title: Mule

text: A painting in the Tomb of Nebamun at Thebes, dating from approximately , shows a chariot drawn by a pair of animals which have been variously identified as onagers, as mules or as hinnies. Mules were present in Israel and Judah in the time of King David. There are many representations of them in Mesopotamian works of art dating from the first millennium BC. Among the bas-reliefs depicting the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal from the North Palace of Nineveh is a clear and detailed image of two mules loaded with nets for hunting.


title: Mule

text: George Washington bred mules at his home at Mount Vernon. At the time, they were not common in the United States, but Washington understood their value, as they were "more docile than donkeys and cheap to maintain." In the nineteenth century, they were used in various capacities as draught animals - on farms, especially where clay made the soil slippery and sticky; pulling canal boats; and famously for pulling, often in teams of 20 or more animals, wagonloads of borax out of Death Valley, California from 1883 to 1889. The wagons were among the largest ever pulled by draught animals, designed to carry 10 short tons (9 metric tons) of borax ore at a time.


title: Mule

text: Mules were used by armies to transport supplies, occasionally as mobile firing platforms for smaller cannons, and to pull heavier field guns with wheels over mountainous trails such as in Afghanistan during the Second Anglo-Afghan War.


title: Mule

text: In the second half of the twentieth century, widespread use of mules declined in industrialised countries. The use of mules for farming and for transportation of agricultural products largely gave way to steam-, then diesel-powered, tractors and lorries.


title: Mule

text: On 5 May 2003 Idaho Gem, a mule foal cloned by nuclear transfer of cells from foetal material, was born at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Neither an equid nor a hybrid animal had been cloned before.


title: Mule

text: In general terms, in both the mule and the hinny the foreparts and head of the animal are similar to those of the sire, while the hindparts and tail tend to resemble those of the dam. A mule is generally larger than a hinny, with longer ears and a heavier head; the tail is usually covered with long hair like that of its mare mother. A mule has the thin limbs, small narrow hooves and short mane of the donkey, while its height, the shape of the neck and body, the uniformity of its coat and its teeth are more similar to those of the horse.


title: Mule

text: Mules vary widely in size, from small miniature mules under to large and powerful draught mules standing up to at the withers. The median weight range is between about .


title: Mule

text: The coat may be of any colour seen in the horse or in the donkey. Mules usually display the light points commonly seen in donkeys: pale or mealy areas on the belly and the insides of the thighs, on the muzzle, and round the eyes. They often have primitive markings such as dorsal stripe, shoulder stripe or zebra stripes on the legs.


title: Mule

text: The mule exhibits hybrid vigour. Charles Darwin wrote: "The mule always appears to me a most surprising animal. That a hybrid should possess more reason, memory, obstinacy, social affection, powers of muscular endurance, and length of life, than either of its parents, seems to indicate that art has here outdone nature".


title: Mule

text: The mule inherits from its sire the traits of intelligence, sure-footedness, toughness, endurance, disposition, and natural cautiousness. From its dam it inherits speed, conformation, and agility. Mules are reputed to exhibit a higher cognitive intelligence than their parent species, but robust scientific evidence to back up these claims is lacking. Preliminary data exist from at least two evidence-based studies, but they rely on a limited set of specialised cognitive tests and a small number of subjects. Mules are generally taller at the shoulder than donkeys and have better endurance than horses, although a lower top speed.


title: Mule

text: In the early twentieth century the mule was preferred to the horse as a pack animal – its skin is harder and less sensitive than that of a horse, and it is better able to bear heavy weights.


title: Mule

text: A mule has 63 chromosomes, intermediate between the 64 of the horse and the 62 of the donkey. Mules are usually infertile for this reason.


title: Mule

text: Pregnancy is rare, but can occasionally occur naturally, as well as through embryo transfer. A few mare mules have produced offspring when mated with a horse or donkey stallion. Herodotus gives an account of such an event as an ill omen of Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 BC: "There happened also a portent of another kind while he was still at Sardis—a mule brought forth young and gave birth to a mule" (Herodotus "The Histories" 7:57), and a mule's giving birth was a frequently recorded portent in antiquity, although scientific writers also doubted whether it was really possible (see e.g. Aristotle, "Historia animalium", 6.24; Varro, "De re rustica", 2.1.28). Between 1527 and 2002 approximately sixty such births were reported. In Morocco in early 2002 and Colorado in 2007, mare mules produced colts. Blood and hair samples from the Colorado birth verified that the mother was indeed a mule and the foal was indeed her offspring.


title: Mule

text: A 1939 article in the "Journal of Heredity" describes two offspring of a fertile mare mule named "Old Bec", which was owned at the time by Texas A&M University in the late 1920s. One of the foals was a female, sired by a jack. Unlike her mother, she was sterile. The other, sired by a five-gaited Saddlebred stallion, exhibited no characteristics of any donkey. That horse, a stallion, was bred to several mares, which gave birth to live foals that showed no characteristics of the donkey. In a more recent instance, a group from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in 1995 described a female mule that was pregnant for a seventh time, having previously produced two donkey sires, two foals with the typical 63 chromosomes of mules, and several horse stallions that had produced four foals. The three of the latter available for testing each bore 64 horse-like chromosomes. These foals phenotypically resembled horses, though they bore markings absent from the sire’s known lineages, and one had ears noticeably longer than those typical of her sire's breed. The elder two horse-like foals had proved fertile at the time of publication, with their progeny being typical of horses.


title: Mule

text: While a few mules can carry live weight up to , the superiority of the mule becomes apparent in their additional endurance. In general, a mule can be packed with dead weight up to 20% of its body weight, or around . Although it depends on the individual animal, mules trained by the Army of Pakistan are reported to be able to carry up to and walk without resting. The average equine in general can carry up to roughly 30% of its body weight in live weight, such as a rider.


title: Mule

text: Mule trains have been part of working portions of transportation links as recently as 2005 by the World Food Programme, and are still used extensively to transport cargo in rugged, roadless regions.


title: Mule

text: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that China was the top market for mules in 2003, closely followed by Mexico and many Central and South American nations.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Paul Edward Lynde (; June 13, 1926January 10, 1982) was an American comedian, actor and game show panelist. A character actor with a distinctively campy and snarky persona that often poked fun at his barely closeted homosexuality, Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on "Bewitched," the befuddled father Harry MacAfee in "Bye Bye Birdie" and as a regular "center square" panelist on the game show "The Hollywood Squares" from 1968 to 1981. He also voiced animated characters for five Hanna-Barbera productions.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde regularly topped audience polls of most-liked TV stars, and was routinely admired and recognized by his peers during his lifetime. Mel Brooks once described Lynde as being capable of getting laughs by reading "a phone book, tornado alert, or seed catalogue". Lynde once said that, while he would rather be recognized as a serious actor, "we live in a world that needs laughter and I've decided if I can make people laugh, I'm making an important contribution."


title: Paul Lynde

text: Paul Lynde was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, the son of Sylvia Bell (Doup) and Hoy Corydon Lynde, who owned and operated a meat market. Fifth-born among six siblings, Lynde had older sisters, Grace and Helen, older brothers, Richard Hoy and Coradon ("Cordy") George and younger brother, John ("Johnny"). His favorite brother, Coradon, died in 1944 at the age of 21, in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Five years later in 1949, his parents died within three months of each other.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 1944, where he played the bass drum in its high school band. He then studied speech and drama at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where his classmates included Cloris Leachman, Charlotte Rae, Patricia Neal, Jeffrey Hunter and Claude Akins. At Northwestern, he was active in the school's theatrical productions, and joined the Upsilon chapter of the fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma. He is listed among its most famous members. He graduated in 1948.


title: Paul Lynde

text: After graduating from college, Lynde moved to New York City, taking odd jobs while looking for his show business break. His first appearance as a stand-up comic was at the famed supper club Number One Fifth Avenue. He made his Broadway debut in the hit revue "New Faces of 1952" in which he co-starred with fellow newcomers Eartha Kitt, Robert Clary, Alice Ghostley and Carol Lawrence. In his monologue from that revue, the "Trip of the Month Club," Lynde portrayed a man on crutches recounting his misadventures on the African safari trip he took with his late wife. The show was filmed and released as "New Faces" in 1954.


title: Paul Lynde

text: After the revue's run, Lynde co-starred in the short-lived 1956 sitcom "Stanley" opposite Buddy Hackett and Carol Burnett, both of whom were also starting their careers in show business. That year, he guest starred on NBC's sitcom "The Martha Raye Show".


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde returned to Broadway in 1960 when he was cast as Harry MacAfee, the father in "Bye Bye Birdie". He also played the role in the 1963 film adaptation. That year, he recorded a live album, "Recently Released", issued as an LP record. All six tracks were written by him. Once he could afford writers, he rarely used his own material until his tenure on "The Hollywood Squares" years later.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde was in great demand in the 1960s. During the 1961–62 television season he was a regular on NBC's "The Perry Como Show" as part of the Kraft Music Hall players with Don Adams, Kaye Ballard and Sandy Stewart. He was a familiar face on many sitcoms, including "The Phil Silvers Show", "The Farmer's Daughter", "The Patty Duke Show", "The Munsters", "The Flying Nun", "Gidget", "I Dream of Jeannie" and "F Troop"; and variety shows such as "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Dean Martin Show". He also was featured in a number of 1960s films, including "Send Me No Flowers" and "The Glass Bottom Boat", both starring Doris Day. Lynde's best known sitcom role was on "Bewitched".


title: Paul Lynde

text: In 1965, Lynde made his debut appearance on "Bewitched" during the first-season episode "Driving is the Only Way to Fly" (air date March 25, 1965). His role as mortal Harold Harold, Samantha Stephens's nervous driving instructor, was well received by viewers. Lynde also impressed series star Elizabeth Montgomery and her husband, director/producer William Asher, who created a recurring role for Lynde as Endora's practical-joking brother Uncle Arthur. Lynde made 10 appearances on "Bewitched" as the beloved character, the first being "The Joker is a Card" (air date October 14, 1965). His final appearance in the sitcom was in "The House That Uncle Arthur Built" (February 11, 1971) in the series' seventh season. Paul Lynde, Elizabeth Montgomery and William Asher became good friends and were regularly seen together off the set.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Of the four shows, only the Victorian detective spoof "Sedgewick Hawk-Styles: Prince of Danger" was initially picked up by ABC, only to be cancelled at the last minute. William Asher commented in the A&E "Biography" episode on Lynde that ABC had reservations about Lynde, most notably his increasingly erratic offscreen behavior and the persistent rumors of his homosexuality.


title: Paul Lynde

text: In 1966, Lynde debuted on the fledgling game show "The Hollywood Squares" and quickly became its iconic guest star. Eventually he assumed a permanent spot as the "center square," a move that ensured that he would be called upon by contestants at least once in almost every round. Despite an urban legend to the contrary, Lynde remained in the center at the producers' discretion.


title: Paul Lynde

text: On "The Hollywood Squares", Lynde was best able to showcase his comedic talents with short, salty one-liners, spoken in his signature snickering delivery. Many gags were thinly-veiled allusions to his homosexuality. Other jokes relied on double entendre, an alleged fondness for deviant behaviors, or dealt with touchy subject matter for 1970s television.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Appearing a total of 707 times, Lynde garnered considerable fame and wealth from the series. He eventually became disenchanted with being what he called "boxed into" "The Hollywood Squares" and he departed the series in 1979. In 1980, "The Hollywood Squares" experienced a downward trend in Nielsen ratings and Lynde was approached about returning to the program. He initially declined, but changed his mind when told he would receive co-star billing with host Peter Marshall. He returned to the series in the spring of 1980 and remained with the show until its cancellation in February 1981.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Between 1969 and 1973, Lynde did extensive voice work on animated cartoons, particularly those of Hanna-Barbera Productions. His most notable roles included:


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde's sardonic inflections added a dimension to such lines as the sly, drawn-out whine, "What's in it for "meeee?"" His distinctive voice remains popular among impressionists. Although it is sometimes assumed that actress Alice Ghostley based her speech patterns and mannerisms on Lynde's, according to actress Kaye Ballard, "It was Paul who was influenced by Alice".


title: Paul Lynde

text: In 1972, Lynde starred in a short-lived ABC sitcom, "The Paul Lynde Show". The series was a contractual fulfillment to ABC in place of an aborted ninth season of "Bewitched".


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde starred as Paul Simms, an uptight attorney and father who was at odds with his liberal-minded son-in-law. The family included wife Martha (Elizabeth Allen), daughters Sally (Pamelyn Ferdin) and Barbara (Jane Actman), Barbara's husband Howie (John Calvin) and Howie's parents (Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara).


title: Paul Lynde

text: Critics perceived the show as a derivative of "All in the Family," television's then most-popular primetime program, although many admitted the writing was top notch and the sexual connotations gave it an extra bit of spice. Lynde was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe for the show. Scheduled opposite the first half of the Top 30 hit "The Carol Burnett Show" on CBS and the Top 20 hit "Adam-12" on NBC, the series garnered low ratings and was canceled after a single season.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Contemporaneous media reports showed that viewers liked Lynde but not "The Paul Lynde Show" and liked another ABC show, "Temperatures Rising", but disliked co-star James Whitmore. Unhappy himself, Whitmore left the show and ABC moved Lynde to "Temperatures Rising" for the 1973–74 season. This move came despite the objections of William Asher, producer of both shows, who also quit in protest of ABC's meddling.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Ratings for "The New Temperatures Rising" were even lower than the previous season, in part because Asher's replacements shifted the show's tone to a much darker one than the previous season. ABC cancelled the show and its time slot was taken by mid-season replacement "Happy Days".


title: Paul Lynde

text: ABC later decided to resuscitate the program, with additional cast changes (most notably, Alice Ghostley, who replaced Sudie Bond in the role of Lynde's sister, Edwina). ABC also convinced Asher, who admitted Lynde's presence likely saved the series, to come back. Seven further episodes were produced for summer 1974 airings, after which the series was permanently canceled.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde was a fixture on the Kenley Players summer stock theatre circuit, appearing in "Don't Drink the Water" (1970, 1979), "The Impossible Years" (1969, 1978), "Mother is Engaged" (1974), "My Daughter is Rated X" (1973), "Plaza Suite" (1971) and "Stop, Thief, Stop!" (1975). In all he appeared in nine Kenley Players productions, more than any other headliner. In the summer of 1980 Paul toured the US and Canada, headlining three one act plays of "California Suite", "Plaza Suite", and "Last of the Red Hot Lovers", entitled 'Neil Simon's Suite', with cast members, Beverly Sanders, friend and bodyguard, Paul Barresi and Kristie Siverson.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde's continuing popularity led to his being signed by ABC to host a series of specials from 1975 to 1979, including:


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde was a regular guest on the variety show "Donny & Marie" between 1976 and 1978, until he lost his guest-starring role due to very public, drunken arguments with police officers.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Acting jobs continued to be scarce for Lynde, although it is unclear whether or not this was related to his alcoholism, which made him difficult to work with. As demand for his services declined, he accepted a wider variety of job offers.


title: Paul Lynde

text: In 1978, he appeared as a guest weatherman for WSPD-TV in Toledo, Ohio, to publicize both "The Hollywood Squares" and a summer stock performance.


title: Paul Lynde

text: In the 1979 comedy "The Villain" (released as "Cactus Jack" in the U.K.), he appeared as Indian chief Nervous Elk alongside former "Bye Bye Birdie" co-star Ann-Margret. This was his final film role.


title: Paul Lynde

text: November 1980, the Beaux Arts Society, Inc. (founded in 1857) designated Paul Lynde "King" of the Beaux Arts Ball, with Kitty Carlisle designated as "Queen". Paul Lynde remained a Life Member of the Beaux Arts Society from 1980 until his untimely death.


title: Paul Lynde

text: In 1976, at the Sixth Annual American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) "Entertainer of the Year Awards", Lynde received an award for being voted the funniest man of the year. Lynde immediately turned his award over to host Jackie Gleason, citing him as "the funniest man ever". The unexpected gesture shocked Gleason.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Despite his campy and flamboyant television persona, Lynde's private life and sexual orientation were not directly acknowledged or discussed on television or in other media during his lifetime. According to an essay on the website for The Biography Channel, in the 1970s, entertainment journalists did not investigate the private lives of performers who were best known as game show regulars.


title: Paul Lynde

text: A 1976 "People" magazine article on Lynde included text about Stan Finesmith, who was described as Lynde's hairstylist, "suite mate" and "chauffeur-bodyguard". The magazine included one photograph of Lynde as Finesmith styled his hair. During Lynde's lifetime, this was as close as the media came to hinting at his homosexuality. Cathy Rudolph, a friend of Lynde who published a 2013 book "Paul Lynde: A Biography – His Life, His Love(s) and His Laughter", stated in a 2018 interview that "being gay and having to hide it frustrated him".


title: Paul Lynde

text: With the wealth Lynde had earned working on "Hollywood Squares", he bought Errol Flynn's Hollywood mansion and spent an enormous amount of money on renovations and décor. He lived there with his beloved dog, Harry MacAfee, until Harry died in 1977. Afterward, Lynde could not stay in the house without him and later bought a new home.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde suffered from weight problems, weighing when he graduated from high school. He was honored by Weight Watchers in 1977.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Lynde struggled with alcoholism and had numerous run-ins with the law, including frequent arrests for public intoxication. Peter Marshall and Kaye Ballard confirmed that Lynde, when inebriated, became very cruel, sometimes violent and would sometimes ridicule his friends.


title: Paul Lynde

text: In July 1965, Lynde was involved in an incident in which a friend, another young actor, accidentally fell to his death from the window of their hotel room in San Francisco's Sir Francis Drake Hotel. Lynde and 24-year-old James “Bing” Davidson had been drinking for hours when Davidson, while "horsing around,” according to an Associated Press report, slipped and fell eight stories.


title: Paul Lynde

text: In October 1977, Lynde was involved in an incident at his alma mater, Northwestern University, when he was the Grand Marshal for homecoming. At a fast food restaurant near the campus after the homecoming parade, he made racist remarks and gestures to black NU professor James P. Pitts. Lynde blamed his behavior on fatigue and inebriation.


title: Paul Lynde

text: In January 1978, while in Salt Lake City to record a segment for the TV variety show "Donny & Marie", Lynde was arrested outside a tavern and charged with interfering with a police officer. Lynde's vehicle had been broken into and his valuables stolen while he was inside the tavern. The arresting officer had been investigating a different car burglary and claimed Lynde kept insisting that he "attend to Lynde's complaint" instead. The complaint was later dropped.


title: Paul Lynde

text: On January 10, 1982, after Lynde failed to attend a birthday celebration, his friend, actor/model Paul Barresi, became concerned. When he and another friend, actor Dean Dittman, could not get an answer after calling him on the phone and knocking on his door, Barresi broke into the side entrance to Lynde's home in Beverly Hills, California, and found him dead in his bed in the early morning hours of January 11, 1982. Lynde was 55 years old.


title: Paul Lynde

text: Stories circulated suggesting that Lynde had a visitor at the time of his death who fled the scene, but evidence indicated the stories were false. Lynde regularly activated his house alarm before retiring for the evening. When Barresi broke in, the alarm blared, indicating that Lynde had been alone at the time of his death and that he had died in his sleep. Contrary to other reports that Lynde was found naked, Barresi said, "Not so. Paul was in his pajamas and wearing a robe."


title: Paul Lynde

text: The coroner ruled the death a heart attack. Lynde's cremated remains are interred at Amity Cemetery, in Amity, Knox County, Ohio, next to those of his brother Johnny and sister Helen. His mother, father, and veteran brother Coradon are buried at the same cemetery.


title: Paul Lynde

text: A biography was published in 2005, titled "Center Square: The Paul Lynde Story". Authors Steve Wilson and Joe Florenski described Lynde as "Liberace without a piano" and that to most 1970s-era viewers, he was "a frustrated bit player and character actor on a daytime game show". To the homosexual community, his reputation was less than stellar: "In some ways, he came to symbolize what's perceived to be a self-loathing era for gay culture."


title: The Descent

text: The Descent is a 2005 British horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall. The film follows six women who enter a cave system and struggle to survive against the humanoid creatures inside.


title: The Descent

text: Filming took place in the United Kingdom. Exterior scenes were filmed at Ashridge Park, Hertfordshire, and in Scotland. Because the filmmakers considered it too dangerous and time-consuming to shoot in an actual cave, interior scenes were filmed on sets built at Pinewood Studios near London designed by Simon Bowles.


title: The Descent

text: "The Descent" opened in cinemas in the United Kingdom on 8 July 2005. It premiered in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and released on 4 August 2006 in the United States. The film received positive reviews and was a box-office success, grossing $57.1 million against a £3.5 million budget.


title: The Descent

text: A sequel, titled "The Descent Part 2", directed by the first film's editor Jon Harris, was released in 2009.


title: The Descent

text: Thrill seeker friends Sarah, Juno, and Beth whitewater raft together. Afterward, Sarah, along with her husband Paul and their daughter Jessica, are involved in a car accident when Paul is distracted. Paul and Jessica are killed, but Sarah survives.


title: The Descent

text: One year later, Sarah, Juno, and Beth, as well as friends Sam, Rebecca, and newcomer Holly reunite at a cabin in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina for a spelunking adventure. The next day, they hike up to a mountain cave entrance and descend. While in the cave, Juno apologizes to Sarah for not being there for her after the accident, but Sarah is distant. After the group moves through a narrow passage, it collapses behind them, trapping them. After a heated discussion, Juno admits that she has led the group into an unknown cave system instead of the fully explored cave system that they had originally planned to visit, and so rescue is therefore impossible. She then tells Sarah that this adventure was in the hopes of restoring their relationship.


title: The Descent

text: As the group presses forward with hopes of finding an exit, they discover aged climbing equipment and a cave painting that suggests an exit exists. Holly, thinking she sees sunlight, runs ahead, but falls down a hole and breaks her leg. As the others help Holly, Sarah wanders off and observes a pale, humanoid creature drinking at a pool before it scampers away. Later, the group comes across a den of animal bones and is suddenly attacked by a creature known as a "crawler." Holly is killed when a crawler attacks and bites through her throat. Sarah runs and falls down a hole, where she is knocked unconscious. Juno, trying to prevent Holly's body from being dragged away, kills a crawler with her pickaxe but then, startled and in shock, accidentally strikes Beth through the neck. Beth collapses with Juno's pendant in her hand and begs Juno not to leave her, but a traumatized Juno flees.


title: The Descent

text: Sarah awakens to find herself in a den of human and animal carcasses, witnessing Holly's body being mauled and eaten by crawlers. Juno discovers cave markings from previous explorers that point to a specific path through the caves. Juno locates Sam and Rebecca. Sam has deduced that the crawlers are blind and rely on sound to hunt. Juno tells them about the markings, but she will not leave without Sarah.


title: The Descent

text: Meanwhile, Sarah encounters Beth, who tells her that Juno wounded then abandoned her. Beth gives her Juno's pendant, telling her it is a gift from Paul, and realizes that Juno and Paul had an affair before his death. Beth begs Sarah to euthanize her, which Sarah reluctantly does by bashing her head in with a rock. Sarah then encounters several crawlers and manages to kill them all, falling into a blood-filled pond in the process and emerging covered in blood.


title: The Descent

text: Elsewhere, Juno, Sam and Rebecca are pursued by a large group of crawlers. They reach a chasm and Sam tries to climb across, but a crawler scaling the ceiling attacks and rips her throat out. Sam stabs it before bleeding to death in front of Juno and Rebecca. Rebecca is then dragged away and eaten alive as Juno escapes. Juno encounters Sarah and lies to her about seeing Beth die. After defeating a group of crawlers close to the exit, Sarah confronts Juno, revealing the pendant and her knowledge of Beth's fate and the affair with Paul. Sarah then strikes Juno in the leg with a pickaxe and leaves her to die as a swarm of crawlers approaches. Juno is last heard screaming as Sarah escapes. Sarah falls down a hole and is knocked unconscious.


title: The Descent

text: When Sarah awakens, she sees sunlight and clambers up a slope covered in bones to escape the cave. After exhaustedly running to her car, she speeds out of the woods before she pulls over to the side of the road, breaking down in tears. After a truck passes her, she vomits out the window. When she sits up, she sees a hallucination of a bloodied Juno sitting next to her and screams.


title: The Descent

text: In the original release in the United Kingdom, an extended ending is presented, which was cut for the US release over concerns that it was too depressing. After hallucinating the image of Juno, Sarah awakens in the cave, her entire escape having been revealed to be part of the same hallucination. She sits up to see Jessica sitting across from her, holding a birthday cake. As Sarah smiles the shot widens to reveal that the cake's birthday-candlelight is actually the light of her torch. The camera slowly backs out, revealing the darkness surrounding Sarah as the crawlers are heard closing in.


title: The Descent

text: When Neil Marshall's film "Dog Soldiers" (2002) was a moderate success, the director received numerous requests to direct other horror films. The director was initially wary of being typecast as a horror film director, although he eventually agreed to make "The Descent", emphasizing, "They are very different films."


title: The Descent

text: Filmmakers originally planned for the cast to be both male and female, but Neil Marshall's business partner realized that horror films rarely have all-female casts. Defying convention, Marshall cast all women, and to avoid making them clichéd, he solicited basic advice from his female friends. He explained the difference, "The women discuss how they feel about the situation, which the soldiers in "Dog Soldiers" would never have done." He also gave the characters different accents to enable the audience to tell them apart and to establish a more "cosmopolitan feel" than the British marketing of "Dog Soldiers".


title: The Descent

text: The cast included Shauna Macdonald as Sarah, Natalie Mendoza as Juno, Alex Reid as Beth, Saskia Mulder as Rebecca, MyAnna Buring as Sam, Nora-Jane Noone as Holly, Oliver Milburn as Paul, and Molly Kayll as Jessica. Craig Conway portrayed one of the film's crawlers, Scar.


title: The Descent

text: While "The Descent" is set in North America, the film was shot entirely in the United Kingdom. Exterior scenes were filmed in Scotland, and interior scenes were filmed in sets built at Pinewood Studios, near London. The cave was built at Pinewood because filmmakers considered it too dangerous and time-consuming to shoot in an actual cave. Set pieces were reused with care, and filmmakers sought to limit lighting to the sources the characters bring with them into the cave, such as helmet lights.


title: The Descent

text: Marshall cited the films "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre", "The Thing", and "Deliverance" as influences in establishing tension in "The Descent". The director elaborated, "We really wanted to ramp up the tension slowly, unlike all the American horror films you see now. They take it up to 11 in the first few minutes and then simply can't keep it up. We wanted to show all these terrible things in the cave: dark, drowning, claustrophobia. Then, when it couldn't get any worse, make it worse." Marshall also said at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival that he was inspired by Italian horror films of the past, in particular, those by Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci.


title: The Descent

text: Simon Bowles designed the maze of caves for "The Descent". Reviews credited Bowles: e.g., "Bowles' beautifully designed cave sets conjure a world of subterranean darkness."


title: The Descent

text: The film had twenty-one cave sets, built by Rod Vass and his company Armordillo Ltd. using a unique system of polyurethane sprayed rock that was developed for this production.


title: The Descent

text: Production of "The Descent" competed with a big-budget American film that had a similar premise, "The Cave". "The Descent" was originally scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom by November 2005 or February 2006, but "The Cave" began filming six months before its competitor. The filmmakers of "The Descent" decided to release their film before "The Cave", so they fast-tracked production to be completed by the end of February 2005.


title: The Descent

text: "The Descent" was released in North America with approximately one minute cut from the end. In the American cut, Sarah escapes from the cave and sees Juno, but the film does not cut back to the cave. The 4 August 2006 issue of "Entertainment Weekly" reported that the ending was trimmed because American viewers did not like its "uber-hopeless finale". Lionsgate marketing chief Tim Palen said, "It's a visceral ride, and by the time you get to the ending you're drained. [Director Neil] Marshall had a number of endings in mind when he shot the film, so he was open [to making a switch]." Marshall compared the change to the ending of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre", saying, "Just because she gets away, does that make it a happy ending?" The ending is featured on DVD as an "unrated cut" in the United States.


title: The Descent

text: In the film, the women encounter underground creatures referred to as crawlers by the production crew. Marshall described the crawlers as cavemen who have stayed underground. The director explained, "They've evolved in this environment over thousands of years. They've adapted perfectly to thrive in the cave. They've lost their eyesight, they have acute hearing and smell and function perfectly in the pitch black. They're expert climbers, so they can go up any rock face and that is their world." Filmmakers kept the crawler design hidden from the actresses until they were revealed in the scenes in which the characters encountered the creatures, to allow for natural tension.


title: The Descent

text: Director Neil Marshall first chose to have a dark cave as the setting for his horror film "The Descent" then decided to add the element of the crawlers, describing them as "something that could get the women, something human, but not quite". The crawlers were depicted as cavemen who never left the caves and evolved in the dark. The director included mothers and children in the colony of creatures, defining his vision, "It is a colony and I thought that was far more believable than making them the classic monsters. If they had been all male, it would have made no sense, so I wanted to create a more realistic context for them. I wanted to have this very feral, very primal species living underground, but I wanted to make them human. I didn't want to make them aliens because humans are the scariest things."


title: The Descent

text: The crawlers were designed by Paul Hyett, a makeup and prosthetics creator. Production designer Simon Bowles said that the crawler design had started out as "wide-eyed and more creature-like", but the design shifted toward a more human appearance. Crawlers originally had pure white skin, but the look was adjusted to seem grubbier. The skin was originally phosphorescent in appearance, but the effect was too bright and reflective in the darkened set, so the adjustment was made for them to blend in shadows. The director barred the film's cast from seeing the actors in full crawler make-up until their first appearance on screen. Actress Natalie Mendoza said of the effect, "When the moment came, I nearly wet my pants! I was running around afterwards, laughing in this hysterical way and trying to hide the fact that I was pretty freaked out. Even after that scene, we never really felt comfortable with them."


title: The Descent

text: The crawlers reappear in "The Descent Part 2", a sequel by Jon Harris with the first film's director Neil Marshall as executive producer. For the sequel, Hyett improved the camouflaging ability of the crawlers' skin tones to deliver better scares. According to Hyett, "Jon wanted them more viciously feral, inbred, scarred and deformed, with rows of sharklike teeth for ripping flesh." A charnel house was designed for the crawlers as well as a set that the crew called the "Crawler Crapper".


title: The Descent

text: Rene Rodriguez of "The Miami Herald" described the crawlers as "blind, snarling cave-dwellers, looking much like Gollum's bigger kin". Douglas Tseng of "The Straits Times" also noted that the crawlers looked similar to Gollum, being a cross between the creature and the vampiric Reapers from "Blade II". David Germain of the Associated Press noted of the crawlers, "[They] have evolved to suit their environment—eyes blind because of the darkness in which they dwell, skin slimy and gray, ears batlike to channel their super-hearing." The crawlers are sexually dimorphic, with males being completely bald, whilst females sport thick dark hair on their heads. They are nocturnal hunters which surface from their caves to hunt for prey and bring the spoils of their hunts to their caverns.


title: The Descent

text: The skull of women motif used in some advertising material is based on Philippe Halsman's "In Voluptas Mors" photograph.


title: The Descent

text: The film's marketing campaign in the United Kingdom was disrupted by the London bombings in July 2005. Advertisements on London's public transport system (including the bus that had exploded) had included posters that carried the quote, "Outright terror... bold and brilliant", and depicted a terrified woman screaming in a tunnel. The film's theatrical distributor in the UK, Pathé, recalled the posters from their placement in the London Underground and reworked the campaign to exclude the word "terror" from advertised reviews of "The Descent". Pathé also distributed the new versions to TV and radio stations. The distributor's marketing chief, Anna Butler, said of the new approach, "We changed tack to concentrate on the women involved all standing together and fighting back. That seemed to chime with the prevailing mood of defiance that set in the weekend after the bombs." Neil Marshall stated in a review "Shauna was pretty upset about it; it was on newspapers all across the county" and cites the attacks as harming the film's box office, as "people were still trapped underground in reality, so no one really wanted to go see a film about people trapped underground...". Many commentators, including writers for "Variety" and "The Times", remarked on the rather unfortunate coincidence.


title: The Descent

text: Due to these events there was some initial concern that the film's release might have been delayed out of sensitivity for the tragedy but Pathé ultimately chose to release the film on schedule, with a slightly retooled advertising campaign; however, the US promotional campaign managed by Lionsgate Films was significantly different from the original European version.


title: The Descent

text: "The Descent" premiered at the Edinburgh horror film festival Dead by Dawn on 6 July 2005. The film opened commercially to the public in the UK on 10 July 2005, showing on 329 screens and earned £2.6 million. The film received limited releases in other European countries. The London bombings in the same month was reported to have affected the box office performance of "The Descent".


title: The Descent

text: Based on 187 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, it received an approval rating of 86% with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Deft direction and strong performances from its all-female cast guide "The Descent", a riveting, claustrophobic horror film." Metacritic calculated an average score of 71 out of 100 from 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". On its debut weekend in the US, "The Descent" opened with a three-day gross of $8.8 million, and finished with $26,005,908. Total worldwide box office receipts are $57,051,053.


title: The Descent

text: Roger Ebert's editor, Jim Emerson, reviewed the film for Ebert's column whilst Ebert was on leave due to surgery, giving it four out of four stars. He wrote, "This is the fresh, exciting summer movie I've been wanting for months. Or for years, it seems."


title: The Descent

text: Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" described "The Descent" as "one of the better horror entertainments of the last few years", calling it "indisputably and pleasurably nerve-jangling". Dargis applauded the claustrophobic atmosphere of the film, though she perceived sexual overtones in the all-female cast with their laboured breathing and sweaty clothing. Rene Rodriguez of "The Miami Herald" thought that the film devolved into a guessing game of who would survive, though he praised Marshall's "nightmare imagery" for generating scares that work better than other horror films. Rodriguez also noted the attempt to add dimension to the female characters but felt that the actresses were unable to perform.


title: The Descent

text: Bloody Disgusting ranked the film third in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "One of the scariest films of this or any decade... Ultimately, The Descent is the purest kind of horror film – ruthless, unforgiving, showing no mercy." In the early 2010s, "Time Out" conducted a poll with several authors, directors, actors and critics who have worked within the horror genre to vote for their top horror films. "The Descent" placed at number 39 on their top 100 list.


title: The Descent

text: Lawrence Toppman of "The Charlotte Observer" thought a weakness of "The Descent" was the failure of the writer to explain the evolution of the creature, though he said, "Their clicking and howling, used for echolocation and communication, makes them more alien; this otherness gives humans permission to mutilate them without seeming too disgusting to be sympathetic." Michael Wilmington of the "Chicago Tribune" thought that the crawlers should have been left out of the film, believing, "Watching those gray, slithering beings chasing and biting the women makes it hard to maintain any suspension of disbelief."


title: The Descent

text: "The Descent" was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 26 December 2006. The discs contain both the unaltered UK release and the edited US theatrical cut, the former being advertised as an "unrated" version.


title: The Descent

text: A sequel to "The Descent" was filmed at Ealing Studios in London during 2008 and was released on 2 December 2009 in the UK.


title: Cajuns

text: The Cajuns (; French: "les Cadjins" or "les Cadiens" ), also known as Louisiana "Acadians" (French: "les Acadiens"), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana.


title: Cajuns

text: While Cajuns are usually described as the descendants of the Acadian exiles who went to Louisiana over the course of "Le Grand Dérangement", Louisianians frequently use "Cajun" as a broad cultural term (particularly when referencing Acadiana) without necessitating descent from the deported Acadians. Although the terms "Cajun" and "Creole" today are often portrayed as separate identities, Louisianians of Cajun descent have historically been known as Creoles. Cajuns make up a significant portion of south Louisiana's population and have had an enormous impact on the state's culture.


title: Cajuns

text: While Lower Louisiana had been settled by French colonists since the late 17th century, many Cajuns trace their roots to the influx of Acadian settlers after the Great Expulsion from their homeland during the French and British hostilities prior to the French and Indian War (1756 to 1763). The Acadia region to which many modern Cajuns trace their origin consisted largely of what are now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island plus parts of eastern Quebec and northern Maine.


title: Cajuns

text: Since their establishment in Louisiana, the Cajuns have become famous for their French dialect, Louisiana French, and have developed a vibrant culture including folkways, music, and cuisine. The Acadiana region is heavily associated with them.


title: Cajuns

text: The American English "Cajun" is derived from Acadian French "Cadien". After the American Civil War, bourgeois Louisiana Creoles increasingly used "Cajun" as the designation for Creoles from the Cajun Country or Creoles from the lower class, replacing the term "petits habitants" (which referred to Creoles of the peasant class). The term "Creole", on the other hand, increasingly came to designate urban Creoles from New Orleans or Mobile, Alabama, often from the middle class ("bourgeoisie") or planter class ("grands habitants").


title: Cajuns

text: In the twentieth century, the word "Creole" became the subject of much debate. Anglo-Americans (who adhered to a strict black/white dichotomy) struggled with the concept of a culturo-linguistic identity not based in race, and they identified the term "Creole" with mixed racial origins—a taboo and socially undesirable association for white Creoles. It was during this time that "Cajun" began to eclipse "Creole" as the default French Louisianian term.


title: Cajuns

text: "Cajun" was used by Anglos to refer to all persons of French descent and low economic standing, regardless of their ethnic affiliation. Hence poor Creoles of the bayou and prairie regions came to be permanently identified as "Cajun". The term "Cajun" thus became a socioeconomic classification for the multicultural amalgam of several culturally and linguistically distinct groups.


title: Cajuns

text: The above assertion is supported by numerous instances today of persons with non-Acadian surnames identifying as Cajuns. For example, surnames like Guillory, Verret, Fontenot, LaFleur, Romero, Schexnaydre and McGee are commonly held to be Cajun names despite their original bearers' not being of Acadian extraction (with the names Romero, Schexnaydre and McGee being Spanish, German and Irish respectively). Furthermore, it is also common for people in parishes such as Evangeline and Avoyelles to identify as Cajuns despite those parishes’ receiving few Acadian migrants in the wake of "Le Grand Dérangement".


title: Cajuns

text: After the Americanization of the Cajun Country in the 1950s and the implementation of the American black/white dichotomy, the term "Cajun" became synonymous with "white French Louisianian", due in part to CODOFIL's decision to promote Louisiana's link to Acadia in the "Cajun Renaissance", which began in the 1960s.


title: Cajuns

text: It is common to see various demographic differences assigned to the Cajun/Creole binary. A typical example is cuisine: Many claim that "Cajun" gumbo does not include tomatoes whereas "Creole" gumbo does, but this distinction is better viewed as geographic rather than ethnic. Residents of Acadiana—a historically isolated and rural region—do not typically make gumbo with tomatoes, regardless of ancestry or self-proclaimed identity, whereas urban New Orleanians do. Technically, "Cajun" cuisine should properly fit under the umbrella of "Creole" cuisine, much like "Cajuns" themselves traditionally fit under the "Creole" umbrella.


title: Cajuns

text: In contrast to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, today's Cajuns and Creoles are often presented as distinct groups, and some Cajuns disavow a Creole identity whereas others embrace it. Surnames and geographic location are not necessarily markers of either identity.


title: Cajuns

text: The Cajuns retain a unique dialect of the French language called Louisiana French, and hold numerous other cultural traits that distinguish them as an ethnic group. Cajuns were officially recognized by the U.S. government as a national ethnic group in 1980 per a discrimination lawsuit filed in federal district court. Presided over by Judge Edwin Hunter, the case, known as "Roach v. Dresser Industries Valve and Instrument Division" (494 F.Supp. 215, D.C. La., 1980), hinged on the issue of the Cajuns' ethnicity:


title: Cajuns

text: The British conquest of Acadia happened in 1710. Over the next 45 years, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to the Crown. During this period, Acadians participated in various military operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour. During the French and Indian War (part of the Seven Years' War and known by that name in Canada and Europe), the British sought to neutralize the Acadian military threat and to interrupt their vital supply lines to Louisbourg by deporting Acadians from Acadia. The territory of Acadia was afterward divided and apportioned to various British colonies, now Canadian provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Gaspe Peninsula in the province of Quebec. The deportation of the Acadians from these areas beginning in 1755 has become known as the Great Upheaval or "Le Grand Dérangement".


title: Cajuns

text: The Acadians' migration from Canada was spurred by the 1763 Treaty of Paris which ended the war. The treaty terms provided 18 months for unrestrained emigration. Many Acadians moved to the region of the Atakapa in present-day Louisiana, often travelling via the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). Joseph Broussard led the first group of 200 Acadians to arrive in Louisiana on February 27, 1765, aboard the "Santo Domingo". On April 8, 1765, he was appointed militia captain and commander of the "Acadians of the Atakapas" region in St. Martinville. Some of the settlers wrote to their family scattered around the Atlantic to encourage them to join them at New Orleans. For example, Jean-Baptiste Semer wrote to his father in France:


title: Cajuns

text: The Acadians were scattered throughout the eastern seaboard. Families were split and boarded ships with different destinations. Many ended up west of the Mississippi River in what was then French-colonized Louisiana, including territory as far north as Dakota territory. France had ceded the colony to Spain in 1762, prior to their defeat by Britain and two years before the first Acadians began settling in Louisiana. The interim French officials provided land and supplies to the new settlers. The Spanish governor, Bernardo de Gálvez, later proved to be hospitable, permitting the Acadians to continue to speak their language, practice their native religion (Roman Catholicism – which was also the official religion of Spain), and otherwise pursue their livelihoods with minimal interference. Some families and individuals did travel north through the Louisiana territory to set up homes as far north as Wisconsin. Acadians fought in the American Revolution. Although they fought for Spanish General Galvez, their contribution to the winning of the war has been recognized.


title: Cajuns

text: Galvez left New Orleans with an army of Spanish regulars and the Louisiana militia made up of 600 Acadian volunteers and captured the British strongholds of Fort Bute at Bayou Manchac, across from the Acadian settlement at St. Gabriel. On September 7, 1779, Galvez attacked Fort Bute and then on September 21, 1779, attacked and captured Baton Rouge.


title: Cajuns

text: A review of participating soldiers shows many common Acadian names among those who fought in the battles of Baton Rouge and West Florida. The Galvez Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was formed in memory of those soldiers.


title: Cajuns

text: The Spanish colonial government settled the earliest group of Acadian exiles west of New Orleans, in what is now south-central Louisiana—an area known at the time as Attakapas, and later the center of the Acadiana region. As Brasseaux wrote, "The oldest of the pioneer communities ... Fausse Point, was established near present-day Loreauville by late June 1765." The Acadians shared the swamps, bayous and prairies with the Attakapa and Chitimacha Native American tribes.


title: Cajuns

text: After the end of the American Revolutionary War, about 1,500 more Acadians arrived in New Orleans. About 3,000 Acadians had been deported to France during the Great Upheaval. In 1785, about 1,500 were authorized to emigrate to Louisiana, often to be reunited with their families, or because they could not settle in France. Living in a relatively isolated region until the early 20th century, Cajuns today are largely assimilated into the mainstream society and culture. Some Cajuns live in communities outside Louisiana. Also, some people identify themselves as Cajun culturally despite lacking Acadian ancestry.


title: Cajuns

text: In the modern era it is common to see Cajuns and Creoles discussed as separate and distinct groups; historically speaking, this was not necessarily the case. Many historical accounts exist wherein persons with Acadian surnames (and of various races) either self-identify or are described by others as Creoles.


title: Cajuns

text: In Louisiana, the French word "Créole" (itself borrowed from Spanish and Portuguese) meant "born in the New World." This label was meant to distinguish the native-born population from newly arrived European immigrants and from slaves imported from Africa. Likewise, after the Sale of Louisiana, the term "Creole" distinguished people of Catholic, Latin backgrounds from newly arrived Americans and other Protestant anglophones.


title: Cajuns

text: In general, "Créolité" in Louisiana was largely defined by whether that person was born in Louisiana, spoke a Latin-based language (often French, Spanish or Creole) and practiced Catholicism. Having been born on Louisianian soil and maintaining a Catholic francophone identity, the Acadian descendants were indeed and often considered to be Creoles.


title: Cajuns

text: Documents from the late eighteenth century, such as militia rolls, make a distinction between "Acadians" (those born before or during "Le Grand Dérangement") and "Creoles" (those born after "Le Grand Dérangement"), often the children of the former group, with identical surnames and belonging to the same families. Today, members of these families—including, among many others, those with surnames such as Broussard, Hébert and Thibodeaux—usually consider these names Cajun rather than Creole.


title: Cajuns

text: Sources from the nineteenth century sometimes make specific references to "Acadian Creoles" in particular—a term entirely absent from contemporary Louisiana. One article in vol. 56 of "The Youth's Companion" notes that, "The Acadian Creoles of Louisiana are a humane and charitable race—simple-minded and full of queer, superstitious notions, but an orphan thrown upon their care never suffers." The Mouton family, an influential Acadian family of the period, provides an excellent case study in this regard, with secessionist Alexandre Mouton retaining the famous nickname of "the Creole Hotspur." His son, the Confederate General Alfred Mouton, is also noted in contemporary sources as "a brave and intrepid Creole". Today, by contrast, members of the Mouton family are referred to as "Acadians" or "Cajuns" more often than as "Creoles".


title: Cajuns

text: In 1885, the "New Iberia Enterprise" (taken from a section of advice for American editors) wrote: “Although all men born here, of whatever color and using whatever language, are Americans, it is the custom to designate the descendants of the old French, Spanish, and Acadian settlers of the country and using as a rule the French language, Creoles, and all using the English tongue, Americans.”


title: Cajuns

text: In his « Refutation des érreurs de M. George W. Cable sur le sujet des Créoles », published in L'Athénée Louisianais, the francophone Creole John L. Peytavin accused the writer George Washington Cable of fundamentally misrepresenting Creoles to the American public. (Cable, who was not a Creole and did not speak French, had written that Cajuns of Acadian descent were not themselves Creoles.) Peytavin declared: "The Acadian Creoles have the same right to be called Creoles as others of foreign descent."


title: Cajuns

text: Not all Cajuns descend solely from Acadian exiles who settled in south Louisiana in the 18th century. Cajuns include people with Irish and Spanish ancestry, and to a lesser extent of Germans and Italians; Many also have Native American, African and Afro-Latin Creole admixture. Historian Carl A. Brasseaux asserted that this process of mixing created the Cajuns in the first place.


title: Cajuns

text: Non-Acadian French Creoles in rural areas were absorbed into Cajun communities. Some Cajun parishes, such as Evangeline and Avoyelles, possess relatively few inhabitants of actual Acadian origin. Their populations descend in many cases from settlers who migrated to the region from Quebec, Mobile, or directly from France (French emigration). Regardless, Acadian influences are generally acknowledged to have prevailed in most sections of south Louisiana.


title: Cajuns

text: Many Cajuns have ancestors who were not French. Some of the original settlers in Louisiana were Spanish Basques and Spanish Canary Islanders. A later migration included Irish and German immigrants who began to settle in Louisiana before and after the Louisiana Purchase, particularly on the German Coast along the Mississippi River north of New Orleans. People of Latin American origin; a number of early Filipino settlers (notably in Saint Malo, Louisiana) who were known as "Manilamen" from the annual cross-Pacific Galleon or Manila Galleon trade with neighboring Acapulco, Mexico; descendants of African slaves; and some Cuban Americans have also settled along the Gulf Coast, and in some cases, intermarried into Cajun families.


title: Cajuns

text: One obvious result of this cultural mixture is the variety of surnames common among the Cajun population. Surnames of the original Acadian settlers (which are documented) have been augmented by French and non-French family names that have become part of Cajun communities. The spelling of many family names has changed over time. (See, for example, "Eaux)".


title: Cajuns

text: Cajuns as an ethnic group historically included Indians and Blacks. Black Louisiana Frenchmen have historically self-identified as Cajun, using the term in regards to the ethnicity of the Cajun Country and the language they speak: Amédé Ardoin for example spoke only Cajun French and at his height was known as the first Black Cajun recording artist; Clifton Chenier the King of Zydeco, routinely self-identified as a Black Cajun:


title: Cajuns

text: People of the Cajun Country have historically described what the Cajun nationality means to them; Brandon Moreau, a Cajun of Basile, Louisiana described Cajun as an "inclusive term designating region, descent, or heritage - not race." Moreau also described an incident of where he used the term coonass with a good friend of his: "We were all talking in the hall, and I said I was a coonass. She said she was Cajun, but that she would never be a coonass. She's black and it offended her."


title: Cajuns

text: Cajun culture due to its mixed Latin-Creole nature had fostered more laissez-faire attitudes between blacks and whites in the Cajun Country more than anywhere else in the South. Roman Catholicism actively preached tolerance and condemned racism and all hate crimes; the Roman Church threatened to excommunicate any of its members who would dare to break its laws.


title: Cajuns

text: Anglo-Americans discriminated against the Cajuns because they were Catholics, had a Latin Culture, and spoke Cajun French. White Cajuns and White Creoles accepted advances in racial equality, and they had compassion for Black Cajuns, Black Creoles, and African Americans. In the 1950's, twice as many blacks in Louisiana's French-Catholic parishes registered to vote compared to blacks in the Anglo-Protestant parishes.


title: Cajuns

text: When the United States of America began assimilating and Americanizing the parishes of the Cajun Country between the 1950's and 1970's, they imposed segregation and reorganized the inhabitants of the Cajun Country to identify racially as either "white" Cajuns or "black" Creoles. As the younger generations were made to abandon speaking French and French customs, the White or Indian Cajuns assimilated into the Anglo-American host culture, and the Black Cajuns assimilated into the African American culture.


title: Cajuns

text: Cajuns looked to the Civil Rights Movement and other Black liberation and empowerment movements as a guide to fostering Louisiana's French cultural renaissance. A Cajun student protester in 1968 declared "We're slaves to a system. Throw away the shackles... and be free with your brother."


title: Cajuns

text: During the early part of the 20th century, attempts were made to suppress Cajun culture by measures such as forbidding the use of the Cajun French language in schools. After the Compulsory Education Act forced Cajun children to attend formal schools, American teachers threatened, punished, and sometimes beat their Cajun students in an attempt to force them to use English (a language to which many of them had not been exposed before). During World War II, Cajuns often served as French interpreters for American forces in France; this helped to overcome prejudice.


title: Cajuns

text: In 1968, the organization of Council for the Development of French in Louisiana was founded to preserve the French language in Louisiana. Besides advocating for their legal rights, Cajuns also recovered ethnic pride and appreciation for their ancestry. Since the mid-1950s, relations between the Cajuns of the U.S. Gulf Coast and Acadians in the Maritimes and New England have been renewed, forming an Acadian identity common to Louisiana, New England, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.


title: Cajuns

text: State Senator Dudley LeBlanc ("Coozan Dud", a Cajun slang nickname for "Cousin Dudley") took a group of Cajuns to Nova Scotia in 1955 for the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the expulsion. The "Congrès Mondial Acadien", a large gathering of Acadians and Cajuns held every five years since 1994, is another example of continued unity.


title: Cajuns

text: Sociologists Jacques Henry and Carl L. Bankston III have maintained that the preservation of Cajun ethnic identity is a result of the social class of Cajuns. During the 18th and 19th centuries, "Cajuns" came to be identified as the French-speaking rural people of Southwestern Louisiana. Over the course of the 20th century, the descendants of these rural people became the working class of their region. This change in the social and economic circumstances of families in Southwestern Louisiana created nostalgia for an idealized version of the past. Henry and Bankston point out that "Cajun", which was formerly considered an insulting term, became a term of pride among Louisianans by the beginning of the 21st century. It is common for persons living in the historically Cajun area of Louisiana to self-identify as Cajuns even when they have limited or no Cajun ancestry.


title: Cajuns

text: Perhaps the greatest proponent and catalyst for reclaiming Cajun and French history of Louisiana is four-term former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. Selected to serve as honorary chair of the Eighteenth Century Louisiana panel of the 2014 academic Enlightenment Conference in Montréal, the former Governor in a video address said "One of the legacies of which I am most proud is Louisiana's 1974 Constitution and its provision that the 'right of the people to preserve, foster, and promote their respective historic linguistic and cultural origins is recognized'."


title: Cajuns

text: As the late LSU Law Center professor Lee Hargrave wrote, in reference to the protection of cultural heritage, "Proponents of the section were primarily Francophones concerned with the protection of the French Acadian culture. Representatives of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana appeared before the committee several times to urge some recognition of cultural rights, and delegates from Lafayette and Lake Charles worked strongly for the proposal."


title: Cajuns

text: Montréal panelist and New Orleans Créole historian Jari Honora explained that Edwards "is a perfect commentator for this panel given his advocacy for Louisiana's Francophone cultural communities during his four terms as governor. After several decades of 'Americanization' and suppression of French language and culture in Louisiana, Governor Edwards' conscious self-identification as an Acadian descendant marked a high-point for the Cajun/Creole cultural renaissance in this state."


title: Cajuns

text: Geography had a strong correlation to Cajun lifestyles. Most Cajuns resided in Acadiana, where their descendants are still predominant. Cajun populations today are found also in the area southwest of New Orleans and scattered in areas adjacent to the French Louisiana region, such as to the north in Alexandria, Louisiana. Strong Cajun roots, influence, and culture can also be found in parts of Southern Mississippi. These areas include Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Gulfport, Gautier, Natchez, D'Iberville, and Biloxi, Mississippi. Over the years, many Cajuns and Creoles also migrated to the Houston, Beaumont and Port Arthur areas of Southeast Texas, in especially large numbers as they followed oil-related jobs in the 1970s and 1980s, when oil companies moved jobs from Louisiana to Texas. Many Cajuns and Creoles of color also moved to Southern California. However, the city of Lafayette is referred to as "The Heart of Acadiana" because of its location, and it is a major center of Cajun culture. Despite the migration and influence in other states, cities outside of Louisiana, including these Texas cities, are not considered a part of Acadiana and are not considered a part of "Cajun Country."


title: Cajuns

text: Cajun music is evolved from its roots in the music of the French-speaking Catholics of Canada. In earlier years, the fiddle was the predominant instrument, but gradually the accordion has come to share the limelight. Cajun music gained national attention in 2007, when the Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album category was created.


title: Cajuns

text: Due to "Le Grand Dérangement", many Acadians were invited to settle in Louisiana by the Spanish Governor Galvez. Unfamiliar with the terrain, they assimilated Creole and Native American influences into their Acadian traditions. Cajun cuisine focused on local ingredients and wild game (e.g., duck, rabbit), vegetables (e.g., okra, mirlitons), and grains. Coastal communities relied heavily on fish and shellfish. Seafood, especially shellfish, is still very popular in the region and remains a dominant feature of many classic Cajun dishes like seafood gumbo and court-bouillon.


title: Cajuns

text: Since many Cajuns were farmers and not especially wealthy, they were known for not wasting any part of a butchered animal. Many rural communities held a weekly "boucherie", which is a communal butchering of an animal, often a pig. Each family received a share of the meat.


title: Cajuns

text: Some high-profile foods like "grattons" and "boudin" are examples of Cajun cuisine that are widely popular.


title: Cajuns

text: Louisiana French is a variety or dialect of the French language spoken primarily in Louisiana. At one time as many as seven dialects were spread across the Cajun heartland.


title: Cajuns

text: While Cajuns are often said to speak "Cajun French," this term is increasingly seen as a misnomer because the dialect did not originate with the Acadians, and Acadian-descended people are not the only ones to speak it. Recent linguistic scholarship has also cast doubt on how much Acadian influence is present in Louisianian dialects today, and the influences that do exist are sometimes regional rather than widespread. For these reasons, the term "Louisiana French" is increasingly preferred.


title: Cajuns

text: Recent documentation has been made of Cajun English, an often non-rhotic French-influenced dialect of English spoken by Cajuns, either as a second language, in the case of the older members of the community, or as a first language by younger Cajuns.


title: Cajuns

text: "Our Lady of the Assumption" is Patroness of the Acadians (Cajuns). In 1638, the colonies of France, to include Acadie, and France were consecrated by the Pope and the King to Mary under the aforementioned title; the date of consecration was August 15 which is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is a Holy Day of Obligation for Roman Catholics (Source 4).


title: Cajuns

text: Traditional Catholic religious observances such as Mardi Gras, Lent, and Holy Week are integral to many Cajun communities. Likewise, these traditional Catholic religious observances may further be understood from "Cultural Catholicism in Cajun-Creole Louisiana" by Marcia Gaudet which tells that such traditional religious observances, although they may not be "strictly theological and liturgical forms", are still integral and necessary to many and remain religiously valid as "unofficial religious customs and traditions are certainly a part of Roman Catholicism as it is practiced".


title: Cajuns

text: "Mardi Gras" (French for "Fat Tuesday", also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and reflection in preparation for Easter Sunday. Mardi Gras was historically a time to use up the foods that were not to be used during Lent, including fat, eggs, and meat.


title: Cajuns

text: Mardi Gras celebrations in rural Acadiana are distinct from the more widely known celebrations in New Orleans and other metropolitan areas. A distinct feature of the Cajun celebration centers on the "Courir de Mardi Gras" (translated: fat Tuesday run). A group of people, usually on horseback and wearing capuchons (a cone-shaped ceremonial hat) and traditional costumes, approach a farmhouse and ask for something for the community gumbo pot. Often, the farmer or his wife allows the riders to have a chicken, if they can catch it. The group then puts on a show, comically attempting to catch the chicken set out in a large open area. Songs are sung, jokes are told, and skits are acted out. When the chicken is caught, it is added to the pot at the end of the day. The "courir" held in the small town of Mamou has become well known. This tradition has much in common with the observance of "La Chandeleur", or Candlemas (February 2), by Acadians in Nova Scotia.


title: Cajuns

text: On "Pâques" (French for Easter), a game called "pâquer", or "pâque-pâque" was played. Contestants selected hard-boiled eggs, paired off, and tapped the eggs together – the player whose egg did not crack was declared the winner. This is an old European tradition that has survived in Acadia until today. Today, Easter is still celebrated by Cajuns with the traditional game of "paque", but is now also celebrated in the same fashion as Christians throughout the United States with candy-filled baskets, "Easter bunny" stories, dyed eggs, and Easter egg hunts.


title: Cajuns

text: One folk custom is belief in a "traiteur", or healer, whose primary method of treatment involves the laying on of hands and of prayers. An important part of this folk religion, the "traiteur" combines Catholic prayer and medicinal remedies to treat a variety of ailments, including earaches, toothaches, warts, tumors, angina, and bleeding. Another is in the "rougarou", a version of a "loup garou" (French for werewolf), that will hunt down and kill Catholics who do not follow the rules of Lent. In some communities, the "loup garou" of legend has taken on an almost protective role. Children are warned that "loups garous" can read souls, and that they only hunt and kill evil men and women and misbehaved horses.


title: Cajuns

text: Cajuns, along with other Cajun Country residents, have a reputation for a "joie de vivre" (French for "joy of living"), in which hard work is appreciated as much as "let the good times roll / laissez les bon temps rouler".


title: Cajuns

text: In the culture, a "coup de main" (French for "to give a hand") is an occasion when the community gathers to assist one of their members with time-consuming or arduous tasks. Examples might include a barn raising, harvests, or assistance for the elderly or sick.


title: Cajuns

text: The majority of Cajun festivals include a "fais do-do" ("go to sleep" in French, originating from encouraging children to fall asleep in the rafters of the dance hall as the parents danced late into the night) or street dance, usually to a live local band. Crowds at these festivals can range from a few hundred to more than 100,000.


title: Mini

text: The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during six, from the last year of the 1950s into the last year of the 20th century, over a single generation, as fastbacks, estates, and convertibles.


title: Mini

text: The original Mini is considered an icon of 1960s British popular culture. Its space-saving transverse engine and front-wheel drive layout – allowing 80% of the area of the car's floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage – influenced a generation of car makers. In 1999, the Mini was voted the second-most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T, and ahead of the Citroën DS and Volkswagen Beetle. The front-wheel-drive, transverse-engine layout of the Mini was copied for other "supermini" designs including the Honda N360 (1967), Nissan Cherry (1970), and Fiat 127 (1971). The layout was also adapted for larger subcompact designs.


title: Mini

text: This distinctive two-door car was designed for BMC by Sir Alec Issigonis. It was manufactured at the Longbridge plant in England located next to BMC's headquarters and at the former Morris Motors plant at Cowley near Oxford, in the Victoria Park/Zetland British Motor Corporation (Australia) factory in Sydney, Australia, and later also in Spain (Authi), Belgium, Italy (Innocenti) Chile, Malta, Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia (IMV).


title: Mini

text: The Italian version of the Mini which was sold under the Innocenti marque was produced in Lambrate, a district of Milan.


title: Mini

text: The Mini Mark I had three major UK updates: the Mark II, the Clubman, and the Mark III. Within these was a series of variations, including an estate car, a pick-up truck, a van, and the Mini Moke, a jeep-like buggy.


title: Mini

text: The performance versions, the Mini Cooper and Cooper "S", were successful as both race and rally cars, winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965, and 1967. In 1966, the first-placed Mini (along with nine other cars) was disqualified after the finish, under a controversial decision that the car's headlights were against the rules.


title: Mini

text: On its introduction in August 1959, the Mini was marketed under the Austin and Morris names, as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor. The Austin Seven was renamed Austin Mini in January 1962 and Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969. In 1980, it once again became the Austin Mini, and in 1988, just "Mini" (although the "Rover" badge was applied on some models exported to Japan).


title: Mini

text: BMW acquired the Rover Group (formerly British Leyland) in 1994, and sold the greater part of it in 2000, but retained the rights to build cars using the Mini name. Retrospectively, the car is known as the "Classic Mini" to distinguish it from the modern, BMW influenced MINI family of vehicles produced since 2000.


title: Mini

text: The Mini came about because of a fuel shortage caused by the 1956 Suez Crisis. Petrol was once again rationed in the UK, sales of large cars slumped, and the market for German bubble cars boomed, even in countries such as the United Kingdom, where imported cars were still a rarity. The Fiat 500, launched in 1957, was also hugely successful, especially in its native Italy.


title: Mini

text: Leonard Lord, the somewhat autocratic head of BMC, reportedly detested these cars so much that he vowed to rid the streets of them and design a 'proper miniature car'. He laid down some basic design requirements – the car should be contained within a box that measured ; and the passenger accommodation should occupy of the length; and the engine, for reasons of cost, should be an existing unit.


title: Mini

text: Alec Issigonis, who had been working for Alvis, had been recruited back to BMC in 1955 with a brief from Lord to design a range of technically advanced family cars in the same innovative spirit as his earlier Morris Minor to complement BMC's existing conventional models. Issigonis had set out design projects for three cars – large and small family cars and a very small economy car. His initial work was on the largest car, designated XC9001, with the smallest car, XC9003, having the lowest priority despite it being Issigonis' greatest personal interest. With Lord's dictum to produce a bubble car competitor and his revised design requirements being laid down in October 1956, work on XC9001 stopped and XC9003 became the priority. The team that designed the Mini was remarkably small; in addition to Issigonis, John Sheppard (who had worked with Issigonis at Alvis), Jack Daniels (who had worked with him on the Morris Minor), Chris Kingham (also from Alvis), two engineering students, and four draughtsmen worked on the project. Together, by July 1957, they had designed and built the original XC9003 prototype, which was affectionately named the "Orange Box" because of its colour. Leonard Lord approved the car for production on 19 July and XC9003 became project ADO15.


title: Mini

text: The ADO15 used a conventional BMC A-Series four-cylinder, water-cooled engine, but departed from tradition by mounting it transversely, with the engine-oil lubricated, four-speed transmission in the sump, and by employing front-wheel drive. Drive was taken down to the transmission via a conventional clutch coupled to a set of primary gears on the end of the crankshaft which gave rise to the characteristic transmission "whine" for which the Mini became famous. Almost all small front-wheel drive cars developed since have used a similar configuration, except with the transmission separately enclosed rather than using the engine oil and mounted directly onto the end of the crankshaft, but with unequal length driveshafts. The radiator was mounted at the left side of the car so that the engine-mounted fan could be retained, but with reversed pitch so that it blew air into the natural low pressure area under the front wing. This location saved vehicle length, but had the disadvantage of feeding the radiator with air that had been heated by passing over the engine. It also exposed the entire ignition system to the direct entry of rainwater through the grille. Early prototypes used the existing 948-cc A-Series unit, but this provided the ADO15 with performance far greater than its price and purpose required – a top speed over 90 mph. The engine was reduced to a new 848-cc capacity with a shorter stroke. This reduced power from 37 to 33 bhp and caused a significant drop in torque, so provided more realistic performance, especially when the ADO15 body was widened by 2 inches (5.08 cm) over the XC9003 prototype, which blunted the car's top speed while improving its stability and roadholding. Even so, the ADO15 had a top speed of 75 mph, which was better than many other economy cars of the time.


title: Mini

text: The suspension system, designed by Issigonis's friend Dr. Alex Moulton at Moulton Developments Limited, used compact rubber cones instead of conventional springs. This space-saving design also featured rising progressive-rate springing of the cones, and provided some natural damping, in addition to the normal dampers. Built into the subframes, the rubber cone system gave a raw and bumpy ride accentuated by the woven-webbing seats, but the rigidity of the rubber cones, together with the wheels' positioning at the corners of the car, gave the Mini go kart-like handling.


title: Mini

text: Initially, an interconnected fluid system was planned, similar to the one that Alec Issigonis and Alex Moulton were working on in the mid-1950s at Alvis. They had assessed the mechanically interconnected Citroën 2CV suspension at that time (according to an interview by Moulton with "Car Magazine" in the late 1990s), which inspired the design of the hydrolastic suspension system for the Mini and Morris/Austin 1100, to try to keep the benefits of the 2CV system (ride comfort, body levelling, keeping the roadwheel under good control and the tyres in contact with the road), but with added roll stiffness that the 2CV lacked. The short development time of the car meant this was not ready in time for the Mini's launch. The system intended for the Mini was further developed and the hydrolastic system was first used on the Morris 1100, launched in 1962; the Mini gained the system later in 1964. As launched, the Mini had simpler suspension made from conical springs of solid rubber. These were compact, saving on intrusion into the cabin space, and required no maintenance. The conical shape gave the springs a progressive action, becoming stiffer at greater degrees of compression. This gave the ADO15 a smooth ride over small bumps, but minimised roll and pitch on more uneven surfaces. It also allowed the springs to cope with the huge variance in load between an unladen car (about 600 kg or 1300 lb) and a fully laden one (just over 1000 kg or 2240 lb, or a 70% increase).


title: Mini

text: Ten-inch (254 mm) wheels were specified, so new tyres had to be developed, the initial contract going to Dunlop. Issigonis went to Dunlop stating that he wanted even smaller, wheels (even though he had already settled on 10-inch). An agreement was made on the 10-inch size, after Dunlop rejected the eight-inch proposition.


title: Mini

text: Many features were designed into the ADO15's interior to maximise its passenger and luggage space on top of the major savings allowed by the transverse engine and 10-inch wheels. Sliding windows allowed single-skin doors to be fitted, improving elbow room and reducing costs. A bracing bar was fitted across the door frame to brace the single skin and this was later adapted into a large storage bin on each door. Issigonis later said that he had sized the bins to carry the ingredients of his favourite drink, a dry martini in the correct proportions (one bottle of vermouth and 2 of Gordon's Gin). Similar bins were provided outboard of the rear seats, also serving a dual function of bracing the single-skin body panel. Small items could also be stowed under the rear seats, and early Minis were sold with optional wicker baskets specially shaped to slot under the seats. The fixed rear parcel shelf contributed to the rigidity of the body shell, although it did preclude fitting the ADO15 with a hatchback. The boot lid was hinged at the bottom so that the car could be driven with it open to increase luggage space. On early cars, the number plate was hinged at the top so that it could swing down to remain visible when the boot lid was open. This feature was later discontinued after it was discovered that exhaust gases could leak into the cockpit when the boot was open.


title: Mini

text: The Mini was designed as a monocoque shell with welded seams visible on the outside of the car running down the A and C pillars, and between the body and the floor pan. Those that ran from the base of the A-pillar to the wheel well were described as 'everted' (lit., 'turned outward') to provide more room for the front seat occupants. To further simplify construction, the hinges for the doors and boot lid were mounted externally. This also saved a small amount of cabin space. It also made the ADO15 very easy to assemble from complete knock-down kits in overseas markets with only basic industry. Cars could be assembled with minimal use of jigs as the external seams made the panels largely 'self-aligning'. They also allowed panels to be stacked flat on top of one other for easy shipping. As originally built, all the structural body panels were welded to the top of the single floor pressing, but this caused major problems with water entering the cabin and was quickly changed in the first months of production.


title: Mini

text: Early prototypes were fully unitary in construction, but the cars broke apart under the high loads from the large lever ratios used with the rubber cone suspension. The design was changed to use steel subframes to carry the drivetrain and suspension for the front and rear. This also simplified production, as both subframes could be built up independently and then mated to the already-completed bodyshell. It also opened up the possibility of easily producing variants on the ADO15 as a body of any shape or design could be used provided it could accommodate the subframes.


title: Mini

text: The Mini shape had become so well known that by the 1990s, Rover Group – the heirs to BMC – were able to register its design as a trademark in its own right.


title: Mini

text: The production version of the Mini was demonstrated to the press in April 1959, and by August, several thousand cars had been produced ready for the first sales. The Mini was officially announced to the public on 26 August 1959. Some 2,000 cars had already been sent abroad and were displayed that day in almost 100 countries. The key dimensions were:


title: Mini

text: The first example, a Morris Mini-Minor with the registration 621 AOK, is on display at the Heritage Motor Centre in Warwickshire. Another early example from 1959 is on display at the National Motor Museum in Hampshire.


title: Mini

text: The Mini was marketed under BMC's two main brand names, Austin and Morris, until 1969, when it became a marque in its own right. The Morris version was known to all as "the Mini" or the "Morris Mini-Minor". This seems to have been a play on words: the Morris Minor was a larger, well known, and successful car that continued in production, and "minor" is Latin for "lesser", so an abbreviation of the Latin word for "least" – "minimus" – was used for the new even smaller car. One name proposed for the almost identical Austin version was Austin Newmarket, but it was sold as the Austin Seven (sometimes written as "SE7EN" in early publicity material – with the '7' using the letter V rotated anticlockwise so it approximated the number 7), which recalled the popular small Austin 7 of the 1920s and 1930s.


title: Mini

text: Until 1962, the cars appeared in North America and France as the Austin 850 and Morris 850, and in Denmark as the Austin Partner (until 1964) and Morris Mascot (until 1981). It was introduced in Australia as Morris 850 only (not "Austin"), and then later as Morris Cooper and Morris Cooper S versions, as well. The Morris name Mini (Mini-Minor) was first used for Austin's version by BMC in 1961 when the Austin Seven was rebranded as the Austin Mini, somewhat to the surprise of the Sharp's Commercials car company (later known as Bond Cars), who had been using the name Minicar for their three-wheeled vehicles since 1949. However, legal action was somehow averted, and BMC used the name "Mini" thereafter.


title: Mini

text: In 1964, the suspension of the cars was replaced by another Moulton design, the hydrolastic system. The new suspension gave a softer ride, but it also increased weight and production cost. In 1971, the original rubber suspension reappeared and was retained for the remaining life of the Mini.


title: Mini

text: From October 1965, the option of the unique Automotive Products designed four-speed automatic transmission became available. Cars fitted with this became the Mini-Matic.


title: Mini

text: Slow at the outset, Mark I sales strengthened across most of the model lines in the 1960s, and production totalled 1,190,000. Ford purchased a Mini and dismantled it to see if they could offer an alternative. Ford determined that the BMC must have been losing around £30 per car, so decided to produce a larger car – the Cortina, launched in 1962 – as its competitor in the budget market. BMC insisted that the way company overheads were shared out, the Mini always made money. Larger profits came from the popular De Luxe models and from optional extras such as seat belts, door mirrors, a heater, and a radio, which would be considered necessities on modern cars, as well as the various Cooper and Cooper S models.


title: Mini

text: The Mini entered into popular culture in the 1960s with well-publicised purchases by film and music stars.


title: Mini

text: The Cooper S version was also used by some British police forces as both a uniform and plainclothes car.


title: Mini

text: The Mark II Mini was launched at the 1967 British Motor Show, and featured a redesigned grille, a larger rear window and numerous cosmetic changes. A total of 429,000 Mk II Minis were produced.


title: Mini

text: A variety of Mini types were made in Pamplona, Spain, by the Authi company from 1968 onwards, mostly under the Morris name. In 1969, a fibreglass version of the Mini Mark II was developed for British Leyland's Chilean subsidiary (British Leyland Automotores de Chile, S.A., originally the independent assembler EMSSA). The bodyshell mould was created by the Peel Engineering Company. Production began in 1970 and continued for a few years; these fibreglass Minis can be recognised by the missing body seams and by larger panel gaps. The Chilean market was never very large and the Arica plant was closed in 1974. The reason for the fibreglass body was to enable Leyland to meet very strict requirements for local sourcing, increasing to 70.22% in 1971.


title: Mini

text: The Mark III Mini had a modified bodyshell with enough alterations to see the factory code change from ADO15 to ADO20 (which it shared with the Clubman). The most obvious changes were larger doors with concealed hinges. Customer demand led to the sliding windows being replaced with winding windows, although some Australian-manufactured Mark I Minis had adopted this feature in 1965 (with opening quarterlight windows). The suspension reverted from hydrolastic to rubber cones as a cost-saving measure. (The 1275 GT and Clubman retained the hydrolastic system until June 1971, when they, too, switched to the rubber cone suspension of the original Minis.)


title: Mini

text: In 1969, the simple name Mini completely replaced the separate Austin and Morris brands. In April 1974, a heater became standard equipment on the entry-level Mini 850, as well, having by then already been included in the standard specification of the other models for some time.


title: Mini

text: In the late 1970s, Innocenti introduced the Innocenti 90 and 120, Bertone-designed hatchbacks based on the Mini platform. Bertone also created a Mini Cooper equivalent, christened the Innocenti De Tomaso, that sported a 1275-cc engine similar to the MG Metro engine, but with an 11-stud head, a special inlet manifold, and used the "A" clutch instead of the "Verto" type. It also used homokinetic shafts instead of rubber couplings.


title: Mini

text: The Mini was still popular in the UK, but appeared increasingly outdated in the face of newer and more practical rivals. Since the late 1960s, plans had been in place for a newer and more practical supermini to replace it, though the Mini was still the only car of this size built by British Leyland for the home market.


title: Mini

text: The Mark IV was introduced in 1976, though by this stage British Leyland was working on a new small car which was widely expected to replace the Mini before much longer. It had a front rubber-mounted subframe with single tower bolts and the rear frame had some larger bushings introduced, all intended to improve the car's mechanical refinement and to reduce noise levels. Twin column stalks for indicators and wipers were introduced, as were larger foot pedals. From 1977 onwards, the rear light clusters included reversing lights.


title: Mini

text: In July 1979 the lower end of the Mini range was altered. The basic Mini 850 (which had featured in various forms since the original launch 20 years before) was withdrawn. Its place was taken by two models at slightly lower and slightly higher price points. The new base model was the Mini City, with black-painted bumpers, an untrimmed lower facia rail, part-fabric seats and wing mirror and sun visor only on the driver's side, plus unique 'City' body graphics and boot badge. Above the City was the new 850 SDL (Super Deluxe), which had the same specification as the standard Mini 1000 but with the smaller engine.


title: Mini

text: For August 1979 the Mini's 20th anniversary was marked by the introduction of the first true limited-edition Mini, which was the Mini 1100 Special. This was a 5,000-car run with the 1098cc engine, broadly to the specification already in production for the European market as a standard model with the same name. However this was the first time a UK-market 'round-nose' (i.e. non-Clubman) Mini had been available with the 1098cc engine, and the UK limited edition was also fitted with unique Exacton alloy wheels – the first time these were fitted to a factory-produced Mini – and plastic wheelarch extensions. Inside was the 1275GT's three-dial instrument cluster and a leather-rimmed wheel with a rectangular centre from the Innocenti Mini hatchback.


title: Mini

text: The 1100 Special and 850 City models were phased out by 1980, and during the same year the engine was upgraded to the improved A-Plus unit from the new Metro in 998cc form, which was now the only engine available in the Mini. This was then followed by a number of incremental developments.


title: Mini

text: In 1978, the Mini was one of the key cars made available to disabled motorists under the new Motability scheme.


title: Mini

text: Reports of the Mini's imminent demise surfaced again in 1980 with the launch of the Austin Mini-Metro (badging with the word "mini" in all lowercase). Faced with competition from a new wave of modern superminis like the Ford Fiesta, Renault 5, and Volkswagen Polo, the Mini was beginning to fall out of favour in many export markets, with the South African, Australian, and New Zealand markets all stopping production around this time. Buyers of small cars now wanted modern and practical designs, usually with a hatchback. The Metro was therefore in essence, the Mini mechanicals repackaged into a larger hatchback bodyshell.


title: Mini

text: Although the Mini continued to be produced after the Metro's launch, production volumes were reduced as British Leyland and its successor Rover Group concentrated on the Metro as its key supermini. The original Mini's last year in the top ten of the UK's top selling cars was 1981, as it came ninth and the Metro was fifth. The arrival of the Metro also had production of the larger Allegro pruned back before it was finally discontinued in 1982. In 1982, BL made 56,297 Minis and over 175,000 Metros. Due to their common powertrain package, the Mini received many mechanical upgrades in the early 1980s which were shared with the Metro, such as the A-Plus engine, 12-inch wheels with front disc brakes, improved soundproofing and quieter, stronger transmissions. This not only modernised the Mini but, because many of its major subassemblies were now shared with the Metro, made it very cost-effective to produce despite falling sales volumes.


title: Mini

text: All cars had brake discs and plastic wheel arches (Mini Special arches), but retained the same Mark IV body shell shape.


title: Mini

text: The Mini's 25th anniversary fell in 1984 and British Leyland produced a 'Mini 25' limited-edition model, both to mark the occasion and to publicise the recent upgrades to the model. This marked the start of a turnaround in the Mini's fortunes. Basic models such as the City and the City E (using the economy-tuned drivetrain from the Metro HLE) filled in the bottom of the Austin-Rover range and still found buyers who wanted a compact city car that was easy to park and cheap to run. Low purchase and running costs also made the Mini continually popular as a first car for younger drivers, and Austin-Rover introduced a steady stream of limited editions with bright paint colours, body graphics, and trim to appeal to this market. The Mini was also becoming prized as a characterful and nostalgic car in its own right, and the London Collection of limited-edition models was more upmarket and luxurious and named after affluent or fashionable parts of London.


title: Mini

text: These marketing strategies proved very successful; Mini production actually had modest increases through the mid-1980s, from 34,974 Minis in 1985 to 35,280 in 1985 and 39,800 in 1986. In 1990 the was relaunched - 20 years after the demise of the original model - which saw Mini production pass 40,000. Once again, it featured the long-running 1275-cc engine which had featured on the original Mini Cooper S.


title: Mini

text: In 1988, Austin Rover decided to keep the Mini in production for as long as it was viable to do so, putting an end to reports that it would be discontinued by 1991, by which time the original Metro would also be replaced.


title: Mini

text: With the larger Metro being redesigned in 1990 to take the new K-Series engine, the Mini became the sole recipient of the classic A-Series engine with transmission-in-sump layout. The engine mounting points were moved forward to take 1275-cc power units, and includes the later Horizontal Integral Float version of the SU carb, plus the single-point fuel-injected car, which came out in 1991. The 998-cc power units were discontinued. An internal bonnet release was fitted from 1992. Production ended in August 1996 as the Mark VII replaced it.


title: Mini

text: In the summer of 1991, 21 years after the fibreglass Mini built in Chile was produced, another fibreglass bodied Mini again entered production, this time in Venezuela. The producer, Facorca, intended to sell the car in the Caribbean and Central America, and also had plans for Brazilian assembly.