title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Much of Longfellow's work is categorized as lyric poetry, but he experimented with many forms, including hexameter and free verse. His published poetry shows great versatility, using anapestic and trochaic forms, blank verse, heroic couplets, ballads, and sonnets. Typically, he would carefully consider the subject of his poetic ideas for a long time before deciding on the right metrical form for it. Much of his work is recognized for its melodious musicality. As he says, "what a writer asks of his reader is not so much to "like" as to "listen"".


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: As a very private man, Longfellow did not often add autobiographical elements to his poetry. Two notable exceptions are dedicated to the death of members of his family. "Resignation" was written as a response to the death of his daughter Fanny in 1848; it does not use first-person pronouns and is instead a generalized poem of mourning. The death of his second wife Frances, as biographer Charles Calhoun wrote, deeply affected Longfellow personally but "seemed not to touch his poetry, at least directly". His memorial poem to her was the sonnet "The Cross of Snow" and was not published in his lifetime.


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Longfellow often used didacticism in his poetry, but he focused on it less in his later years. Much of his poetry imparts cultural and moral values, particularly focused on life being more than material pursuits. He often used allegory in his work. In "Nature", for example, death is depicted as bedtime for a cranky child. Many of the metaphors that he used in his poetry came from legends, mythology, and literature. He was inspired, for example, by Norse mythology for "The Skeleton in Armor" and by Finnish legends for "The Song of Hiawatha".


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Longfellow rarely wrote on current subjects and seemed detached from contemporary American concerns. Even so, he called for the development of high quality American literature, as did many others during this period. In "Kavanagh", a character says:


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: We want a national literature commensurate with our mountains and rivers ... We want a national epic that shall correspond to the size of the country ... We want a national drama in which scope shall be given to our gigantic ideas and to the unparalleled activity of our people ... In a word, we want a national literature altogether shaggy and unshorn, that shall shake the earth, like a herd of buffaloes thundering over the prairies.


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: He was important as a translator; his translation of Dante became a required possession for those who wanted to be a part of high culture. He encouraged and supported other translators, as well. In 1845, he published "The Poets and Poetry of Europe", an 800-page compilation of translations made by other writers, including many by his friend and colleague Cornelius Conway Felton. Longfellow intended the anthology "to bring together, into a compact and convenient form, as large an amount as possible of those English translations which are scattered through many volumes, and are not accessible to the general reader". In honor of his role with translations, Harvard established the Longfellow Institute in 1994, dedicated to literature written in the United States in languages other than English.


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: In 1874, Longfellow oversaw a 31-volume anthology called "Poems of Places" which collected poems representing several geographical locations, including European, Asian, and Arabian countries. Emerson was disappointed and reportedly told Longfellow: "The world is expecting better things of you than this ... You are wasting time that should be bestowed upon original production". In preparing the volume, Longfellow hired Katherine Sherwood Bonner as an amanuensis.


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Fellow Portland, Maine native John Neal published the first substantial praise of Longfellow's work. In the January 23, 1828 issue of his magazine "The Yankee", he wrote, "As for Mr. Longfellow, he has a fine genius and a pure and safe taste, and all that he wants, we believe, is a little more energy, and a little more stoutness."


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Longfellow's early collections "Voices of the Night" and "Ballads and Other Poems" made him instantly popular. The "New-Yorker" called him "one of the very few in our time who has successfully aimed in putting poetry to its best and sweetest uses". The "Southern Literary Messenger" immediately put Longfellow "among the first of our American poets". Poet John Greenleaf Whittier said that Longfellow's poetry illustrated "the careful moulding by which art attains the graceful ease and chaste simplicity of nature". Longfellow's friend Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote of him as "our chief singer" and one who "wins and warms ... kindles, softens, cheers [and] calms the wildest woe and stays the bitterest tears!"


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: The rapidity with which American readers embraced Longfellow was unparalleled in publishing history in the United States; by 1874, he was earning $3,000 per poem. His popularity spread throughout Europe, as well, and his poetry was translated during his lifetime into Italian, French, German, and other languages. Scholar Bliss Perry suggests that criticizing Longfellow at that time was almost a criminal act equal to "carrying a rifle into a national park". In the last two decades of his life, he often received requests for autographs from strangers, which he always sent. John Greenleaf Whittier suggested that it was this massive correspondence which led to Longfellow's death: "My friend Longfellow was driven to death by these incessant demands".


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Contemporaneous writer Edgar Allan Poe wrote to Longfellow in May 1841 of his "fervent admiration which [your] genius has inspired in me" and later called him "unquestionably the best poet in America". Poe's reputation increased as a critic, however, and he later publicly accused Longfellow of plagiarism in what Poe biographers call "The Longfellow War". He wrote that Longfellow was "a determined imitator and a dextrous adapter of the ideas of other people", specifically Alfred, Lord Tennyson. His accusations may have been a publicity stunt to boost readership of the "Broadway Journal", for which he was the editor at the time. Longfellow did not respond publicly but, after Poe's death, he wrote: "The harshness of his criticisms I have never attributed to anything but the irritation of a sensitive nature chafed by some indefinite sense of wrong".


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Margaret Fuller judged Longfellow "artificial and imitative" and lacking force. Poet Walt Whitman considered him an imitator of European forms, but he praised his ability to reach a popular audience as "the expressor of common themes—of the little songs of the masses". He added, "Longfellow was no revolutionarie: never traveled new paths: of course never broke new paths." Lewis Mumford said that Longfellow could be completely removed from the history of literature without much effect.


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Toward the end of his life, contemporaries considered him as more of a children's poet, as many of his readers were children. A reviewer in 1848 accused Longfellow of creating a "goody two-shoes kind of literature ... slipshod, sentimental stories told in the style of the nursery, beginning in nothing and ending in nothing". A more modern critic said, "Who, except wretched schoolchildren, now reads Longfellow?" A London critic in the "London Quarterly Review", however, condemned "all" American poetry—"with two or three exceptions, there is not a poet of mark in the whole union"—but he singled out Longfellow as one of those exceptions. An editor of the "Boston Evening Transcript" wrote in 1846, "Whatever the miserable envy of trashy criticism may write against Longfellow, one thing is most certain, no American poet is more read".


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Longfellow was the most popular poet of his day. As a friend once wrote, "no other poet was so fully recognized in his lifetime". Many of his works helped shape the American character and its legacy, particularly with the poem "Paul Revere's Ride". He was such an admired figure in the United States during his life that his 70th birthday in 1877 took on the air of a national holiday, with parades, speeches, and the reading of his poetry. Longfellow's popularity rapidly declined, beginning shortly after his death and into the 20th century, as academics focused attention on other poets such as Walt Whitman, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Robert Frost. In the 20th century, literary scholar Kermit Vanderbilt noted: "Increasingly rare is the scholar who braves ridicule to justify the art of Longfellow's popular rhymings." Twentieth-century poet Lewis Putnam Turco concluded that "Longfellow was minor and derivative in every way throughout his career ... nothing more than a hack imitator of the English Romantics." Author Nicholas A. Basbanes, in his 2020 book "Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow", defended Longfellow as "the victim of an orchestrated dismissal that may well be unique in American literary history".


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Over the years, Longfellow's personality has become part of his reputation. He has been presented as a gentle, placid, poetic soul, an image perpetuated by his brother Samuel Longfellow who wrote an early biography which specifically emphasized these points. As James Russell Lowell said, Longfellow had an "absolute sweetness, simplicity, and modesty". At Longfellow's funeral, his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson called him "a sweet and beautiful soul". In reality, his life was much more difficult than was assumed. He suffered from neuralgia, which caused him constant pain, and he had poor eyesight. He wrote to friend Charles Sumner: "I do not believe anyone "can" be perfectly well, who has a brain and a heart". He had difficulty coping with the death of his second wife. Longfellow was very quiet, reserved, and private; in later years, he was known for being unsocial and avoided leaving home.


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: Longfellow had become one of the first American celebrities and was popular in Europe. It was reported that 10,000 copies of "The Courtship of Miles Standish" sold in London in a single day. Children adored him; "The Village Blacksmith"'s "spreading chestnut-tree" was cut down and the children of Cambridge had it converted into an armchair which they presented to him. In 1884, Longfellow became the first non-British writer for whom a commemorative bust was placed in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London; he remains the only American poet represented with a bust. A public monument by Franklin Simmons was erected in Longfellow’s birthplace of Portland, Maine, in September 1888. In 1909, a statue of Longfellow was unveiled in Washington, DC, sculpted by William Couper. He was honored in March 2007 when the United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating him.


title: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

text: As a memorial to their father, Longfellow's children donated land across Brattle Street and facing the family home to the City of Cambridge, which became Longfellow Park. A monument featuring a bas relief of Miles Standish, Sadalphon, the Village Blacksmith, the Spanish Student, Evangeline, and Hiawatha, characters from Longfellow’s works, was dedicated in October 1914.


title: Joanna Moore

text: Joanna Moore (born Dorothy Joanne Cook, November 10, 1934 – November 22, 1997) was an American film and television actress, who between 1956 and 1976 appeared in 17 feature films and guest-starred in nearly a hundred episodes of television series. After 1976, personal problems thwarted her career and her only remaining assignments consisted of two minor film roles.


title: Joanna Moore

text: From 1963 to 1967, she was married to actor Ryan O'Neal, with whom she had two children, Griffin O'Neal and Tatum O'Neal.


title: Joanna Moore

text: Moore's career hit its peak in the 1960s. During that time, she guest-starred in several popular shows, including "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Perry Mason", "The Fugitive", "Bewitched", and "The Real McCoys". One of her recurring roles was as Sheriff Andy Taylor's love interest, Peggy "Peg" McMillan in four episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show", from 1962 to 1963. Moore was a guest star in such television Westerns as "The Rifleman", "Wagon Train", "Gunsmoke", "The Rebel", "The High Chaparral", "The Wild Wild West" and "The Virginian". By the 1970s, her career began to wane because of drug and alcohol misuse. Moore made her final onscreen appearance in 1986, and died of lung cancer in 1997.


title: Joanna Moore

text: Moore was born Dorothy Joanne Cook in Americus, Georgia, the elder of two daughters of Dorothy Martha (née English) and Henry Anderson Cook III. In 1941, when she was a child, her parents and younger sister were involved in a fatal car accident. Her mother and sister died immediately, while her father died from his injuries a year after the accident. Moore was then adopted by a wealthy local family and changed her name from Dorothy to Joanna.


title: Joanna Moore

text: As a teen, she married and quickly divorced Willis Moore in 1951. After the divorce, she attended Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. While attending college, she entered and won a beauty contest and was brought to Hollywood. Moore's acting career began when a producer for Universal Studios spotted her at a cocktail party.


title: Joanna Moore

text: Moore made her television debut in the November 8, 1956 episode of "Lux Video Theatre". The following year, she made her film debut in the 1957 crime drama "Appointment with a Shadow". Later that year, she appeared in episodes of "Goodyear Theatre" and "Harbormaster", along with another film, "Slim Carter". In 1958, she had a small role in the film noir classic "Touch of Evil" with Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, and Marlene Dietrich, followed by more substantial roles in the horror film "Monster on the Campus" and the Western "Ride a Crooked Trail".


title: Joanna Moore

text: From 1958 to 1959, Moore landed guest spots on television, including "Westinghouse Studio One", "Suspicion", "The Rough Riders", "Bourbon Street Beat", "Bat Masterson", "The Real McCoys", "Maverick", "The Rifleman", and "Riverboat". She made a guest appearance on "Perry Mason" as the title character in the 1958 episode "The Case of the Terrified Typist".


title: Joanna Moore

text: During the 1960s, Moore continued her career guest-starring on numerous television shows in addition to film appearances. From 1960 to 1961, she guest-starred on "Five Fingers", "The Rebel", "Hong Kong", "The Untouchables", "77 Sunset Strip", "Going My Way", and "Empire".


title: Joanna Moore

text: In 1962, Moore appeared as Miss Precious in "Walk on the Wild Side" with Jane Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, and Capucine, followed by the musical, "Follow That Dream" with Elvis Presley. That same year, Moore appeared in four episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" as Peggy "Peg" McMillan, Sheriff Taylor's love interest. In 1963, she co-starred in "Son of Flubber" and was cast in "The Man from Galveston", intended as the pilot for "Temple Houston". Also that year, she made a second guest appearance on "Perry Mason" as Grace Olney in "The Case of the Reluctant Model". In 1964, she guest-starred on "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre".


title: Joanna Moore

text: From 1965 to 1967, Moore guest starred on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "The Rogues", "My Three Sons", "Peyton Place" (starring Moore's then-husband, Ryan O'Neal), "Daniel Boone", "Cowboy in Africa", and "Iron Horse". In 1967, Moore appeared as Daphne Harper, a snob and former college beauty queen chum of Darrin's, in the "Charlie Harper, Winner" episode of "Bewitched". During the time, Moore also had an uncredited role as Angie, the widow of Jesse Cole, in "Nevada Smith" starring Steve McQueen.


title: Joanna Moore

text: Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Moore also made multiple appearances on "The Millionaire", "The United States Steel Hour", "Route 66", "Wagon Train", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour"), "Hawaiian Eye", "Alcoa Premiere", "Gunsmoke", "The Fugitive", "The Virginian", "The High Chaparral", and "The F.B.I."


title: Joanna Moore

text: During the 1970s, Moore continued with guest roles on "Nanny and the Professor", "The Governor & J.J.", and "McCloud". In 1973, she appeared in the television adaption of the 1954 film "Three Coins in the Fountain", also starring Yvonne Craig and Cynthia Pepper. In 1974, she appeared on "The Waltons" in the episode entitled "The Departure". In 1975, she co-starred in the feature film "The Hindenburg". The next year, she guest-starred on "Petrocelli" and "The Blue Knight" and made two appearances on "Bronk".


title: Joanna Moore

text: By the late 1970s, Moore's career had begun to wane owing to personal problems. Her only two on-screen appearances after 1976 were in a supporting role in the 1980 television film "Scout's Honor" starring Gary Coleman and a small bit part in the 1986 Australian film "Run Chrissie Run!"


title: Joanna Moore

text: In the early 1960s, Moore became deaf as a result of otosclerosis, which her doctor said resulted from a deposit of calcium in her middle ear. Moore said that she had to read lips to understand what people were saying. An operation restored her hearing in 1962.


title: Joanna Moore

text: On April 3, 1963, Moore married her third husband, actor Ryan O'Neal. The couple had two children: Tatum O'Neal and Griffin O'Neal. The marriage was tempestuous and the couple separated in early 1966. In February 1967, their divorce became final.


title: Joanna Moore

text: Around the time of her separation from O'Neal, Moore began to misuse alcohol and drugs, namely amphetamines, and became addicted. She continued acting, but her depression worsened over her impending divorce.


title: Joanna Moore

text: In 1970, Moore checked into the Camarillo State Hospital for psychiatric treatment. The next year, she was arrested for drunk driving after getting into a fight while she and their children were visiting O'Neal's Malibu home. After her arrest, she lost custody of her children.


title: Joanna Moore

text: By the late 1970s, she was being supported financially by her daughter, Tatum, who had become an Academy Award-winning actress at age 10 and one of the highest-paid child stars of the era. The children were still in Ryan O'Neal's custody, and despite treatment, Moore continued to misuse drugs and alcohol. As a result, she was arrested five times for DUI during the 1980s.


title: Joanna Moore

text: In 1996, Moore, a longtime smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer. On November 22, 1997, she died from the disease twelve days after her 63rd birthday. Her daughter Tatum was by her side at the time of her death. Moore was initially interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Redlands, California, but her family later moved her remains to Oak Grove Cemetery in her home town of Americus, Georgia.


title: Joanna Moore

text: Moore's grandson Kevin McEnroe (son of Tatum O'Neal and John McEnroe) wrote a "roman à clef" about her, which was titled "Our Town" and published in 2015.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: Maria Theresa of Spain (; ; 10 September 1638 – 30 July 1683) was Queen of France from 1660 to 1683 as the wife of King Louis XIV. She was born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal as the daughter of King Philip IV and Elisabeth of France, and was also an Archduchess of Austria as a member of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: Her marriage in 1660 to King Louis XIV, her double first cousin, was arranged with the purpose of ending the lengthy war between France and Spain. Famed for her virtue and piety, she saw five of her six children die in early childhood, and is frequently viewed as an object of pity in historical accounts of her husband's reign, since she was often neglected by the court and overshadowed by the King's many mistresses.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: Without any political influence in the French court or government (except briefly in 1672, when she was named regent during her husband's absence during the Franco-Dutch War), she died at the age of 44 due to complications from an abscess on her arm. Her grandson Philip V inherited the Spanish throne in 1700 after the death of her younger half-brother, Charles II. The resulting War of the Spanish Succession established the House of Bourbon as the new ruling dynasty of Spain, where it has reigned with some interruption until the present time.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: Born at the Royal Monastery of El Escorial, the Infanta Maria Theresa was the daughter of Philip IV & III, and his first wife Elisabeth of France, who died when Maria Theresa was six years old. As a member of the House of Austria, Maria Theresa was entitled to use the title Archduchess of Austria. Elizabeth of France chose "Sainte Thérèse" to protect her daughter, the youngest of a series of precocious births. She gave her the name "Thérèse" to protect her, namely Marie-Thérèse. She was known in Spain as María Teresa de Austria and in France as Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: She was raised by the royal governess Luisa Magdalena de Jesus. The religious education of Marie-Thérèse was carried out by Juan de Palma, commissioner of the Indies who had been the director of Elizabeth of France, was charged by Philippe IV to look after his daughter, as he had looked after the mother of the princess. Finally, in later times it was Father Vasquez, a man recognized in Spain for being highly educated and of great virtue; it was he who had been entrusted with the spiritual education of the young Infanta.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: Unlike France, the kingdom of Spain had no Salic Law, so it was possible for a female to assume the throne. When Maria Theresa's brother Balthasar Charles died in 1646, she became heir presumptive to the vast Spanish Empire and remained such until the birth of her brother Philip Prospero, in 1657. She was briefly heir presumptive once more between 1–6 November 1661, following the death of Prince Philip and until the birth of Prince Charles, who would later inherit the thrones of Spain as Charles II.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: In 1658, as war with France began to wind down, a union between the royal families of Spain and France was proposed as a means to secure peace. Maria Theresa and the French king were double first cousins: Louis XIV's father was Louis XIII of France, who was the brother of Maria Theresa's mother, while her father was brother to Anne of Austria, Louis XIV's mother. Spanish procrastination led to a scheme in which France's prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, pretended to seek a marriage for his master with Margaret Yolande of Savoy. When Philip IV of Spain heard of a meeting at Lyon between the Houses of France and Savoy in November 1658, he reputedly exclaimed of the Franco-Savoyard union that "it cannot be, and will not be". Philip then sent a special envoy to the French court to open negotiations for peace and a royal marriage.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: The negotiations for the marriage contract were intense. Eager to prevent a union of the two countries or crowns, especially one in which Spain would be subservient to France, the diplomats sought to include a renunciation clause that would deprive Maria Theresa and her children of any rights to the Spanish succession. This was eventually done but, by the skill of Mazarin and his French diplomats, the renunciation and its validity were made conditional upon the payment of a large dowry. As it turned out, Spain, impoverished and bankrupt after decades of war, was unable to pay such a dowry, and France never received the agreed upon sum of 500,000 écus.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: A marriage by proxy to the French king was held in Fuenterrabia. Her father and the entire Spanish court accompanied the bride to the Isle of Pheasants on the border in the Bidassoa river, where Louis and his court met her in the meeting on the Isle of Pheasants on 7 June 1660, and she entered France. On 9 June the marriage took place in Saint-Jean-de-Luz at the recently rebuilt church of Saint Jean the Baptist. After the wedding, Louis wanted to consummate the marriage as quickly as possible.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: On 26 August 1660, the newlyweds made the traditional Joyous Entry into Paris. Louis was faithful to his wife for the first year of their marriage, commanding the "Grand Maréchal du Logis" that "the Queen and himself were never to be set apart, no matter how small the house in which they might be lodging".


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: Maria Theresa was very fortunate to have found a friend at court in her mother-in-law, unlike many princesses in foreign lands. She continued to spend much of her free time playing cards and gambling, as she had no interest in politics or literature. Consequently, she was viewed as not fully playing the part of queen designated to her by her marriage. But more importantly, she became pregnant in early 1661, and a long-awaited son was born on 1 November 1661.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: The first time Maria Theresa ever saw the Palace of Versailles was on 25 October 1660. At that time, it was just a small royal residence that had been Louis XIII's hunting lodge not far from Paris. Later, the first building campaign (1664–1668) commenced with the "Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée" of 1664, a week-long celebration at Versailles ostensibly held in honour of France's two queens, Louis XIV's mother and wife, but exposed Louise de La Vallière's role as the king's "maîtresse-en-titre". The celebration of the "Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée" is often regarded as a prelude to the War of Devolution, which Louis waged against Spain. The first building campaign witnessed alterations in the château and gardens in order to accommodate the 600 guests invited to the celebration.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: As time passed, Maria Theresa also came to tolerate her husband's prolonged infidelity with Françoise-Athénaïs, Marquise de Montespan. The king left her to her own devices, yet reprimanded Madame de Montespan when her behaviour at court too flagrantly disrespected the queen's position.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: Later, the governess of Montespan's illegitimate children by the king, Madame de Maintenon, came to supplant her mistress in the king's affections. At first she resisted the king's advances and encouraged him to bestow more attention on his long-neglected wife, a thoughtfulness which Maria Theresa repaid with warmth toward the new favourite. After the queen's death, Maintenon would become the king's second, although officially secret, wife.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: There have long been rumours that Maria Theresa had an illegitimate daughter, Louise Marie Thérèse (The Black Nun of Moret).


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: Maria Theresa played little part in political affairs except for the years 1667, 1672, and 1678, during which she acted as regent while her husband was away on campaigns on the frontier.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: During the last week of July 1683, Maria Theresa fell ill and, as her illness worsened, her husband ordered for the sacraments to be kept nearby. She died a painful death on 30 July 1683, at Versailles. Upon her death, Louis XIV said: "This is the first chagrin she has ever given me." For the grand funeral ceremony, Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed dramatic motets H.409, H.189, H.331 and Jean-Baptiste Lully his "Dies irae." The funeral prayer was by Bossuet.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: Of her six children, only one survived her, Louis, "", the oldest one, who died in 1711. One of her younger grandsons eventually inherited her claim to the Spanish throne to become King Philip V of Spain in 1700.


title: Maria Theresa of Spain

text: She married her double first cousin Louis XIV in 1660. The couple had six children, only one of whom survived to adulthood:


title: Danzig (band)

text: Danzig is an American heavy metal band led by former Samhain and Misfits singer Glenn Danzig. Formed in 1987 in Lodi, New Jersey, the group early on became a unique voice in the rock scene, playing a bluesy, doom-laden metal with Glenn Danzig crooning in the style of Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley. Danzig's openly satanic lyrics and image stirred controversy. After a major hit with a live version of its 1988 song "Mother", the band experimented with industrial music but later returned to heavy metal. To date, Danzig has released 12 studio albums (two consisting entirely of cover versions), two EPs, one live album, and one compilation album.


title: Danzig (band)

text: On July 14, 1986, Samhain performed at The Ritz in New York in what proved to be their final show. In attendance was producer Rick Rubin, who was scouting bands to sign to his record label, Def Jam Recordings. Rubin initially expressed interest in signing only Glenn Danzig, intending to make him vocalist for a hard rock supergroup that Rubin envisioned. However, Danzig refused to sign unless Samhain's bassist Eerie Von was also signed. In 1987, Rubin added John Christ on guitar and Chuck Biscuits (ex-Black Flag) on drums. To reflect the change in musical direction and avoid having to start anew after future lineup changes, Glenn, on Rubin's advice, changed the name of Samhain to his surname, Danzig. The first release from the band, minus Eerie Von, was the song "You And Me (Less than Zero)" from the "Less than Zero" soundtrack and credited as Glenn Danzig & The Power and Fury Orchestra.


title: Danzig (band)

text: In 1988, Danzig released its self-titled debut album on Def American (later renamed to American Recordings). The band toured worldwide in support of the album throughout 1988 and 1989; they opened for Slayer on their "South of Heaven" tour in North America and Metallica on their "...And Justice for All" tour in Europe, and subsequently headlined their own tour, which included support from bands such as Murphy's Law, Mudhoney, Accept, Armored Saint, Circus of Power, White Zombie, Sick of It All and Carnivore. "Danzig" is the band's best-selling album, having been certified gold in the U.S. in 1994, and eventually going platinum.


title: Danzig (band)

text: In 1990, Danzig released its second album, "". By 1992, Rubin's involvement with the band had waned. Danzig himself took credit for co-producing the third album, "". In the following year, the band released the "Thrall-Demonsweatlive" EP, which contained several live tracks from the band's 1992 Halloween show as well as three new studio tracks. The live version of "Mother", a song from the first album, became popular on album-oriented radio stations while its music video received considerable attention on MTV-programmed shows such as "Beavis and Butt-Head", "Headbangers Ball" and "120 Minutes". The band were eventually awarded in the fall of 1994 with two gold albums for the exceptional sales of their first record and "Thrall-Demonsweatlive". The renewed popularity of "Mother" not only helped raise Danzig's profile in the music industry, but also saw the band starting to perform at larger venues such as arenas and amphitheaters, which included headlining US tours with bands like White Zombie, Kyuss, Type O Negative, Godflesh and then-emerging acts Korn and Marilyn Manson, as well as opening for Metallica and Black Sabbath.


title: Danzig (band)

text: On October 4, 1994, "Danzig 4" was released. The album sold well, but did not contain a hit on par with the "Mother" single. The album's second single, "Cantspeak", was also a staple in MTV's rotation, but unlike "Mother" failed to appear on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Cantspeak" is the band's only single other than "Mother" to chart on Billboard. Amid accusations of unpaid royalties and broken promises, Danzig's relationship with Rubin deteriorated and the band left the record label.


title: Danzig (band)

text: Around this time, the band's lineup began to dissolve as well. First, Chuck Biscuits left the band in the summer of 1994 due to royalty disagreements. According to a special issue of "Kerrang!", former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl turned down an approach by the band. Biscuits was replaced by Joey Castillo, who made his first public appearance as a member of Danzig at an in-store signing the day of the fourth album's release. Coincidentally, Castillo would later replace Grohl in Queens of the Stone Age. Although the band had toured successfully with its new drummer during the fall and winter of 1994–95, by the spring of 1995 Danzig was actively seeking a new guitarist, with Pepper Keenan and Dez Cadena considered possible replacements. John Christ and Eerie Von resigned on July 5, 1995.


title: Danzig (band)

text: In October 1996, "Danzig 5: Blackacidevil" was released. The album was mostly a solo effort by Danzig, although Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains played lead guitar on three of the album's tracks. Joey Castillo played drums, the sole member still in the band from the 4p Tour. Castillo would record on two more Danzig albums, making him the longest-standing member outside of the original lineup.


title: Danzig (band)

text: For the next few years, Danzig was tied up in a legal battle with Rubin over the rights to unreleased material the band recorded for American Recordings. In November 1999, Danzig "" was released. A long-planned Samhain box set was also released, followed by a Samhain reunion tour. Samhain opened for Danzig for six weeks during the tour and consisted of Steve Zing and London May switching between bass and drums.


title: Danzig (band)

text: By 2000, Danzig's lineup had stabilized with the addition of guitarist Todd Youth and bassist Howie Pyro, both veterans of the New York City punk scene. In 2002, this lineup released the album "Danzig 777: I Luciferi". In 2004, Danzig released their eighth studio album, "Circle of Snakes", with the line up featuring Tommy Victor of Prong on guitar, who had toured as a member of Danzig years earlier.


title: Danzig (band)

text: Soon after the album's release, Danzig undertook the Blackest of the Black tour across the United States, replacing "Circle of Snakes" drummer Bevan Davies with Johnny Kelly (of Type O Negative).


title: Danzig (band)

text: Throughout 2006, Glenn Danzig stated in several interviews that he had grown tired of the touring cycle and did not expect to partake in any more large-scale tours. Instead, Danzig would go on small, localized tours, such as the 10 west coast dates they played for the 2006 Blackest of the Black tour. This tour debuted Kenny Hickey (of Type O Negative) as the band's new guitarist, while the East Coast dates saw the addition of former Samhain member, Steve Zing on bass.


title: Danzig (band)

text: In October 2006, Glenn Danzig released "Black Aria II", the follow-up to his solo classical album, "Black Aria". "Black Aria" was re-released by Evilive in May 2007. He spent the rest of the year completing the production and packaging of "The Lost Tracks of Danzig", a double CD containing 26 unreleased songs that span the entire Danzig catalog, which was released on July 10, 2007. Danzig has also stated that he plans to record a dark blues album with either Jerry Cantrell or Hank Williams III.


title: Danzig (band)

text: In August 2008, Glenn Danzig announced that Danzig (the band) would do a 20th-anniversary tour, celebrating the release of their self-titled debut album. This was the band's first full US tour in three years, which also included stops in Canada and Mexico. Also asked in August 2008 if the ninth Danzig album was planned, Glenn Danzig replied:


title: Danzig (band)

text: On December 26, 2009, Danzig performed at the Starland Ballroom in New Jersey. The show was notable for featuring a special appearance by Michale Graves who, along with Doyle and Dr. Chud, performed several songs by the .


title: Danzig (band)

text: On March 10, 2010, a Danzig lyric book was released, titled "Hidden Lyrics of the Left Hand". The book contains unreleased song lyrics combined with illustrations by Simon Bisley.


title: Danzig (band)

text: Danzig released "Deth Red Sabaoth", their ninth studio album, on June 22, 2010. It is the band's first proper studio album in six years, since 2004's "Circle of Snakes". Both Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly appeared on the record.


title: Danzig (band)

text: In 2009, movie director Todd Phillips chose Danzig's song "Thirteen" to open his film "The Hangover". Danzig later recorded a new song, "Black Hell", to appear in the 2011 sequel, "".


title: Danzig (band)

text: In January 2011, Danzig was announced for the 2011 Download Festival at Donington Park, England, alongside bands including Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, and System of a Down. On the first day of the festival, Danzig headlined the Pepsi Max stage. On June 12, 2011, Danzig played at the Nova Rock Festival.


title: Danzig (band)

text: On October 25, 2011, a greatest hits album entitled "The Essential Danzig" was to be released through Sony BMG. However, as of 2017, this has yet to happen, nor have details of the release been given.


title: Danzig (band)

text: October 2011 also saw a rare string of reunion shows called the "Danzig Legacy" tour. The shows consisted of a Danzig mini-set, followed by a Samhain mini-set, a set of Danzig and Doyle performing Misfits songs, and then ending with three Danzig songs and the performance of "Skulls".


title: Danzig (band)

text: In May 2012, Danzig released the song "Devil's Angels", the theme from the 1967 film of the same name, from "Skeletons". "I've wanted to record this song since 1979 and this is exactly the same arrangement I had for it back then, so it pretty much sounds like that late 70s style of mine. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, it actually came out much better than I had hoped it would. We're going to be playing it live on these upcoming shows."


title: Danzig (band)

text: In April 2013, Glenn Danzig told Full Metal Jackie that he would begin work on new Danzig material with Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly after the 25th anniversary tour. In February 2014, the band began recording three new songs for their 10th studio album. On March 20, 2017, it was announced that the album, titled "Black Laden Crown", will be released in mid-May of that year.


title: Danzig (band)

text: On September 4, 2015, Danzig released a 7" vinyl single, limited to 500 copies, of "Devil's Angels" to promote the covers album, "Skeletons".


title: Danzig (band)

text: In October, 2015, Glenn Danzig appeared on Sirius XM to debut the band's cover of "Always on My Mind" from the tentatively titled "Danzig Sings Elvis" album. In July 2016, the band's official Facebook page confirmed that "Danzig Sings Elvis" was finished and the album was released on 24 April 2020.


title: Danzig (band)

text: On May 26, 2017, Danzig released their first studio album in seven years titled "Black Laden Crown" on Nuclear Blast & AFM Records.


title: Danzig (band)

text: When asked in May 2020 by Billboard.com about the possibility of another Danzig album with all-new material, Glenn Danzig said, "For now, people are going to have to be happy with the "Danzig Sings Elvis" record, and I'll see in a couple years if I feel like recording another. If something comes in my mind, maybe I'll do another. Maybe I'll just give it away for free or something. I don't know. But as long as I'm having a good time, it doesn't really matter."


title: Sofia the First

text: Sofia the First is an American animated fantasy children's television series. The show follows a young peasant girl named Sofia (Ariel Winter), who becomes a princess after her mother marries the king of Enchancia. Episodes focus on her adventures and bonds with others, including her animal friends, with whom she communicates through an amulet that blesses and curses her based upon the goodness of her actions.


title: Sofia the First

text: Created by Craig Gerber, "Sofia the First" aimed to employ relatable situations in a fantasy world; according to Gerber, Sofia's position as a child of a single mother allowed the team to explore themes of adaptation and connect to modern children. The series pilot was broadcast on November 18, 2012, on Disney Channel. The series itself premiered on January 11, 2013, on Disney Junior, aired for four seasons, and concluded on September 8, 2018.


title: Sofia the First

text: "Sofia the First" was praised for its music, animation, characters, and messages. It received some of the highest viewership for a preschool cable television series; at one point, it became the category's most-watched program, with a variety of merchandise being influenced by the series, such as theme park rides and books. "Sofia the First" was nominated for 11 Daytime Emmy Awards, including two wins, and received the 2014 Annie Award for Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children. However, the series received criticism for incorrectly identifying its titular character as Latina; the controversy ultimately led to the creation of the spin-off "Elena of Avalor".


title: Sofia the First

text: A young girl named Sofia and her widowed mother, Miranda, have lived a peasant life in the kingdom of Enchancia. One day, the widowed King Roland of Enchancia and Miranda fall in love and get married. As she eases into her new role as a princess, Sofia goes on numerous adventures. She also bonds with her new family, including her step-siblings Amber and James, and settles into her new royal school, where Flora, Fauna and Merryweather from "Sleeping Beauty" are headmistresses.


title: Sofia the First

text: Roland gives Sofia an amulet, which blesses her for good deeds and curses her for wrongdoings. She becomes friends with rabbit Clover and birds Mia and Robin after the amulet gives her the ability to communicate with animals. The amulet also links "all the princesses there ever were", calling them to help each other when one is in need. Cedric, the royal sorcerer, regularly attempts to steal Sofia's amulet, knowing of its abilities. Cedric plans to use the power of the amulet to overthrow the royal family and take over the kingdom of Enchancia. As he grows closer to Sofia, however, he becomes doubtful about stealing the amulet, and eventually reveals his intentions and apologizes for his actions.


title: Sofia the First

text: In the third season, Sofia's Aunt Tilly gives her a special book that guides her to a secret library hidden in the castle. The library is filled with hundreds of unfinished books; Sofia is responsible for giving each story a happy ending. In the fourth season, a book leads her to the Mystic Isles, a land above the clouds where all magic originates. She saves the Isles from the evil crystal master Prisma and begins training to become the Protector of the Ever Realm. Prisma discovers evil sorceress Vor and frees her using the "Wicked Nine", in spite of Sofia and the other protectors' efforts to stop her. In the series finale, Sofia defeats Vor and officially becomes the Protector of the Ever Realm.


title: Sofia the First

text: For five years, Disney writers, child-development and early-education experts and storytelling consultants worked to create a television show that would bypass stereotypes of evil stepmothers and girls requiring princes to save them. Disney also wanted it to spawn various merchandise. Craig Gerber, who was writing for the company's "Tinker Bell" film series, was approached by Disney Junior's Nancy Kanter to create a television series about princesses aimed at children aged two to seven. Though excited to conceive a fantasy world and Princess fairy tale, Gerber wanted the show to be both entertaining and educational, teaching children how to be better people and solutions to social problems. His son often emulated a variety of fantasy characters with whom he had little in common. In the hopes the show could be a "magic mirror" for his son, Gerber employed relatable situations into the fantasy world, which became the genesis for Princess Sofia.


title: Sofia the First

text: As a child, Gerber lived with his single mother, and her boyfriend and his daughter, whom Gerber considered to be a "de-facto" stepsister. As an adult, he learnt that when step-siblings and parents were involved, ordinary childhood concerns were typically amplified. Decades later, while attempting to lend a contemporary viewpoint to a fairy tale world, he had an epiphany: He considered the possibilities if Sofia was not born a princess and instead married into a royal family. Step-sisters are a common theme in fairy tales. However, having a mixed royal family that included both a father and a mother appeared to be a prime opportunity to convey stories to which modern children could connect. According to Gerber, Sofia being the child of a single mother provided to a simple method to explore themes of adaptation. He hoped for Sofia to serve as a good role model in a society where many young girls desire to be princesses, demonstrating attributes and learning skills that young girls (and boys) could remember long after. Gerber planned to reference multicultural family dynamics as well.


title: Sofia the First

text: The editor of "Tangled" (2010) recommended Kevin Kliesch, who helped orchestrate the film, to Disney Channel as a composer for "Sofia the First". The network was positive towards his background, and he booked the job. Kliesch was usually given one to two weeks to write the music, meaning he had to compose for at least three minutes a day to meet this deadline. The score draws upon the sounds of previous Disney films, since the producers hoped to avoid "typical cartoon music". Similarly, in the original songs, Gerber and the composer included aspects of Motown, jazz, and hip-hop music, rather than "cloying kiddie sounds".


title: Sofia the First

text: The series pilot—the television film "Once Upon a Princess"—premiered on Disney Channel on November 18, 2012. The series itself premiered on January 11, 2013; the show aired on Disney Channel during its Disney Junior block, in addition to the 24-hour channel Disney Junior. "Sofia the First" was renewed for a second season two months later. In November, the series aired the special "The Floating Palace". Its first season concluded on February 14, 2014. A month earlier, the series had been renewed for a third season. The second season premiered on March 7, 2014, and concluded on August 12, 2015, with a primetime special, titled "The Curse of Princess Ivy", airing on November 23, 2014. On April 14, 2015, the series was renewed for a fourth and final season by Disney Junior, which began its broadcast on April 28, 2017. The extended series finale special "Forever Royal" was aired on September 8, 2018.


title: Sofia the First

text: The series premiere episode, titled "Just One of the Princes", was made available on several platforms, including Disney Channel SVOD and iTunes, on January 4, 2013, a week before its airdate. "Sofia the First" was streamable on Netflix; its second and fourth seasons were made available in January 2016 and October 2018, respectively. The show was moved to Disney+ after its Netflix contract expired. In October 2022, the series was released on Disney+ in the United States. Disney has also released several episodes on DVD, including "The Floating Palace", "The Curse of Princess Ivy", and the television film "Once Upon a Princess".


title: Sofia the First

text: "Sofia the First" has received generally positive reviews. In May 2020, "Time Out" named it one of the 30 best children's cartoons. The show's animation and music received praise. "IndieWire" Greg Ehrbar commended the fluidity in the cinematography and computer animation; Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media said the "crisp animation ... brings ... Sofia and a well-rounded supporting cast [to life]". The two praised the music as "lively" and "tuneful", respectively, with Ehrbar comparing the "lavishly orchestrated" score to that of a Disney animated feature.


title: Sofia the First

text: Critics lauded the characters. Ashby referred to Sofia as a "[s]punky, well-rounded princess", praising her influence on other characters and requests for advice when needed. She also thought the supporting cast displayed positive traits, such as loyalty, honesty, and friendship. Matt Villano, who writes for Today, enjoyed the titular character's villager friends, whom he believe emulate real-life modern teenagers. Ashby and Villano were positive towards "Sofia the First" themes. According to the latter, the series does not emphasize the characters' socioeconomic backgrounds and genders, as they can achieve anything they would like with enough determination. He and his wife often attempt to teach their children the morals communicated on the show and feel that "[i]t's nice to know that someone over at Disney finally has our backs".


title: Sofia the First

text: According to Dade Hayes, the executive editor of trade publication "Broadcasting & Cable", the show was deemed "risky", as it mostly aims to entertain rather than educate. "Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess" premiered on Disney Channel on November 18, 2012, garnering 8.17 million viewers (when the Live+7 ratings were tabulated), which made it the number one cable TV telecast of all time for kids 2–5 and girls 2–5. It also set a record for the number one preschool cable TV telecast ever in total viewers and for adults 18–49. The January 2013 series premiere was watched by 2.7 million people, making it the second highest-rated weekday preschool cable debut since August 2000. It also became the highest-rated preschool show premiere categories of kids aged 2–5, girls aged 2–5, adults aged 18–49, and women aged 18–49. By March 2013, "Sofia the First" was cable television's most-viewed preschool program; "The New York Times" described the show as "a monster-size new hit". In 2014, "The Curse of Princess Ivy" became the series second highest-rated telecast, garnering an average of approximately 4.7 million viewers. Across all television, it was the number one telecast for children and girls aged 2–5 at the time of broadcast.


title: Sofia the First

text: During a press tour in October 2012, a producer identified Sofia as a Latina. The announcement drew both praise and criticism from media outlets. Latinos and fans saw it as a new milestone for Disney and lauded the choice of a light skin tone for a Latina character. Others were critical that she did not have any cultural signifiers or ethnic identity and believed a darker skin tone would better represent the Latina community. A Disney Junior general manager later clarified: "Sofia is a fairytale girl who lives in a fairytale world. All our characters come from fantasy lands that may reflect elements of various cultures and ethnicities but none are meant to specifically represent those real world cultures". According to a Disney spokeswoman, Sofia has a mixed fairy-tale heritage; her mother and father are from Galdiz (which is based on Spain) and Freezenburg (which is based on Scandinavia), respectively.


title: Sofia the First

text: Following the controversy regarding Sofia's ethnicity, Gerber noticed the demand for a Latina princess; the idea "bubbled in [his] mind" and partially inspired the creation of spin-off series "Elena of Avalor", which stars a Latina princess as its titular character. She is introduced in "Sofia the First" special episode "Elena and the Secret of Avalor", in which Sofia discovers that Elena has been trapped inside her amulet for decades because of an invasion of Avalor by the evil sorceress Shuriki. Sofia and her family travel to Avalor to free Elena and restore the kingdom.


title: Sofia the First

text: In November 2022, Gerber reportedly expanded his deal with Disney. He began developing a "Sofia the First" spin-off that is set in the same world.


title: Sofia the First

text: In January 2013, Disney Junior published a hardcover picture book based on the series, which entered "The New York Times" Best Seller list, with approximately 450,000 copies sold. Most mainstream merchandise was first released from March to June of that year; the products immediately became best-sellers. At Toys "R" Us, the show's merchandise proved to be one of the some of the most popular toys from June to September. In 2013, merchandise related to "Sofia the First" and two other Disney Junior shows—"Jake and the Neverland Pirates" and "Doc McStuffins"—generated retails sales of $1.8 billion globally. The series was part of the "Disney Junior – Live on Stage!" at Disney's Hollywood Studios as well as Disney California Adventure. "Disney Junior Dance Party on Tour", a tour featuring a 90-minute concert, also includes "Sofia the First".


title: Jack Black filmography

text: Jack Black is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician, songwriter, and YouTuber. The following are his roles in film, television series and video games.


Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG, PC (20 March 1549) was a brother of Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII. With his brother, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England, he vied for control of their nephew, the young King Edward VI (). In 1547 Seymour became the fourth husband of Catherine Parr, who had been the sixth and last wife and queen of Henry VIII. During his marriage to Catherine Parr, Seymour involved the future Queen Elizabeth I (then 14 years old), who resided in his household, in flirtatious and possibly sexual behaviour.


title: Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley

text: Thomas Seymour was the son of Sir John Seymour and Margaret Wentworth. He was the younger brother of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1500–1552). He grew up at Wulfhall, the Seymour family home in Wiltshire. The Seymours were a family of country gentry, who, like most holders of manorial rights, traced their ancestry to a Norman origin.


text: Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, did not have a son although Henry hoped for a male heir. His interests turned elsewhere, to Thomas Seymour's sister Jane, one of Anne's ladies in waiting. Henry married Jane eleven days after Anne's execution in May 1536, and the Seymour brothers saw their fortunes rise, as they became part of the royal family. In October of the following year, Jane gave birth to a son, Edward Tudor, who would become King Edward VI. Her two brothers, Edward and Thomas, were, therefore, uncles to the baby Edward, heir to the throne. Less than two weeks later, Queen Jane died from complications related to childbirth.


text: Thomas Seymour's other royal connection was with Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth wife, whom Seymour would later marry, after Henry's death. In 1543 Catherine Parr established herself as part of Princess Mary's household, where she caught the attention of the King. Although she had already begun a romantic relationship with Thomas Seymour, she saw it as her duty to accept Henry's proposal.


text: In 1538, Thomas Seymour was sent to the embassy at the French court. He was one of those appointed to meet Anne of Cleves, King Henry's fourth wife, at Calais on 13 December 1539. A few weeks later he was sent to King Ferdinand I of Hungary, brother of Emperor Charles V, to enlist support for Henry against France and Scotland. He arrived in Vienna in July, and remained there for two years. In May 1543, he was appointed ambassador to the Habsburg court in Brussels. He was given this posting to remove him from King Henry's court, in view of the King's marriage to Catherine Parr.


text: War breaking out between England and France, Seymour was made marshal of the English army in the Netherlands on 26 June 1543, being second in command to Sir John Wallop. On 24 July, with a strong detachment, he captured and destroyed the castles of Rinquecen and Arbrittayne near the French port of Boulogne. For a short time, he held the chief command during Wallop's illness. Due to his position of privilege as a royal uncle and as a reward for his services, Seymour was made Master-General of the Ordnance in 1544 and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1545, both senior military positions.


text: Seymour returned to court just before Henry VIII died in January 1547, leaving Catherine one of the wealthiest women in England. According to the King's will, a regency council was constituted to rule on behalf of the nine-year-old orphaned King Edward. Thomas Seymour became 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, and his older brother Edward became Duke of Somerset, and is often, therefore, referred to as "Somerset". In addition, Thomas Seymour saw his brother rise, amid the contentious and dangerous politics of the English Reformation, to the position of chief councillor with an approved title of "Protector" regent, referred to unofficially as Lord Protector of England, in effect, ruler of the realm as regent for his nephew, the king. Thomas began to resent his brother and the relationship between them began to dissolve. Although Thomas was named Lord High Admiral as a concession, he was consumed by jealousy of his brother's power and influence and worked to unseat and replace his brother as Lord Protector.


text: Thomas Seymour sought to overturn his brother's position on the regency council by his personal influence over the young king, and also possibly by making a royal marriage. Although his name had been linked to Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond, he was still unmarried at the time of Henry VIII's death. He had previously shown some interest in marrying either of Henry's daughters, Elizabeth or Mary; however, within weeks of Henry's death, Thomas Seymour had rekindled the affair with Catherine Parr, and they were secretly married in April or May 1547, too soon after the king's death to suit many. Anne Stanhope, Somerset's proud wife, disliked Catherine and Thomas and began to turn many people in court against them.


text: Upon their marriage, Seymour moved into his wife's house, at Chelsea Manor in London, where she lived with her step-daughter, the 14-year-old Elizabeth. Seymour was the uncle of Elizabeth's half-brother, and the newly-wed husband of her stepmother. Now, living under the same roof as Elizabeth, Thomas Seymour began to show affection toward Elizabeth, tickling her, and slapping her on her behind as she lay in her bed, or coming into her room in his nightclothes. Her governess, Kat Ashley, thought this scandalous, and reported it to Catherine. Indignant, Seymour retorted, 'By God's precious soul, I mean no evil, and I will not leave it!' At first, Catherine dismissed the behaviour as innocent fun, and even joined in the behaviour on a few occasions. Elizabeth's feelings regarding this behaviour are unknown, but it was said that she bore Thomas some degree of affection; and though her governess "bade him go away in shame," she found him more amusing than dangerous. When Catherine was pregnant in the spring of 1548, she had become concerned enough about her husband's flirtatious relationship with Elizabeth that she sent Elizabeth away to live with Anthony Denny and his wife, Joan Champernowne (Kat Ashley's sister), in Hertfordshire.


text: In June 1548, Catherine and Thomas Seymour moved their household from London to Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, the property granted to Seymour when he became Baron Seymour of Sudeley. In September 1548, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Mary Seymour. In the following days, she became uncharacteristically hostile and delusional. Thomas lay in bed with her to quiet her, but she did not get better, and died of childbirth complications, just before Elizabeth's 15th birthday. Upon her death, Catherine bequeathed all of her possessions to Thomas, making him one of the wealthiest men in England. He said he was "amazed" at her death; yet it opened up new opportunities for him, as his eye returned to Elizabeth. She avoided him, returning with her governess to her childhood home, Hatfield House in Hertfordshire.


text: Despite his great wealth and high position, Thomas Seymour could not come to terms with his brother's appointment as protector; and in his struggle with Somerset, he tried to ingratiate himself with the king, who was merely a child. He sought the 9-year-old Edward to write a letter on his behalf in support of his marriage to the dowager queen, Catherine Parr. The letter was obviously dictated by Thomas for Edward's signature and only enraged Somerset. He began to visit Edward frequently, secretly giving him an extravagant allowance of coins, so that Edward might be satisfied in feeling more grown-up and more king-like, giving gifts to his servants, teachers, and friends. Even though he lived in sumptuous splendour and wanting for nothing, no provisions had been made for Edward's pocket money; he became accustomed to these regular payments and began to ask Seymour freely for his allowance.


text: Thomas continued his manipulation of the king. In trying to get a bill through Parliament making him Edward's personal governor, Seymour requested Edward's royal signature on the bill. But Edward was uncertain and reluctant to go behind the back of the protector, Somerset, and of the regency council, and he would not sign it. Seymour persistently pressured Edward, until Edward felt threatened. But Seymour did not give up. He tried to persuade Edward that he did not need a protector, getting Edward to admit that it might be better for Somerset to die. It is not known what the king meant by this, but it was probably uttered innocently. Seymour intended that the king's royal signature and personal support would destabilize Somerset's position as protector, and as a member of the regency council. In his frustration and inability to gain any significant influence over the king, Thomas Seymour began to think in terms of open rebellion.


text: In the summer of 1547, Somerset invaded Scotland. During his absence from the court, his brother, Thomas, fomented opposition to his authority, voicing open disapproval of his brother's administrative skills. Because his activities seemed suspicious, several members of the nobility advised him to be content with his position, but he would not listen. As Lord High Admiral, he was able to control the English navy, and he openly asked for support in case of a rebellion. He entered into relations with pirates on the western coasts, whom it was his duty as Lord High Admiral to suppress, with a view to securing their support. Thomas seems also to have hoped to finance a rebellion through crooked dealings with the vice-treasurer of the Bristol Mint, Sir William Sharington.


text: By 1548, the regency council was becoming aware of Thomas's bid for power. Somerset tried to save his brother from ruin, calling a council meeting so that Thomas might explain himself. However, Thomas did not appear. On the night of 16 January 1549, for reasons that are not clear (perhaps to take the young king away in his own custody), Seymour was caught trying to break into the King's apartments at Hampton Court Palace. He entered the privy garden and woke one of the King's pet spaniels. In response to the dog's barking, he shot and killed it. The next day, he was arrested and sent to the Tower of London. The incident, being caught outside the king's bedroom, at night, with a loaded pistol, was interpreted in the most menacing light, even casting suspicion on Elizabeth's involvement with Thomas. On 18 January, the council sent agents to question everyone associated with Thomas, including Elizabeth. On 22 February, the council officially accused him of thirty-three charges of treason. He was convicted of treason, condemned to death and executed on 20 March 1549. Catherine's brother William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, inherited Sudeley castle.


text: When he was arrested for treason, Seymour's associates were also cast under suspicion, including 15-year-old Elizabeth. She did not realize her own danger until her servants, including her governess Kat Ashley, were also arrested. Upon realizing that Thomas would probably be executed, she was noticeably disconsolate, trying to free herself and her servants from suspicion. The regency council was sure of her complicity with Thomas, and sought to bully an easy confession from her. She was interrogated for weeks. But the council found itself in a sharply defined game of wits with Elizabeth, who proved to be a master of logic, defiance, and shrewdness. The embarrassing details of Seymour's flirtatious behaviour came to light but there was no evidence that Elizabeth had conspired with him.


text: After his execution, all of Seymour's property was seized by the Crown. His attainder was reversed by Parliament in 1550, although the property was not returned to Mary Seymour, his only child; she is believed to have died at about the age of two, soon afterwards.


text: To his contemporaries, he appeared forceful and reckless, and also attractive to women. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, a boyhood friend of King Edward, described Thomas Seymour as "hardy, wise and liberal ... fierce in courage, courtly in fashion, in personage stately, in voice magnificent, but somewhat empty of matter".


text: In the 1953 film "Young Bess" (based on the novel of the same title by Margaret Irwin), Stewart Granger was cast as Seymour. The plot, largely a romance between him and Princess Elizabeth (played by 24-year-old Jean Simmons), had little historical accuracy.


text: In the 2007 Showtime television show "The Tudors", Andrew McNair portrays Seymour. He appears in seasons three and four.


text: He is a character in the C. J. Sansom novel "Revelation", featuring Sansom's fictional lawyer/detective Matthew Shardlake. He is portrayed as a hot-headed military man, with designs on Catherine Parr, in the months before the latter's marriage to Henry VIII. He reappears as a secondary character in the next two novels in the series, "Heartstone" and "Lamentation".


text: Norah Lofts, in her biography of Walter Raleigh "Here Was a Man", suggests that Elizabeth was attracted to Raleigh because he reminded her of Seymour.


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: Caitlin Jean Stasey (born 1 May 1990) is an Australian actress and singer. She is known for her role as Rachel Kinski in "Neighbours". Previously she played Francesca Thomas in "The Sleepover Club", although her breakthrough movie role came in "Tomorrow, When the War Began", a 2010 movie adaptation of the teen novel of the same name in which she played lead protagonist Ellie Linton. She also played Lady Kenna in the American series "Reign" from 2013 to 2015 and had a recurring role in the ABC2 series "Please Like Me" from 2013 to 2016. In 2017, Stasey starred as Ada on the Fox television drama "APB", which was cancelled after one season in May 2017.


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: Caitlin was born in Melbourne, Victoria, where she was raised with her younger sister Victoria. Her parents are David and Sally.


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: Stasey attended Star of the Sea College. In 2000, at the age of ten, she travelled the world as a member of the Australian Girls Choir, and took part in a re-recording of Peter Allen's "I Still Call Australia Home", for a Qantas commercial.


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: Stasey made a career breakthrough in September 2003 when she was cast in the children's TV series "The Sleepover Club", playing Francesca 'Frankie' Thomas, the self-appointed leader of the club. Stasey made a brief return to the character of Frankie, in the second series of "The Sleepover Club" in 2006.


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: After a year studying and attending auditions, in April 2005 "Neighbours" casting director Jan Russ cast her as Rachel Kinski. Her first episode was aired on 18 August. Stasey left Star of the Sea College after landing the part of Rachel, but continued to study on a distance education programme. In September 2008, Stasey announced in an interview to the "Herald Sun" that she would be leaving "Neighbours" in the coming weeks, primarily to concentrate on her end of year VCE exams. The producers stated that her character would not be 'killed-off', allowing Stasey the chance to return. Stasey said "I want to know that when I finish my exams and get my score, it is representative of my abilities, my exams start in November and I want to be able to give them my full concentration."


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: In 2008, Stasey was chosen to star in the movie adaptation of the teen novel, "Tomorrow, When the War Began" as the lead character Ellie Linton, a teenage girl who documents her time with a group of friends fighting the invasion of Australia. During 2008, Stasey was linked to the live action film of video game/comic series "Wonder Boy". However, it was shut down by Sega. Robin Morningstar revived the project as a CGI movie, but Stasey withdrew to be in the film adaptation "Tomorrow, When the War Began". Her CGI character, although with a new voice, retains her face. In December 2008, she appeared in the Christmas pantomime "Snow White" at Norwich Theatre Royal.


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: From 2013 to 2015, Stasey appeared in the American television series "Reign" as Kenna, a lady-in-waiting to Mary, Queen of Scots. From 2013 to 2016, she had a recurring role in the ABC2 series "Please Like Me".


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: In 2013, she starred in the independent comedy-horror film "All Cheerleaders Die" as Maddy. The following year, she appeared in the movie "I, Frankenstein" as Keziah from the gargoyle order.


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: On 22 February 2016, Stasey was cast in the Fox drama "APB" as Ada Hamilton, The pilot received a series order on 10 May. which premiered in February 2017. The show was cancelled after one season in May 2017.


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: In 2007, Stasey reportedly turned down a recording contract offered to her by Tom Nichols, who did the same for former "Neighbours" star Stephanie McIntosh. About it she said "acting is my main passion and I wanted to concentrate my efforts on that, although most actors have that triple threat of being able to sing, dance and act."


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: On 19 May 2008, Stasey sang a duet with fellow "Neighbours" cast member Dean Geyer (Ty Harper), performed at the Erinsborough High School Formal. Released to the Australian iTunes store, it peaked at number 40 on the ARIA Digital Tracks chart.


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: Stasey says of her sexuality, "I know it troubles many people for me to refer to myself as a lesbian considering I have a male partner... I'm trying to steer as far from labeling as possible. Compartmentalizing myself only leads to condemnation and contradiction. I'm happier being fluid and I'm happier being honest." She has also referred to herself as pansexual. In a 2015 interview for her website, Herself.com, Stasey stated that she is in a "somewhat open relationship with the love of my life".


title: Caitlin Stasey

text: As of 2014, Stasey was living in Los Angeles. Stasey was married to American actor Lucas Neff, but they are no longer together.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: The Killing Fields is a 1984 British biographical drama film about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which is based on the experiences of two journalists: Cambodian Dith Pran and American Sydney Schanberg. It was directed by Roland Joffé and produced by David Puttnam for his company Goldcrest Films. Sam Waterston stars as Schanberg, Haing S. Ngor as Pran, Julian Sands as Jon Swain, and John Malkovich as Al Rockoff. The adaptation for the screen was written by Bruce Robinson; the musical score was written by Mike Oldfield and orchestrated by David Bedford.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: The film was a success at the box office and an instant hit with critics. At the 57th Academy Awards it received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture; it won three, most notably Best Supporting Actor for Haing S. Ngor, who had no previous acting experience, as well as Best Cinematography and Best Editing. At the 38th British Academy Film Awards, it won eight BAFTAs, including Best Film and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Ngor.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: In 1999 the British Film Institute voted "The Killing Fields" the 100th greatest British film of the 20th century. In 2016 British film magazine "Empire" ranked it number 86 in their list of the 100 best British films.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: In 1973 Phnom Penh, the Cambodian national army wages a civil war with the communist Khmer Rouge group. Dith Pran, a Cambodian journalist and interpreter for "The New York Times", awaits the arrival of reporter Sydney Schanberg at the city's airport, but leaves suddenly. Schanberg takes a cab to his hotel where he meets up with photographer Al Rockoff. Pran meets Schanberg later and tells him that an American B-52 has allegedly bombed Neak Leung. After Schanberg and Pran go to the town and confirm the allegation, they are arrested when they try to photograph the execution of two Khmer Rouge operatives. They are eventually released and Schanberg is furious when the international press corps arrives with the U.S. Army.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: Two years later, in 1975, the Phnom Penh embassies are evacuated in anticipation of the Khmer Rouge's arrival. Schanberg secures evacuation for Pran's family, but Pran insists on staying behind to help Schanberg. The Khmer Rouge move into the capital, ostensibly in peace. During a parade through the city, Schanberg and Rockoff are met by a detachment of the Khmer Rouge, who immediately arrest them. The group is taken to a back alley where prisoners are being held and executed. Pran, unharmed because he is a Cambodian civilian, negotiates to spare his friends' lives, and the group retreats to the French embassy. The Khmer Rouge orders all Cambodian citizens in the embassy to be handed over, to which the fearful ambassador complies. Knowing that Pran will be imprisoned or killed, Rockoff and fellow photographer Jon Swain try to forge a British passport for Pran, but the deception fails when Pran's image on the passport photo disappears, as they lack adequate photographic fixer. Pran is turned over to the Khmer Rouge and forced to live under their totalitarian regime.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: Several months after returning to New York City, Schanberg launches a personal campaign to locate Pran; he writes letters to several charities and maintains close contact with Pran's family in San Francisco. In Cambodia, Pran has become a forced labourer under the Khmer Rouge's "Year Zero" policy, a return to the agrarian ways of the past. Pran is also forced to attend propagandist classes where many undergo re-education. As intellectuals are made to disappear, Pran feigns simple-mindedness. Eventually, he tries to escape and stumbles upon one of the Pol Pot regime's Killing Fields before he is recaptured. In 1976, Schanberg is awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Cambodian conflict, and he tells the audience that half the recognition for the award belongs to Pran. Rockoff confronts Schanberg and harshly accuses him of not doing enough to locate Pran and for using his friend to win the award. Although Schanberg initially defends his efforts, he ultimately admits that Pran stayed because of what Schanberg wanted.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: Pran is assigned to the leader of a different prison compound, a man named Phat, and charged mostly with tending to Phat's young son. Pran continues to behave as an uneducated peasant, despite several attempts by Phat to catch him in his deception. Phat begins to trust Pran and asks him to take ward of his son in the event that he is killed. During the Khmer Rouge's border war with Vietnam, Pran discovers that Phat's son has American money and a map leading to safety. When Phat tries to stop the younger Khmer Rouge officers from killing several of his comrades, he is ignominiously shot. In the confusion, Pran escapes with four other prisoners and they begin a long trek through the jungle with Phat's son. The group later splits and three of them head in a different direction; Pran continues following the map with the fourth man. However, Pran's companion activates a hidden land mine while holding the boy. As Pran pleads with the man to give him the boy, the mine goes off, killing the pair. Pran continues through the jungle alone until he eventually finds a Red Cross refugee camp near the border of Thailand. In the United States, Schanberg learns that Pran is alive and safe, and reunites with Pran at the Red Cross camp. Pran assures Schanberg of his forgiveness as the two embrace.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: David Puttnam asked to see me, which in those days was a bit like being invited out to Hollywood. He gave me Bruce Robinson's script, which was enormous, but it was so full of passion and energy I couldn't put it down. I'd heard about Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge, but didn't know much until I read it. I wrote to David saying that whoever made the film would have to be careful because it wasn't just a war story: it was about human connection, how friendships are born and what they do to us. I didn't hear from him for six months, then we bumped into one another and he said he'd interviewed most of the directors in the world – including some very big names who would make the studios happy – but no one had really understood it. "You're the only man who has," he said.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: Roland's audition process was extraordinary. I was 24 and I've never come across anything as rigorous since. He was looking to put together a troupe of actors without much film experience, because he wanted the freshness of everything to resonate with us. He would gather lots of us in his office to improvise scenes. After about a month, he had a group he found interesting. John Malkovich, Sam Waterston and Haing S. Ngor weren't subject to that, but their meetings with him were still pretty intense. A lot was made of the fact that Haing hadn't acted before, but John put it differently: he said Haing had been acting his whole life – you had to be a pretty good actor to survive the Khmer Rouge.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: "The Killing Fields" holds a 93% rating at the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 40 reviews, with the consensus; "Artfully composed, powerfully acted, and fueled by a powerful blend of anger and empathy, "The Killing Fields" is a career-defining triumph for director Roland Joffé and a masterpiece of cinema." Critic Roger Ebert wrote in the "Chicago Sun-Times": "The film is a masterful achievement on all the technical levels—it does an especially good job of convincing us with its Asian locations—but the best moments are the human ones, the conversations, the exchanges of trust, the waiting around, the sudden fear, the quick bursts of violence, the desperation." John Simon of the National Review wrote- "For all its flaws The Killing Fields is an important, indeed necessary, film".


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: The film has been criticized by some who lived through the actual events. The real Al Rockoff expressed dissatisfaction at the portrayals of himself and Schanberg, while Denis Cameron sought to have his consultative credit removed upon watching the completed film.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: Besides its place as 100th on the BFI Top 100 British films list, "The Killing Fields" is also 30th on Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Tearjerkers, and 60th on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers list.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: "The Killing Fields" was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in Australia in March 2010. The DVD includes special features such as the theatrical trailer, audio commentary with Roland Joffé, an interview with David Puttnam and a BBC documentary titled "The Making of The Killing Fields". In April 2013 Umbrella Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray in Australia.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: In the UK, the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Optimum Releasing and was released in North America on DVD by Warner Brothers, as part of their Warner Archive Collection.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: Haing S. Ngor, who plays Pran, was himself a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime and the labour camps. Prior to the Khmer Rouge's 'Year Zero' he was a doctor based in Phnom Penh. In 1975, Ngor was one of millions who were moved from the city to forced labour camps in the countryside. He spent four years there before fleeing to Thailand.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: Haing S. Ngor had never acted before appearing in "The Killing Fields". He was spotted by the film's casting director, Pat Golden, at a Cambodian wedding in Los Angeles.


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: Of his role in the film, he told "People" magazine in 1985: "I wanted to show the world how deep starvation is in Cambodia, how many people die under Communist regime. My heart is satisfied. I have done something perfect."


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: Ngor became one of only two non-professional actors to win an Academy Award for acting, the other being Harold Russell ("The Best Years of Our Lives", 1946).


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: The screenplay is adapted from a Sydney Schanberg story in "The New York Times Magazine" entitled "The Death and Life of Dith Pran: A Story of Cambodia".


title: The Killing Fields (film)

text: In 1986, actor Spalding Gray, who had a small role in the film as the American consul, created "Swimming to Cambodia", a monologue (later filmed by Jonathan Demme) based upon his experiences making "The Killing Fields".


title: Mini (marque)

text: Mini (stylised as MINI) is a British automotive marque founded in 1969, owned by German automotive company BMW since 2000, and used by them for a range of small cars assembled in the United Kingdom, Austria and the Netherlands. The word Mini has been used in car model names since 1959, and in 1969 it became a marque in its own right when the name "Mini" replaced the separate "Austin Mini" and "Morris Mini" car model names. BMW acquired the marque in 1994 when it bought Rover Group (formerly British Leyland), which owned Mini, among other brands.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The original Mini was a line of British small cars manufactured by the British Motor Corporation (BMC), which in 1966 became part of British Motor Holdings. This merged with Leyland Motors in 1968 to form British Leyland. In the 1980s, British Leyland was broken-up and in 1988 Rover Group, including Mini, was acquired by British Aerospace. Mini models included the Morris Mini-Minor and the Austin Seven, the Countryman, Moke, 1275GT and . Performance versions of these models used the name , due to a partnership with racing legend John Cooper. The original Mini continued in production until 2000.


title: Mini (marque)

text: Development of a modern successor to the Mini began in 1995 and an entirely new Mini model was launched in 2001 by BMW. The current Mini range includes the Hardtop/Hatch/Convertible (three-door hatchback), Clubman (estate), Countryman (five-door crossover), Coupe/Roadster and Paceman (three-door crossover based on the Countryman).


title: Mini (marque)

text: The Mini Hatch/Hardtop, Clubman, Coupe and Roadster are assembled at BMW's Plant Oxford in Cowley, England. The Mini Convertible and Countryman are assembled at VDL Nedcar in Born (Netherlands), the Mini Hatch/Hardtop is also assembled here besides the Oxford plant. The Paceman was until 2016 assembled by Magna Steyr in Austria. A total of 301,526 Mini vehicles were sold worldwide in 2012. Mini vehicles have been active in rallying and the Mini Cooper S won the Monte Carlo Rally on three occasions, in 1964, 1965 and 1967. Mini has participated in the World Rally Championship since 2011 through the Prodrive WRC Team.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The original two-door Mini was a small car produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors from 1959 until 2000. It is considered an icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout (which allowed 80% of the area of the car's floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage) influenced a generation of car-makers. The vehicle is in some ways considered the British equivalent to its German contemporary, the Volkswagen Beetle, which enjoyed similar popularity in North America. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th Century, behind the Ford Model T.


title: Mini (marque)

text: This distinctive two-door car was designed for BMC by Sir Alec Issigonis. It was manufactured at the Longbridge and Cowley plants in England, the Victoria Park / Zetland British Motor Corporation (Australia) factory in Sydney, Australia, and later also in Spain (Authi), Belgium, Chile, Italy (Innocenti), Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yugoslavia. 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 pickup truck, a van and the Mini Moke—a jeep-like buggy. The Mini Cooper and Cooper "S" were sportier versions that were successful as rally cars, winning the Monte Carlo Rally four times from 1964 through to 1967, although in 1966 the Mini was disqualified after the finish, along with six other British entrants, which included the first four cars to finish, under a questionable ruling that the cars had used an illegal combination of headlamps and spotlights.


title: Mini (marque)

text: Initially Minis were marketed under the Austin and Morris names, as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor, until Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969. The Mini was again marketed under the Austin name in the 1980s.


title: Mini (marque)

text: In the 1990s, BMW was seeking to broaden its model range through the addition of compact cars and SUVs. This sparked a series of compact car concept vehicles from the company during the early 1990s. The first were the E1 and Z13, powered by an electric motor and a rear-mounted 1100 cc BMW motorcycle engine, respectively.


title: Mini (marque)

text: In early 1994, BMW acquired the Rover Group from British Aerospace, which owned Mini, among other brands. BMW insisted that even a compact model must feature traditional BMW characteristics (such as rear wheel drive) to uphold the company's standards and image. The "MINI" brand, however, did not share these standards and BMW saw this as an opportunity to create a competitively priced, yet premium, compact car. This formed BMW's plan to launch the premium BMW 1 Series and the mid-range Mini.


title: Mini (marque)

text: It was at around this time that Rover, too, was working on a successor to the original Mini. Its first concept was the ACV30 which was unveiled at the 1997 Monte Carlo Rally. The name was partially an acronym of "Anniversary Concept Vehicle", whilst the '30' represented the 30 years that had passed since a Mini first won the Monte Carlo Rally. The vehicle itself was a two-door coupe powered by a rear-mounted MG F engine.


title: Mini (marque)

text: Just months later, Rover released another concept, this time, a pair of vehicles called Spiritual and Spiritual Too. These vehicles were a more realistic attempt to create a modern Mini, and coincided with BMW's official creation of the Mini project. Although the two-door and four-door pair wore Mini badges, both vehicles remained purely concepts.


title: Mini (marque)

text: In 1998, BMW set out on creating the production Mini. The first aspect that was considered was the design, which was chosen from 15 full-sized design studies. Five of these designs came from BMW Germany, another five from BMW Designworks in California, four from Rover and one from an outside studio in Italy. The chosen design was from BMW Designworks and was designed by American designer, Frank Stephenson. Stephenson penned the new Mini One R50 and Mini Cooper leading the team which developed the E50 car in Munich (parallel development in England by the team at Rover having been dropped in 1995). This design, being a city car, also fitted into BMW's plan of two compact cars, leaving the supermini class for the BMW 1 Series. After the launch of the new Mini, Stephenson told automotive magazine Autocar:


title: Mini (marque)

text: The last Mark VII Mini, and the 5,387,862nd and final original two-door Mini to be produced, a red Cooper Sport, was built at the Longbridge plant in October 2000. The car was driven off the production line by the pop singer Lulu, and was subsequently housed at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, alongside the first Mini Mark I ever made. The new generation Mini Hatch/Hardtop went on sale in July 2001 and was an immediate sales success.


title: Mini (marque)

text: In February 2005, BMW announced an investment of £100 million in the Mini plant in Oxford, United Kingdom, creating 200 new jobs and enabling production output to be increased by 20%.


title: Mini (marque)

text: At the North American International Auto Show in January 2011, BMW announced that it would be extending the Mini range with the launch of two new two-door sports crossover vehicles based on the Mini Paceman concept car, with a coupe version planned to enter production in 2011 and a roadster to follow in 2012.


title: Mini (marque)

text: In June 2011, BMW announced an investment of £500 million in the UK over the subsequent three years as part of an expansion of the Mini range to seven models.


title: Mini (marque)

text: In July 2017, BMW has announced that an electric Mini model will be built at the Cowley plant, in Oxford, that will start production in 2019. It will also be produced in China.


title: Mini (marque)

text: On 1 April 2019, BMW named Bernd Körber as director of the Mini brand and replaced Peter Schwarzenbauer.


title: Mini (marque)

text: Launched in August 1959, the Mark 1 Mini (code name ADO 15) was initially marketed as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor.


title: Mini (marque)

text: Mark I Minis can be identified by exterior door hinges, sliding door glass, tail lights smaller than later cars and a "mustache" grille.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The A-series engine came in a wide range of capacities, initially as an 848 cc, but later the 997, 998, 1071 and 1275 cc engines were added.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The non-Cooper cars had gearboxes with the "magic wand" selector, with 4-speeds (no synchromesh on 1st) while the Coopers has a remote shift selector.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The Mini received some minor modifications in 1967 as sold as the Austin or Morris Mini in most markets.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The Mark III Mini was launched in 1969, which was an updated version of Mark II with a modified bodyshell. The most visible changes were larger doors with concealed hinges. The boot lid lost the original hinged number plate and its recess shape and a large rear colour-coded lamp was fitted in its place, along with larger rear side windows. Sliding windows were 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. Production at the Cowley plant was ended, and the simple name "Mini" completely replaced the separate Austin and Morris brands.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The Mark IV, launched in 1976, introduced a front rubber mounted subframe with single tower bolts and larger bushes in the rear frame. In addition twin stalk indicators were introduced with larger foot pedals, and from 1977 onwards the rear indicator lamps had the reverse lights incorporated in them.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The Mark V, launched in 1984, introduced brake discs and plastic wheel arches (mini special arches) but retained the same Mark IV body shell shape.


title: Mini (marque)

text: For the Mark VI, launched in 1990, the engine mounting points were moved forward to take 1,275 cc power units, and includes the HIF carburettor version, plus the single point fuel injected car which came out in 1991. The 998 cc power units were discontinued. Internal bonnet release were fitted from 1992.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The Mark VII, launched in 1996, was the final version of the original two-door Mini. For this model twin point injection with front-mounted radiator was introduced, along with a full-width dashboard and driver's side airbag.


title: Mini (marque)

text: All Mini models since 2001 have different variants, including One (entry-level), Cooper, Cooper S (sporty), and John Cooper Works (JCW) (high-end).


title: Mini (marque)

text: The hatchback/hardtop Mini was the first model of the new generation Mini, introduced in 2001, and was back then known as simply "Mini". It was available in Cooper, Cooper S and One variations at launch. In many European markets, the Mini One was powered by a 1.4-litre I4 version of the Tritec engine but all other petrol powered Minis used the 1.6-litre I4 version. The Cooper S and JCW models included a supercharger intake system. This generation of minis was the only production model to have one, replaced by a turbocharger from the second generation onwards.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The names "Cooper" and "Cooper S" followed the names used for the sportier version of the classic Mini, which in turn come from the involvement of John Cooper and the Cooper Car Company. The Cooper heritage was further emphasised with the "John Cooper Works" (JCW) range of tuning options that are available with the Mini. John Cooper also created a one-off racing model of the Mini Cooper S named the Mini Cooper S Works. This car featured many extras which help to improve performance, such as a racing exhaust and air filter as well as uprated suspension. The car also had one-of-a-kind racing wheels.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The Mk I Mini One, Cooper and Cooper S used some version of the reliable, Brazilian-built Tritec engine, co-developed by Chrysler & BMW; the Mini One D used a Toyota-built 1ND-TV diesel engine. In August 2006, BMW announced that future engines would be built in the UK, making the car essentially British-built again; final assembly took place at Oxford, and the body pressings were made in nearby Swindon at BMW's Swindon Pressings Ltd subsidiary.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The last Mk I variant was the Mini Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP Kit: a light-weight, quasi-race-prepped John Cooper Works model. Hand-finished by Bertone in Italy, it was offered as a limited-production run of 2,000 cars during the 2006 model year, with 444 of those originally intended for the UK market (although ultimately, 459 were sold).


title: Mini (marque)

text: At the 2004 Salon International de l'Auto, Mini introduced a convertible model which was released in the 2005 model year and available in One, Cooper and Cooper S trim versions.


title: Mini (marque)

text: The convertible roof is fully automatic—an unusual feature in such a small car—and can be opened partially to act as a sunroof whilst the car is driving at speed. The convertible model forsakes the rear hatchback of the Hardtop Mini, replacing it with a drop down 'tailgate' that is reminiscent of the classic Mini—it incorporates similarly prominent external hinges, and with the roof in the closed position, the rear roof section and luggage shelf can be raised with two handles, semi-tailgate style, to access the luggage space easier. The convertible also adds two small power windows for the rear seat passengers which are lowered automatically when the roof opens. The roof is made from a heavy cloth, with many layers of insulation; the rear window is glass with an integral heater/defroster, but no washer or wiper.


title: Mini (marque)

text: At the 2007 North American International Auto Show, Mini introduced the limited edition Mini Cooper S Sidewalk Convertible. It had a top speed of and accelerates from in 7.9 seconds. The engine provides and of torque.


title: Mini (marque)

text: Mini introduced an all-new second generation of the Hardtop/Hatch model in November 2006, on a re-engineered platform incorporating many stylistic and engineering changes. It utilises the Prince engine, the architecture of which is shared with PSA Peugeot Citroën and is designed to be more cost-effective and fuel-efficient, and is manufactured at the BMW Hams Hall engine plant in Warwickshire, United Kingdom. The development and engineering was done in Munich, Germany at BMW Group headquarters, and by external third parties. Although the new model looks very similar to its predecessor, every panel was different and new safety requirements resulted in the overall length increasing by .


title: Mini (marque)

text: The second generation Mini was introduced in the Cooper and Cooper S trim levels; the range was added to in 2007 with the Mini One. For the first time, there was a diesel-powered Cooper, available from April 2007, and badged as the Cooper D, which was supplemented in January 2011 with a new 2.0 L diesel for the automatic Cooper and high performance Cooper SD. The Convertible and Clubman versions followed later. In 2009, the Mini First trim level was launched in the UK, which is a low-end, petrol-only version, with less power and a lower speed. The Mini John Cooper Works Challenge is a purpose-built race car, based on the Mini Hatch, and manufactured in the BMW Motorsport factory located in Munich. It was unveiled in 2007 at the IAA Motor Show. In 2009 a John Cooper Works World Championship 50 special edition was unveiled in 2009 Mini United Festival in Silverstone.