientific World Ali has been described as a large barrel chested and bearded man that cut an imposing figure in his Arab costume
Although Ali spoke a number of languages and became a naturalized US citizen it was reported that Almina acted as his interpreter in the United States and other places as he did not speak English and was illiterate Once he had gained some notoriety Ali took on as his manager Hubert Julian a former colonel in the Abyssinian Air Force Although he developed a significant following even being named Judy Garland s favorite vaudevillian Ali remained more a sideshow curiosity than a true vaudeville headliner according to at least one source Nevertheless at the time of his death in Julian commented that Ali had earned big money in America a week sometimes I was building him up here in Europe and had a Continental tour arranged
The mainstay of Ali s act was water spouting After swallowing large amounts of water to glasses at a time he spouted the water in a continuous stream for a sustained period of time sometimes approaching one minute Another common trick was to swallow to unshelled hazelnuts although one of his posters advertised pecans followed by another nut of a different variety such as an almond Ali then brought them up one by one with the odd nut out produced at a mark called out by the audience In another trick Ali swallowed three to six handkerchiefs of different hues and then produced them in a color order requested by audience members
In a article appearing in the Lowell Sun newspaper physician Morris Fishbein speculated that for Ali s nut feat the one nut of a different variety was held in the mouth rather than swallowed thus allowing him to produce it on cue Dr Fishbein also stated that unnamed investigators were convinced that for Ali s handkerchief stunt to produce them in the sequence stipulated by the audience Ali flavored the cloth and could therefore taste for the correct one as he brought them up Ali also swallowed live goldfish watches coins costume jewelry paper money peach pits stones live mice buttons pool balls and other odd objects In another standard performance segment he placed eight or more lit cigarettes in his mouth but instead of inhaling he swallowed the smoke and after a significant time had passed issued it forth in a steady stream like an erupting volcano
Ali s longstanding finale was the swallowing of copious amounts of water again but this time followed by a pint of kerosene A prop was then produced typically a model castle or house made of metal set on a table within which a small flame burned Lighter than water and immiscible with it the kerosene floated above the liquid in Ali s gut allowing him to disgorge it first The stage thus set and to a drum roll or an imitation of fire bells Ali became a human flamethrower spewing the accelerant in a long stream over the sacrificial prop setting it ablaze Once the kerosene was exhausted the water followed streaming out his mouth in a long flow from up to six feet away extinguishing the fire
At some performances a panel or jury from the audience was invited on stage to verify that no trick mechanism was being employed that he was actually swallowing the items in question and delivering them back through acts of regurgitation Sometimes Ali would stroll into the audience during his nut swallowing trick His stomach exposed by his standard costume he invited audience members to pat his stomach allowing them to hear the nuts rattling within One newspaper reported that Ali s feats essentially controlled vomiting were performed in a manner without the least bit of unpleasantness or anything bordering on repulsiveness Not everyone felt the same at least one of Ali s engagements was cut short once the proprietor realized that the nature of the act was killing their supper shows Famed escapologist and magician Harry Houdini remarked in his work Miracle Mongers and Their Methods that water spouting was a performance that could not fail to disgust a modern audience
The abilities of Ali fascinated the public and medical authorities As reported in a Sheboygan Press article at one of Ali s acts a number of doctors attended and thoroughly examined him during the performance They came away satisfied that he was actually imbibing and regurgitating the material and objects as claimed but remained mystified over his extraordinary performance According to an article appearing in the Naugatuck Daily News Physicians of three continents have puzzled over the gastronomical mechanism of this human ostrich without success X ray experiments have been made during his exhibition without a plausible explanation forthcoming that satisfies the critical in fact the profession of surgery has thrown up its hands in amazement over this human ostrich
Ali s act was captured in two films the short Strange as It Seems and Politiquerias the expanded Spanish language version of Laurel and Hardy s Chickens Come Home Ali also had a bit part as the Turkish landlord in Warner Bros film Scarlet Dawn starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Nancy Carroll Two documentaries contain footage of Ali taken from Politiquerias s Gizmo and s Vaudeville a documentary produced by KCTS TV that exhibits vaudeville acts over a two hour running time The documentary has since aired on the Public Broadcasting Service s American Masters series numerous times
Speaking about the democratic nature of the vaudeville performance circuit Vaudeville s writer and executive producer said in reference to Ali that the film embraced everything from Caruso to a guy who threw up By contrast in episode of the Sundance Channel television program Iconoclasts magician David Blaine speaks enthusiastically of Ali During the episode Blaine shows artist Chuck Close Ali s kerosene and water finale footage from Politiquerias and comments that Ali is his favorite magician it s real but nobody s been able to do it since his name was Hadji Ali he s my favorite of all time
Ali died on November in Wolverhampton England from heart failure during a bout of bronchitis Even before his death a rumor had circulated that the Rockefeller Institute sought to procure Ali s stomach upon his death and would pay as much as for it This claim appeared in a poster advertising Ali s impending appearance at a theater during his lifetime After Ali s death was reported the rumor resurfaced as an active offer of When a Rockefeller Institute manager was interviewed about the story he said the offer had never been made but that nevertheless we should very much like to see the body Almina and Julian transported Ali s body back to the United States on board the Queen Mary According to a November article in the New York Post upon their arrival Almina offered her father s body to Maryland s Johns Hopkins University for investigation by surgeons after which it would be transported to Egypt for interment in a mausoleum However The Afro American newspaper reported on December that Johns Hopkins officials had declined the offer
The Battle of Tellicherry was a naval action fought off the Indian port of Tellicherry between British and French warships on November during the Third Anglo Mysore War Britain and France were not at war at the time of the engagement but French support for the Kingdom of Mysore in the conflict with the British East India Company had led to Royal Navy patrols stopping and searching French ships sailing for the Mysorean port of Mangalore When a French convoy from Mah passed the British port of Tellicherry in November Commodore William Cornwallis sent a small squadron to intercept the French ships
As the British force under Captain Sir Richard Strachan approached the convoy the escorting frigate Rsolue opened fire A general action followed with Strachan succeeding in forcing the French ship to surrender within twenty minutes and both sides suffering damage and casualties All of the French vessels were searched and subsequently returned to Mah the local French authorities reacting furiously at what they perceived as a violation of their neutral position Messages were sent back to France reporting the action from Commodore Saint Flix but they evoked little response Although under normal circumstances the battle might have provoked a diplomatic incident the upheavals of the ongoing French Revolution meant that the despatches had little effect
In December after five years of diplomatic wrangling about the terms of the Treaty of Mangalore that had ended the Second Anglo Mysore War the ruler of Mysore Tipu Sultan again declared war on the British East India Company and their allies in Southern India For the next two years the war continued as British forces and their allies drove the Mysore armies back towards the capital of Seringapatam Both sides were reliant on supply by sea to maintain their campaigns inland the British forces were supported from their major ports at Bombay and Madras later stationing additional forces at the small port of Tellicherry inside Mysore territory The Mysorean forces were supplied through Mangalore by French ships France had been an ally of the Tipu Sultan s father Hyder Ali during the Second Anglo Mysore War and although the political instability caused by the French Revolution in Europe prevented active involvement they ensured that their ships kept up a supply of equipment to Mysore throughout the war
In an effort to eliminate French support Commodore William Cornwallis the British naval commander in the region stationed a squadron of frigates at Tellicherry where they were ideally situated to blockade Mangalore and prevent the passage of shipping into Mysorean territory The squadron consisted of Cornwallis in HMS Minerva Captain Sir Richard Strachan in HMS Phoenix and HMS Perseverance under Captain Isaac Smith The French operated a squadron of their own on the coast led by Commodore Saint Flix and consisting of two frigates based at Mah a small French port miles km south of Tellicherry The French had communicated to the British at Tellicherry that they would not submit to any attempts to search their vessels but Strachan and Cornwallis replied that they would enforce the blockade of Mangalore whatever the consequences
In November a French convoy sailed from Mah on the short journey to Mangalore The convoy included two merchant vessels and the frigate Rsolue a gun warship under Captain Callamand Passing northwards the convoy soon passed Tellicherry and Cornwallis sent Strachan with Phoenix and Perseverance to stop and inspect the French ships to ensure they were not carrying military supplies As Smith halted the merchant ships and sent boats to inspect them Strachan did the same to Rsolue hailing the French captain and placing an officer in a small boat to board the frigate The French captain was outraged at this violation of his neutrality and responded by opening fire British sources suggest that his initial target was the small boat although Phoenix was the ship most immediately damaged
Strachan was unsurprised at the French reaction and returned fire immediately the proximity of the ships preventing any manoeuvres Within twenty minutes the combat was decided the French captain hauling down his colours with his ship battered and more than men wounded or dead The French ship carried significantly weaker cannon than Phoenix with and pounder guns to the and pounders aboard the British squadron In addition Rsolue was heavily outnumbered no other French warships were in the area while the British had three large frigates within sight French losses eventually totalled men killed and wounded Strachan suffering just six killed and wounded in return
With the enemy subdued Strachan ordered a thorough search of the captured vessels but could find no contraband and returned control to the French commander The French officer however refused insisting that he and his ship were treated as prisoners of war Cornwallis ordered the merchant ships released to continue their journey and for the frigate to be towed back to Mah where it was anchored in the roads with its sails and topmasts struck Provision was subsequently made at Mah by Strachan for the wounded French sailors Soon afterwards Saint Flix arrived at Mah in his frigate Cyble and reacted furiously at the discovery that one of his neutral ships had been attacked and captured by the British When Cornwallis insisted that his ships had been acting within their orders Saint Flix promised reprisals if any of his vessels were attacked again and withdrew with both Cyble and Rsolue later in the day followed by Minerva and Phoenix One account reported that Saint Flix actually ordered his crew to fire on Cornwallis but that they refused The British shadowed the French for several days openly stopping and searching French merchant ships but without provoking a response from Saint Flix Rsolue and Phoenix were subsequently detached by their commanders Cornwallis and Saint Flix remaining in contact for several more days before finally separating
News of the encounter was conveyed back to France but the country was at this time in one of the most turbulent eras of the ongoing Revolution and little notice was taken of events in India Historian William James notes that under normal political circumstances the action would have had more significant ramifications while Edward Pelham Brenton claims that the French deliberately ignored the report out of fear of antagonising Britain In Britain the Admiralty approved of Cornwallis actions suggesting that the French were deliberately using the guise of trade to support Mysore against Britain The action had no effect on the ongoing war in India which was now centred on the inland city of Seringapatam As British forces closed on the city in February the Tipu Sultan initiated peace talks which brought the war to an end in exchange for concessions to the Company and its Indian allies
Loose is the third studio album by Canadian singer and songwriter Nelly Furtado released on June by Geffen Records and the Mosley Music Group Following the release of Furtado s second album Folklore through DreamWorks Records it was announced that Universal Music Group would acquire DreamWorks Records the later was folded into the Interscope Geffen A M umbrella where Furtado would release any new music Timbaland and his protg Danja produced the bulk of the album which incorporates influences of dance R B and hip hop The album explores the theme of female sexuality and has been described as introspective or even sad in parts
The album received criticism because of the sexual image Furtado adopted for the recording as some critics felt it was a ploy to sell more records Further controversy rose over accusations of plagiarism on Timbaland s part in the song Do It which contained the melody from Finnish musician Janne Suni s song Acidjazzed Evening without proper authorization when recordings were leaked onto YouTube The record was seen generally as critically and commercially successful It reached high positions on charts across the world and according to an August press release it had sold more than million copies worldwide making it the best selling album of and the twenty second best selling album of the s
The album was heavily promoted released in several editions and supported by the Get Loose Tour which is the subject of the concert DVD Loose The Concert Loose debuted at number one making it Furtado s first album to top the chart along with eight singles were released from the album including the US number one singles Promiscuous and Say It Right which received Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance respectively Other successful singles include the UK number one single Maneater and the European number one single All Good Things Come to an End
Furtado s second album Folklore was released in November The lead single is Powerless Say What You Want and the second single is the ballad Try The album was not as successful as her debut partly due to the album s less poppy sound Powerless Say What You Want was later remixed featuring Colombian rocker Juanes who had previously worked with Furtado on his track Fotografa Photograph The two would collaborate again on Te Busqu I searched for you the single from Furtado s album Loose The album was underpromoted from her label DreamWorks Records it was announced on November that Universal Music Group reached an agreement to acquire DreamWorks Records from DreamWorks SKG for about million The purchase came at a time when the music business was going through major changes as it struggled to counter falling sales and the impact of unofficial online music sales DreamWorks Records was folded into the Interscope Geffen A M umbrella label in January Furtado s recording contract was then absorbed into Geffen Records
Furtado began work on Loose by holding with emcee Jellystone what she referred to as a hip hop workshop in which they would write rhymes dissect them and try different flows over beats The first producers she worked with were Track Field who co produced her first two albums Whoa Nelly and Folklore and by May she had collaborated with Swollen Members and K naan She worked with Nellee Hooper in London on reggae oriented material and with Lester Mendez in Los Angeles on acoustic songs One of the tracks Mendez helped to create is Te Busqu which is co written by and features Juanes who collaborated with Furtado on his song Fotografa During her time in Los Angeles she worked with Rick Nowels who co wrote and produced In God s Hands and Somebody to Love
In Miami Florida Furtado collaborated with Pharrell who introduced her to reggaeton and who gave her a shout out in his single Can I Have It Like That and Scott Storch with whom she recorded a straight up rap song before entering the studio with Timbaland He and his protg at the time Danja co produced eight of the tracks with another produced solely by Danja For some of the beats on the songs Timbaland finished work on ones already present in the studio that were half developed or just nucleuses the rest were completely reworked Furtado recorded around forty tracks for Loose deciding which she would include based on the sonics of the album she called Timbaland a sonic extraterrestrial who came up with a sequence of songs that flowed and said that the one she had devised was supposedly unsatisfactory She recorded an unreleased collaboration with Justin Timberlake Crowd Control which she described as kind of sexy and a cute clubby upbeat fun track Other songs considered for inclusion on the album include Chill Boy Friend of Mine Go Hands in the Air Pretty Boy Vice and Weak
Furtado said in her diary on her official website that she recorded a remix of Maneater with rapper Lil Wayne it was only released as part of a compilation album Timbaland s Remix Soundtrack Collection she also used the instrumental of the song during many television performances of Maneater A version of All Good Things Come to an End featuring vocals by Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin who co wrote the song was not released after a request from Martin s label EMI The song was released on the album but only Furtado s vocals are featured Furtado explained that Loose was percent written with a beat first and then I d write my melodies and songs to the beat
The off the cuff conclusion to production was one of the reasons the album was titled Loose It was named partly after the spontaneous decisions she made when creating the album The album is also called Loose because it is the opposite of calculated and came naturally to Furtado and Timbaland she called him her distant musical cousin because he was always pushing boundaries and always carving out his own path which she believed she was doing with Loose I think you have to keep surprising people as an artist and I like that I love doing that she said Loose was also named partly for the R B girl group TLC who Furtado said she admires for taking back their sexuality showing they were complete women She said she wanted the album to be assertive and cool and sexy but fun like TLC MC Lyte Queen Latifah and Janet Jackson who inspired Furtado because as she put it she was comfortable in her sexuality and womanhood when her single That s the Way Love Goes was released
During the recording of Loose Furtado listened to several electro and rock musicians including Bloc Party System of a Down MIA Feist Queens of the Stone Age Metric and Death from Above some of whom influenced the rock sound present on the album and the coughing laughing distorted basslines that were kept in the songs deliberately According to her music by such bands is very loud and has a garage theme to it some of which she felt she captured on the album Furtado has said rock music is rhythmic again and hip hop influenced after it had become so churning and boring Because the mixing engineers were aware of Timbaland and Furtado s rock influences the songs were mixed on a mixing board in the studio instead of the fancy mixer at the end Furtado said she preferred the louder volume that process gave to the album because she wanted it to sound like her demo tapes which she prefers to her finished albums She said It didn t have that final wash over it it didn t have the final pressing at the end save for a couple sounds
Furtado said that with the release of her albums before Loose she had wanted to prove herself as a musician and earn respect from listeners through using many different instruments on an album which most hip hop musicians did not do After she believed she had accomplished that she felt she had freedom to make the type of music she really love d Furtado said her previous problem with hip hop was that she did not think it was good enough to base one of her albums on but that she then asked herself why she was being pretentious The album represents her separating from such notions and in her words jumping in the deep end of the pool Ahh screw it this is fun Furtado said she considers herself all over the map and promiscuous musically because she is not faithful to one style
For the first time Furtado worked with a variety of record producers and followed a more collaborative approach in creating the album Produced primarily by Timbaland and Danja Loose showcases Furtado experimenting with a more R B hip hop sound and as she put it the surreal theatrical elements of s music She has categorized the album s sound as punk hop which she describes as Eurythmics influenced modern poppy spooky music and stated that there s a mysterious after midnight vibe to it that s extremely visceral Furtado has described the album as more urban more American more hip hop and more simplified than her earlier work which she said was more layered and textured because she tend s to overthink things In contrast during her studio time with Timbaland she said she was in the VIP boys club of just letting go and being more impulsive According to Furtado instead of pristine stuff the album features really raw elements such as distorted bass lines laughter from studio outtakes and general room for error Furtado has said Loose is not as much about the lyrics which are not included in the liner notes as it is about indulging in pleasures whether it s dancing or lovemaking According to her she wasn t trying to be sexy with the album I think I just am sexy now she said
The opening track Afraid featuring rapper Attitude is a description of Furtado s fear of what people think of her and she has said the chorus reminds her of walking down the hall in high school because you live from the outside in Now that I m an adult I care about the inside of me Before I said I didn t care about what people thought about me but I really did Maneater is an uptempo electro rock song that combines s electro synths and a more dance oriented beat The up tempo song has prominent electropop and synthpop influences and is lyrically related to how people become hot on themselves when dancing in their underwear in front of a mirror Promiscuous featuring Timbaland was inspired by a flirting exchange Furtado had with Attitude who co wrote the song
She has characterised the fifth track Showtime as a proper R B slow jam No Hay Igual is a hip hop and reggaeton song that has a Spanglish tongue twister over future tropic beats The song contains a sharp mix of percussion and empowered chanting In No Hay Igual Furtado sings in Spanish and raps in Portuguese over a reggaeton rhythm The album also features more introspective songs and The Sunday Times wrote that it has a surprising sadness to it The seventh track Te Busqu which features Latin singer Juanes is about Furtado s experiences with depression which she said she has had periodically since she was around seventeen years old Furtado said she was unsure what Say It Right is about but that it encapsulates her feeling when she wrote it and taps into this other sphere in an interview for The Sunday Times it was mentioned that it is about her breakup with DJ Jasper Gahunia the father of her daughter In God s Hands another song on the album was also inspired by the end of their relationship
In April a remix of No Hay Igual featuring Calle was issued as a club single in the US During the same period Promiscuous featuring Timbaland was released for digital download in North America Promiscuous became Furtado s first single to top the US Billboard Hot and was released in Australia where it reached the top five The lead single in Europe and Latin America Maneater was released in late May to early June It became Furtado s first single to top the UK Singles Chart and made the top ten in other countries it reached the top five in Germany and the top twenty in France and Latin America The second single in Europe Promiscuous was released in late August to early September but it did not perform as well as Maneater It peaked inside the top five in the UK and the top ten in other countries including Germany and it reached the top twenty in France During the same period Maneater began its run as the second single in North America it was not as successful as Promiscuous reaching number twenty two in Canada and the top twenty in the US though it became a top five single on the ARIA Singles Chart
Releases of the third North American single Say It Right and the third Europe single All Good Things Come to an End took place in November and December and the third Latin American single Promiscuous was released in January Say It Right went to number one in the US and on the Nielsen BDS airplay chart in Canada where it was not given a commercial release and it reached the top five in Australia All Good Things Come to an End reached number one on the pan European singles chart and the top five in the UK and it was the album s most successful single in Germany where it topped the chart and in France where it became a top ten hit After the release of Say It Right in Europe in March the single reached the top five in Germany and the top ten in the UK where it was a download only release The video for All Good Things Come to an End was released in North America during this period All Good Things Come to an End peaked in the top five in Canada and in the top twenty in Australia though it only reached the lower half of the US Hot
The album s fifth and final UK single was In God s Hands and the fifth and final single in North America was Do It In May Furtado mentioned the possibility of a sixth or seventh single mentioning the examples of Nickelback s All the Right Reasons and The Pussycat Dolls PCD as albums that were being supported by seven singles at the time Furtado said she liked the possibility because she thought Loose was good and want ed people to hear as much of it as possible before she took time off Two other songs Te Busqu and No Hay Igual were released as singles in other regions of the world Te Busqu was the lead single in Spain because of the limited success hip hop R B influenced songs in the style of Promiscuous and Maneater achieved in the country It was not released in the United States but it was given airplay on Latin music radio stations and reached the top forty on Billboard s Latin Pop Airplay chart The No Hay Igual remix featuring Calle was released in Latin America and the music video debuted in September
The album was first released in Japan on June through Universal Music Group before being released two days later in Germany In the United Kingdom Loose was released on June via Geffen Records and was released eight days later on June in Canada and the United States
In the album was re released in Germany The re release included bonus content
During the promotion of Loose Furtado performed at major music festivals and award shows In Europe she appeared at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in Germany and the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands in June She performed in Canada at the Calgary Stampede the Ottawa Bluesfest in July and at the Ovation Music Festival in September Shortly after her August performance at the Summer Sonic in Japan she sang at the Teen Choice Awards In November she contributed to the entertainment during the World Music Awards the American Music Awards and the th Grey Cup halftime show She performed at the NRJ Music Awards held in January
Furtado embarked on a world concert tour the Get Loose Tour on February in the UK in support of the album the tour included thirty one dates in Europe and Canada with additional shows in the US Japan Australia and Latin America Furtado described the show as a full sensory experience with a beginning middle and end it takes you on a journey also stressing the importance of crowd involvement and spontaneity and rawness because those are my roots you know I started by doing club shows and that s the energy I love the raw club energy of just feeling like you re rocking out Though Furtado said choreographed dance routines were to be included in the show she described it as music based Everything else is just to keep it sophisticated and sensual and fun Furtado said she hoped to have Chris Martin Juanes Justin Timberlake Timbaland and Calle to guest on the tour and have a revolving door of opening acts with Latin musicians opening in the US
Loose debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart selling more than copies in its first week at that time the year s strongest debut for a Canadian artist In late July after Furtado embarked on a short tour of Canada and made a guest appearance on the television show Canadian Idol the album returned to number one It subsequently stayed near the top of the album chart until late January when it reached number one again for two weeks It was the third best selling album of in Canada and the highest selling by a female solo artist with copies sold The Canadian Recording Industry Association CRIA certified Loose five times platinum in May for shipments of more than copies It stayed in the top twenty for fifty seven weeks
The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard chart making it Furtado s first album to top the chart with first week sales of it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA and ranked sixty fourth on the Billboard year end chart Loose exited the US top ten in August but re entered it in March and according to Nielsen SoundScan in October it had sold two million units The album ranked thirty second on the Billboard year end chart
In the United Kingdom Loose entered the albums chart at number five in its forty third week it reached number four and it was certified double platinum for shipments to retailers of more than copies As of July it had sold roughly copies in the UK The record was certified two times platinum in Australia for more than units shipped it reached number four there and was placed forty fourth on the Australian Australian Recording Industry Association ARIA list of bestsellers The album entered the chart in Germany at number one spent a record forty nine weeks in the German top ten and was certified five times platinum Loose reached number one on the European Top Albums chart in early spending ten non consecutive weeks at number one By March it had been certified gold or platinum in twenty five countries According to a Geffen Records press release Loose had sold more than seven million copies by November
Loose received generally positive reviews from music critics it holds an average score of out of at aggregate website Metacritic AllMusic and musicOMH cited the revitalising effect of Timbaland on Furtado s music and The Guardian called it slick smart and surprising Q found most of it to be an inventive hip hop inflected delight Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times wrote that the music and the lyrics are mainly aimed at dance floors and yet this album keeps reminding listeners that a dance floor is one of the most complicated places on earth In its review AllMusic wrote It s on this final stretch of the album that the Furtado and Timbaland pairing seems like a genuine collaboration staying true to the Nelly of her first two albums but given an adventurous production that helps open her songs up Timbaland has revitalized Nelly Furtado both creatively and commercially with Loose She won her first BRIT Award Best International Female in
In a mixed review Nick Catucci of The Village Voice felt that Furtado sauces up a bit too luridly and lacks chemistry with Timbaland writing that Loose isn t a love child but a bump and grind that never finds a groove Vibe stated she loses herself in Gwen Stefani like posturing as on Glow and ethnic fusions like No Hay Igual or Te Busqu In his consumer guide for The Village Voice Robert Christgau gave the album a B and named it dud of the month indicating a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought Christgau viewed that its dance oriented tracks might accomplish God s great plan on the dance floor But as songs they re not much
Considerable attention was generated by the more sexual image of Furtado presented in promotion and publicity for the album and in particular the music videos for Promiscuous and Maneater in which she dances around with her midriff exposed According to Maclean s magazine some said that Furtado s progression was a natural transformation of a pop singer others believed that she had sold out in an effort to garner record sales particularly after her second album was a commercial failure in comparison to her first Maclean s wrote that her makeover seems a bit forced and contrasted her with singers such as Madonna and Emily Haines of Metric they seem to be completely in control even somewhat intimidating in their sexuality they ve made a calculated decision for commercial and feminist reasons In contrast Furtado s new overt sexuality comes off as unoriginal overdone by thousands of pouty pop stars with a quarter of Furtado s natural talent the revamping feels as if it s been imposed rather than chosen by the unique articulate singer we ve seen in the past
Dose magazine wrote that Furtado s new highly sexualized image was manufactured and noted the involvement in the album s development of Geffen s Jimmy Iovine who helped to develop the Pussycat Dolls a girl group known for their sexually suggestive dance routines The writer also criticised Furtado s discussion of her buttocks and apparent rejection of feminism in a Blender magazine interview writing Girls do you hear that churning Those are the ideas of Gloria Steinem turning in their grave A writer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said that cynics could attribute Furtado s commercial success with Loose to her amped up sex appeal The writer added that the failure of Janet Jackson s album Damita Jo indicated such a move was not infallible Furtado was still demure compared to many of her competitors she avoided sporting lingerie or performing Christina Aguilera style gyrations or calisthenics in the Promiscuous and Maneater videos Despite its dramatic arrival Furtado s new image doesn t feel calculated he said She seems to be thinking less and feeling more to the benefit of her music
In early a video hosted on YouTube led to reports that the song Do It and the Timbaland produced ringtone Block Party that inspired it used without authorization the melody from Finnish demoscene musician Janne Tempest Suni s song Acidjazzed Evening winner of the Assembly oldskool music competition Timbaland used the record of C adaptation of the song written by Glenn Rune Gallefoss GRG Timbaland admitted sampling the song but said that he had no time to research its intellectual owner Hannu Sormunen a Finnish representative of Universal which represents Nelly Furtado in Finland commented the controversy as follows in the January issue of Iltalehti In case that the artist decides to pursue the matter further it s on him to go to America and confront them with the local use of law It will require a considerable amount of faith and of course money On February Timbaland commented on the issue in an MTV interview It makes me laugh The part I don t understand the dude is trying to act like I went to his house and took it from his computer I don t know him from a can of paint I m years deep That s how you attack a king You attack moi Come on man You got to come correct You the laughing stock People are like You can t be serious
On June Mikko Vlimki who is one of the legal counsels of Kernel Records the owner of the sound recording rights reported that the case had been filed in Florida In January Turkish newspapers reported that Kalan Mzik the record label that released Turkish folk singer Muhlis Akarsu s album Ya Dost Ya Dost pressed charges against Furtado for the Loose track Wait for You which label officials said features the balama instrumental part of Akarsu s song Allah Allah Desem Gelsem
a signifies a vocal producer
Credits adapted from the Loose liner notes
The season was the nd season of competitive association football and th season in the Football League played by York City Football Club a professional football club based in York North Yorkshire England Their th place finish in meant it was their second consecutive season in League Two The season ran from July to June
Nigel Worthington starting his first full season as York manager made eight permanent summer signings By the turn of the year York were only above the relegation zone on goal difference before a match unbeaten run saw the team finish in seventh place in the team Football League Two This meant York qualified for the play offs and they were eliminated in the semi final by Fleetwood Town York were knocked out of the FA Cup Football League Cup and Football League Trophy in their opening round matches
players made at least one appearance in nationally organised first team competition and there were different goalscorers Defender Ben Davies missed only five of the fifty two competitive matches played over the season Wes Fletcher finished as leading scorer with goals of which came in league competition and three came in the FA Cup The winner of the Clubman of the Year award voted for by the club s supporters was Lanre Oyebanjo
The season was York City s first season back in the Football League having won the Conference Premier play offs in after eights years in the Football Conference Manager Gary Mills was sacked in March following an match run without a victory and was replaced by former Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington Despite being in the relegation zone with three matches remaining Worthington led the team to safety from relegation after a win away to Dagenham Redbridge on the final day of the season York finished the season in th place in the League Two table
Following the previous season s conclusion Lee Bullock Jon Challinor Chris Doig Ben Everson Scott Kerr David McDaid Patrick McLaughlin Michael Potts Jamie Reed and Jason Walker were released by York while Matty Blair departed for Fleetwood Town David McGurk Lanre Oyebanjo Danny Parslow Tom Platt and Chris Smith signed new contracts with the club New players signed ahead of the start of the season were goalkeeper Chris Kettings on a season long loan from Blackpool defender Ben Davies on loan from Preston North End midfielders Craig Clay from Chesterfield and Lewis Montrose from Gillingham winger Sander Puri from St Mirren and strikers Ryan Bowman from Hereford United Richard Cresswell from Sheffield United Wes Fletcher from Burnley and Ryan Jarvis from Torquay United Defender Mike Atkinson and striker Chris Dickinson entered the first team squad from the youth team after agreeing professional contracts
York retained the previous season s home and away kits The home kit comprised red shirts with white sleeves light blue shorts and white socks The away kit included light blue shirts with white sleeves white shorts and light blue socks Benenden Health continued as shirt sponsors for the second successive season
York began the season with a home win over the previous season s play off finalists Northampton Town with debutant Jarvis scoring the winning goal in the th minute However defeat came in York s match against Championship side Burnley in the first round of the League Cup going down at home The team endured their first league defeat of the season in the following game after being beaten away by Dagenham Redbridge the home team scoring in each half York then held Hartlepool United to a home draw before being beaten away by Bristol Rovers in which Jarvis scored twice before John Joe O Toole scored the winning goal for the home team in the th minute Two signings were made shortly before the transfer deadline defender George Taft was signed on a one month loan from Leicester City while Middlesbrough midfielder Ryan Brobbel joined on a one month loan Midfielder John McReady who had been told he had no future with the club departed after signing for FC Halifax Town Jarvis gave York the lead away at Exeter City before Alan Gow scored in each half to see the home team win
York suffered their first home league defeat of the season after AFC Wimbledon won with Michael Smith scoring in each half Former Ipswich Town midfielder Josh Carson who had a spell on loan with York the previous season signed a contract until the end of and Sheffield United midfielder Elliott Whitehouse signed on a one month loan Brobbel opened the scoring in the second minute of his home debut against Mansfield Town although the away team went on to score twice to win York s run of four defeats ended following a draw away to Wycombe Wanderers in which McGurk gave York the lead before the home team levelled through Dean Morgan Taft was sent back to Leicester after he fell behind McGurk Parslow and Smith in the pecking order for a central defensive berth York achieved their first win since the opening day of the season after beating Portsmouth at home with Fletcher Montrose and Jarvis scoring
Defender Luke O Neill was signed from Burnley on a day emergency loan He made his debut in York s win away at Torquay which was the team s first successive win of the season York were knocked out of the Football League Trophy in the second round after being beaten at home by League One team Rotherham United before their winning streak in the league was ended with a defeat away to Newport County York drew away to Chesterfield having taken a two goal lead through O Neill and Jarvis before the home team fought back through Armand Gnanduillet and Jay O Shea The team then hosted Fleetwood Town and the visitors won with goals scored in each half by Gareth Evans and Jamille Matt Scunthorpe United were beaten at home to end York s three match run without a win with all the team s goals coming in the first half from Carson Fletcher and Brobbel
Bowman scored his first goals for York away to Cheltenham Town as York twice fought back from behind to draw York drew away to Bristol Rovers to earn a first round replay in the FA Cup taking the lead through Jarvis before Eliot Richards equalised for the home team Carson scored a yard volley to put York back in the lead and after Bristol Rovers goals from Matt Harrold and Chris Beardsley Fletcher scored an th minute equaliser for York Bowman scored with a header from an O Neill cross to open the scoring at home to Plymouth Argyle which was the first goal the visitors had conceded in minutes of action However Plymouth equalised minutes later through Tope Obadeyi and the match finished a draw York were knocked out of the FA Cup after losing at home to Bristol Rovers in a first round replay the visitors were up by minutes before Fletcher pulled two back for York with a penalty and a long range strike
Defender Keith Lowe of Cheltenham and goalkeeper Nick Pope of Charlton Athletic were signed on loan until January They both played in York s first league defeat in four weeks away to Southend United Kevan Hurst gave Southend the lead early into the match and Bowman equalised for York with a low strike during the second half before Luke Prosser scored the winning goal for the home side in stoppage time With Pope preferred in goal Kettings returned to Blackpool on his own accord although his loan agreement would stay in place until January York then drew away to Morecambe After Pope was recalled from his loan by Charlton York signed Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper Aaron McCarey on loan until January McCarey kept a clean sheet in York s home draw with Rochdale
Cresswell retired from playing as a result of an eye complaint and a knee injury York drew away to Burton Albion with an own goal scored by Shane Cansdell Sherriff giving York the lead in the th minute before the home team equalised eight minutes later through Billy Kee Atkinson was released after failing to force himself into the first team and signed for Scarborough Athletic with whom he had been on loan York drew at home with second placed Oxford United in which Carson came closest to scoring with a volley that flashed across the face of the goal This was followed by another draw after the match away to Accrington Stanley finished with the home team equalising minutes after a Fletcher penalty had given York the lead in the th minute Striker Shaq McDonald who had been released by Peterborough United was signed on a contract until the end of the season York s last match of was a defeat away at Bury a result that ended York s run of consecutive draws at five The home team were up by the th minute before Michael Coulson scored York s goal in the rd minute This result meant York would begin in nd position in the table only out of the relegation zone on goal difference
Jarvis scored the only goal in York s first win since October a home victory over Morecambe on New Year s Day McCarey was recalled by Wolverhampton Wanderers due to an injury to one of their goalkeepers while O Neill was recalled by Burnley to take part in their FA Cup match York achieved back to back wins for the first time since October after Dagenham Redbridge were beaten at home with Bowman opening the scoring in the second half before Fletcher scored twice Adam Reed who had a spell on loan with York in the previous season was signed on a contract until the end of the season after parting company with Burton Davies loan was extended while Brobbel and Whitehouse returned to their parent clubs Cheltenham club captain Russell Penn a midfielder was signed on a two and a half year contract for an undisclosed fee Lowe was subsequently signed permanently from Cheltenham on a two and a half year contract for an undisclosed fee Having been allowed to leave the club on a free transfer Ashley Chambers signed for Conference Premier club Cambridge United
York achieved three successive wins for the first time in after beating Northampton away with Bowman and Fletcher scoring in three second half minutes Defender John McCombe was signed on a two and a half year contract following his release from Mansfield before Clay and Jamal Fyfield left York by mutual consent Pope returned to York on loan from Charlton for the remainder of the season York s run of wins ended with a draw at home to Bristol Rovers before their first defeat of the year came after losing away to Hartlepool Preston winger Will Hayhurst a Republic of Ireland under international was signed on a one month loan York fell to a successive defeat for the first time since September after being beaten at home by Chesterfield Shortly after the match Smith left the club by mutual consent to pursue first team football
Fletcher scored a th minute winner for York away to Fleetwood in a win a result that ended Fleetwood s five match unbeaten run York then drew at home to fellow mid table team Cheltenham before beating Plymouth away with goals from Fletcher McCombe and Carson as the team achieved successive away wins for the first time in York went without scoring for a fourth consecutive home match after drawing with Southend Having worn the armband since an injury to McGurk Penn was appointed captain for the rest of the season a position that had earlier been held by Smith and Parslow
York achieved their first home win in five matches after beating Exeter with first half goals scored by McCombe and Coulson Hayhurst s loan was extended to the end of the season having impressed in his six appearances for the club Coulson scored again with the only goal a st minute header in York s away win over AFC Wimbledon Bowman scored the only goal with a nd minute penalty as York won away against Mansfield in which Fletcher missed the opportunity to extend the lead when his stoppage time penalty was saved by Alan Marriott York moved one place outside the play offs with a home win over Wycombe courtesy of a second Bowman penalty in as many matches and a Carson goal from the edge of the penalty area Coulson scored York s only goal in a away win over struggling Portsmouth with a low volley in the fifth minute this result meant York moved into the play offs in seventh place with eight fixtures remaining
Striker Calvin Andrew who had been released by Mansfield in January was signed on a contract for the remainder of the season He made his debut as a substitute in York s home win over bottom of the table Torquay in which Hayhurst scored the only goal in the th minute with an yard shot that deflected off Aaron Downes Middlesbrough winger Brobbel rejoined on loan until the end of the season following an injury to Carson York s run of successive wins ended on six matches after a home draw with Burton and this result saw York drop out of the play offs in eighth place With the team recording six wins and one draw in March including six clean sheets Worthington was named League Two Manager of the Month
Pope made a number of saves as York held league leaders Rochdale to a away draw with a point being enough to lift the team back into seventh place York were prevented from equalling a club record of eight consecutive clean sheets when Accrington scored a stoppage time equaliser in a home draw in which York had taken earlier taken the lead with a Coulson penalty A win away win over Oxford which was decided by a second half Coulson penalty resulted in York moving one place above their opponents and back into seventh place York consolidated their place in a play off position after beating Bury at home with a fifth minute goal scored by Lowe from a Hayhurst corner The result meant York opened up a five point lead over eighth placed Oxford with two fixtures remaining A place in the League Two play offs was secured following a win over Newport at home in which Coulson scored the only goal in the th minute with a yard free kick Pope earned a nomination for League Two Player of the Month for April having conceded only one goal in five matches in that period
The league season concluded with an away match against divisional runners up Scunthorpe having gone two goals down York fought back to draw with goals scored by Brobbel and Andrew This result meant York finished the season in seventh place in League Two and would thus play fourth placed Fleetwood in the play off semi final on the back of a match unbeaten run York lost to Fleetwood in the first leg at Bootham Crescent the goal came from former York player Matty Blair in the th minute who scored from close range after Antoni Sarcevic s shot was blocked on the line A draw away to Fleetwood in the second leg meant York were eliminated on aggregate ending the prospect of a second promotion in three seasons At an awards night held at York Racecourse Oyebanjo was voted Clubman of the Year for