title: Rhyming slang

text: In the 20th century, rhyming slang began to be based on the names of celebrities — Gregory Peck (neck; cheque), Ruby Murray [as Ruby] (curry), Alan Whicker [as "Alan Whickers"] (knickers), Puff Daddy (caddy), Max Miller (pillow [pronounced ]), Meryl Streep (cheap), Nat King Cole ("dole"), Britney Spears (beers, tears), Henry Halls (balls) — and after pop culture references — Captain Kirk (work), Pop Goes the Weasel (diesel), Mona Lisa (pizza), Mickey Mouse (Scouse), Wallace and Gromit (vomit), Brady Bunch (lunch), Bugs Bunny (money), Scooby-Doo (clue), Winnie the Pooh (shoe), and "Schindler's List" (pissed). Some words have numerous definitions, such as dead ("Father Ted", "gone to bed", brown bread), door (Roger Moore, Andrea Corr, George Bernard Shaw, Rory O'Moore), cocaine (Kurt Cobain; [as "Charlie"] Bob Marley, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Gianluca Vialli, oats and barley; [as "line"] Patsy Cline; [as "powder"] Niki Lauda), flares ("Lionel Blairs", "Tony Blairs", "Rupert Bears", "Dan Dares"), etc.


title: Rhyming slang

text: Many examples have passed into common usage. Some substitutions have become relatively widespread in England in their contracted form. "To have a butcher's", meaning to have a look, originates from "butcher's hook", an S-shaped hook used by butchers to hang up meat, and dates from the late nineteenth century but has existed independently in general use from around the 1930s simply as "butchers". Similarly, "use your loaf", meaning "use your head", derives from "loaf of bread" and also dates from the late nineteenth century but came into independent use in the 1930s.


title: Rhyming slang

text: Conversely usages have lapsed, or been usurped ("Hounslow Heath" for teeth, was replaced by "Hampsteads" from the heath of the same name, starting ).


title: Rhyming slang

text: In some cases, false etymologies exist. For example, the term "barney" has been used to mean an altercation or fight since the late nineteenth century, although without a clear derivation. In the 2001 feature film "Ocean's Eleven", the explanation for the term is that it derives from Barney Rubble, the name of a cartoon character from the "Flintstones" television program many decades later in origin.


title: Rhyming slang

text: Rhyming slang is used mainly in London in England but can to some degree be understood across the country. Some constructions, however, rely on particular regional accents for the rhymes to work. For instance, the term "Charing Cross" (a place in London), used to mean "horse" since the mid-nineteenth century, does not work for a speaker without the lot–cloth split, common in London at that time but not nowadays. A similar example is "Joanna" meaning "piano", which is based on the pronunciation of "piano" as "pianna" . Unique formations also exist in other parts of the United Kingdom, such as in the East Midlands, where the local accent has formed "Derby Road", which rhymes with "cold".


title: Rhyming slang

text: Outside England, rhyming slang is used in many English-speaking countries in the Commonwealth of Nations, with local variations. For example, in Australian slang, the term for an English person is "pommy", which has been proposed as a rhyme on "pomegranate", pronounced "Pummy Grant", which rhymed with "immigrant".


title: Rhyming slang

text: Rhyming slang is continually evolving, and new phrases are introduced all the time; new personalities replace old ones—pop culture introduces new words—as in "I haven't a Scooby" (from Scooby Doo, the eponymous cartoon dog of the cartoon series) meaning "I haven't a clue".


title: Rhyming slang

text: Rhyming slang is often used as a substitute for words regarded as taboo, often to the extent that the association with the taboo word becomes unknown over time. "Berk" (often used to mean "foolish person") originates from the most famous of all fox hunts, the "Berkeley Hunt" meaning "cunt"; "cobblers" (often used in the context "what you said is rubbish") originates from "cobbler's awls", meaning "balls" (as in testicles); and "hampton" (usually "'ampton") meaning "prick" (as in penis) originates from "Hampton Wick" (a place in London) – the second part "wick" also entered common usage as "he gets on my wick" (he is an annoying person).


title: Rhyming slang

text: Lesser taboo terms include "pony and trap" for "crap" (as in defecate, but often used to denote nonsense or low quality); to blow a raspberry (rude sound of derision) from raspberry tart for "fart"; "D'Oyly Carte" (an opera company) for "fart"; "Jimmy Riddle" (an American country musician) for "piddle" (as in urinate), "J. Arthur Rank" (a film mogul), "Sherman tank", "Jodrell Bank" or "ham shank" for "wank", "Bristol Cities" (contracted to 'Bristols') for "titties", etc. "Taking the Mick" or "taking the Mickey" is thought to be a rhyming slang form of "taking the piss", where "Mick" came from "Mickey Bliss".


title: Rhyming slang

text: In December 2004 Joe Pasquale, winner of the fourth series of ITV's "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!", became well known for his frequent use of the term "Jacobs", for Jacob's Crackers, a rhyming slang term for knackers i.e. testicles.


title: Rhyming slang

text: Rhyming slang has been widely used in popular culture including film, television, music, literature, sport and degree classification.


title: Rhyming slang

text: In the British undergraduate degree classification system a first class honours degree is known as a "Geoff Hurst" (First) after the English 1966 World Cup footballer. An upper second class degree (a.k.a. a "2:1") is called an "Attila the Hun", and a lower second class ("2:2") a "Desmond Tutu", while a third class degree is known as a "Thora Hird" or "Douglas Hurd".


title: Rhyming slang

text: Cary Grant's character teaches rhyming slang to his female companion in "Mr. Lucky" (1943), describing it as 'Australian rhyming slang'. Rhyming slang is also used and described in a scene of the 1967 film "To Sir, with Love" starring Sidney Poitier, where the English students tell their foreign teacher that the slang is a drag and something for old people. The closing song of the 1969 crime caper, "The Italian Job", ("Getta Bloomin' Move On" a.k.a. "The Self Preservation Society") contains many slang terms.


title: Rhyming slang

text: Rhyming slang has been used to lend authenticity to an East End setting. Examples include "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (1998) (wherein the slang is translated via subtitles in one scene); "The Limey" (1999); "Sexy Beast" (2000); "Snatch" (2000); "Ocean's Eleven" (2001); and "Austin Powers in Goldmember" (2002); "It's All Gone Pete Tong" (2004), after BBC radio disc jockey Pete Tong whose name is used in this context as rhyming slang for "wrong"; "Green Street Hooligans" (2005). In "Margin Call" (2011), Will Emerson, played by London-born actor Paul Bettany, asks a friend on the telephone, "How's the trouble and strife?" ("wife").


title: Rhyming slang

text: "Cockneys vs Zombies" (2012) mocked the genesis of rhyming slang terms when a Cockney character calls zombies "Trafalgars" to even his Cockney fellows' puzzlement; he then explains it thus: ""Trafalgar square – fox and hare – hairy Greek – five day week – weak and feeble – pins and needles – needle and stitch – Abercrombie and Fitch – Abercrombie: zombie"".


title: Rhyming slang

text: The live-action Disney film "Mary Poppins Returns" song "Trip A Little Light Fantastic" involves Cockney rhyming slang in part of its lyrics, and is primarily spoken by the London lamplighters.


title: Rhyming slang

text: Slang had a resurgence of popular interest in Britain beginning in the 1970s, resulting from its use in a number of London-based television programmes such as "Steptoe and Son" (1970–74); and "Not On Your Nellie" (1974–75), starring Hylda Baker as Nellie Pickersgill, alludes to the phrase "not on your Nellie Duff", rhyming slang for "not on your puff" i.e. not on your life. Similarly, "The Sweeney" (1975–78) alludes to the phrase "Sweeney Todd" for "Flying Squad", a rapid response unit of London's Metropolitan Police. In "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" (1976–79), a comic twist was added to rhyming slang by way of spurious and fabricated examples which a young man had laboriously attempted to explain to his father (e.g. 'dustbins' meaning 'children', as in 'dustbin lids'='kids'; 'Teds' being 'Ted Heath' and thus 'teeth'; and even 'Chitty Chitty' being 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', and thus 'rhyming slang'...). It was also featured in an episode of "The Good Life" in the first season (1975) where Tom and Barbara purchase a wood-burning range from a junk trader called Sam, who litters his language with phony slang in hopes of getting higher payment. He comes up with a fake story as to the origin of Cockney Rhyming slang and is caught out rather quickly. In "The Jeffersons" season 2 (1976) episode "The Breakup: Part 2", Mr. Bentley explains Cockney rhyming slang to George Jefferson, in that "whistle and flute" means "suit", "apples and pears" means "stairs", "plates of meat" means "feet".


title: Rhyming slang

text: The use of rhyming slang was also prominent in "Mind Your Language" (1977–79), "Citizen Smith" (1977–80), "Minder" (1979–94), "Only Fools and Horses" (1981–91), and "EastEnders" (1985–). "Minder" could be quite uncompromising in its use of obscure forms without any clarification. Thus the non-Cockney viewer was obliged to deduce that, say, "iron" was "male homosexual" ('iron'='iron hoof'='poof'). One episode in Series 5 of "Steptoe and Son" was entitled "Any Old Iron", for the same reason, when Albert thinks that Harold is 'on the turn'. Variations of rhyming slang were also used in sitcom "Birds of a Feather", by main characters Sharon and Tracey, often to the confusion of character, Dorian Green, who was unfamiliar with the terms.


title: Rhyming slang

text: One early US show to regularly feature rhyming slang was the Saturday morning children's show "The Bugaloos" (1970–72), with the character of Harmony (Wayne Laryea) often incorporating it in his dialogue.


title: Rhyming slang

text: In popular music, Spike Jones and his City Slickers recorded "So 'Elp Me", based on rhyming slang, in 1950. The 1967 Kinks song "Harry Rag" was based on the usage of the name Harry Wragg as rhyming slang for "fag" (i.e. a cigarette). The idiom made a brief appearance in the UK-based DJ reggae music of the 1980s in the hit "Cockney Translation" by Smiley Culture of South London; this was followed a couple of years later by Domenick and Peter Metro's "Cockney and Yardie". London-based artists such as Audio Bullys and Chas & Dave (and others from elsewhere in the UK, such as The Streets, who are from Birmingham) frequently use rhyming slang in their songs.


title: Rhyming slang

text: British-born M.C. MF Doom released an ode entitled "Rhymin' Slang", after settling in the UK in 2010. The track was released on the 2012 album JJ Doom album "Keys to the Kuffs".


title: Rhyming slang

text: Another contributor was Lonnie Donegan who had a song called "My Old Man's a Dustman". In it he says his father has trouble putting on his boots "He's got such a job to pull them up that he calls them daisy roots".


title: Rhyming slang

text: In modern literature, Cockney rhyming slang is used frequently in the novels and short stories of Kim Newman, for instance in the short story collections "The Man from the Diogenes Club" (2006) and "Secret Files of the Diogenes Club" (2007), where it is explained at the end of each book.


title: Rhyming slang

text: It is also parodied in "Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett, which features a geriatric Junior Postman by the name of Tolliver Groat, a speaker of 'Dimwell Arrhythmic Rhyming Slang', the only rhyming slang on the Disc which "does not actually rhyme". Thus, a wig is a 'prunes', from 'syrup of prunes', an obvious parody of the Cockney "syrup" from "syrup of figs – wig". There are numerous other parodies, though it has been pointed out that the result is even more impenetrable than a conventional rhyming slang and so may not be quite so illogical as it seems, given the assumed purpose of rhyming slang as a means of communicating in a manner unintelligible to all but the initiated.


title: Rhyming slang

text: In the book "Goodbye to All That" by Robert Graves, a beer is a "broken square" as Welch Fusiliers officers walk into a pub and order broken squares when they see men from the Black Watch. The Black Watch had a minor blemish on its record of otherwise unbroken squares. Fistfights ensued.


title: Rhyming slang

text: In Dashiell Hammett's "The Dain Curse", the protagonist exhibits familiarity with Cockney rhyming slang. referring to gambling at dice with the phrase "rats and mice."


title: Rhyming slang

text: Cockney rhyming slang is one of the main influences for the dialect spoken in "A Clockwork Orange" (1962). The author of the novel, Anthony Burgess, also believed the phrase "as queer as a clockwork orange" was Cockney slang having heard it in a London pub in 1945, and subsequently named it in the title of his book.


title: Rhyming slang

text: In Scottish football, a number of clubs have nicknames taken from rhyming slang. Partick Thistle are known as the "Harry Rags", which is taken from the rhyming slang of their 'official' nickname "the jags". Rangers are known as the "Teddy Bears", which comes from the rhyming slang for "the Gers" (shortened version of Ran-gers). Heart of Midlothian are known as the "Jambos", which comes from "Jam Tarts" which is the rhyming slang for "Hearts" which is the common abbreviation of the club's name. Hibernian are also referred to as "The Cabbage" which comes from Cabbage and Ribs being the rhyming slang for Hibs.


title: Bookmaker

text: A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.


title: Bookmaker

text: Bookmakers in many countries focus on accepting bets on professional sports, especially horse racing and association football or Indian Premier League cricket. However, a wider range of bets, including on political elections, awards ceremonies such as the Oscars, and novelty bets are accepted by bookmakers in some countries.


title: Bookmaker

text: By "adjusting the odds" in their favour (paying out amounts using odds that are less than what they determined to be the true odds) or by having a point spread, bookmakers aim to guarantee a profit by achieving a 'balanced book', either by getting an equal number of bets for each possible outcome or (when they are offering odds) by getting the amounts wagered on each outcome to reflect the odds. When a large bet comes in, a bookmaker may also try to "lay off" the risk by buying bets from other bookmakers. Bookmakers do not generally attempt to make money from the bets themselves but rather by acting as market makers and profiting from the event regardless of the outcome. Their working methods are similar to those of an actuary, who does a similar balancing of financial outcomes of events for the assurance and insurance industries.


title: Bookmaker

text: Depending on the country, bookmaking may be legal or illegal and is often regulated. In the United Kingdom, since 1 May 1961, bookmaking has been legal and has even been a small contributor to the British economy, with a recent explosion of interest in the international gaming sector industry. However, gambling debts were unenforceable under British law until Gambling Act 2005 was passed. Many bookmakers are members of IBAS, an industry organisation used to settle disputes.


title: Bookmaker

text: Bookmaking was generally illegal in the United States due to the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. In May 2018, a United States Supreme Court ruling struck down the law, allowing states to legalize the practice.


title: Bookmaker

text: In some countries, such as Singapore, Sweden, Canada, and Japan, the only legal bookmaker is owned and operated by the state. In Canada, this is part of the lottery programme and is known as Sport Select.


title: Bookmaker

text: The first bookmaker in the United Kingdom is considered to be Harry Ogden, who opened a business in the 1790s, although similar activities had existed in other forms earlier in the eighteenth century.


title: Bookmaker

text: Following the Gaming Act 1845, the only gambling allowed in the United Kingdom was at race tracks. The introduction of special excursion trains meant that all classes of society could attend the new racecourses opening across the country. Cash flowed to the bookmakers who employed bodyguards against protection gangs operating within the vast crowds. Illegal betting shops were fined, but some, like Bella Thomasson, ran betting businesses that the police appeared to turn a blind eye to.


title: Bookmaker

text: In 1961, Harold Macmillan's Conservative government legalised betting shops, with tough measures enacted to ensure that bookmakers remained honest. A large industry has grown since. At one time, there were over 15,000 betting shops. Now, through consolidation, they have been reduced to between 9,100 and 9,200 in 2013. The group of the largest bookmakers in the country, known as the "Big Three", comprises William Hill, Ladbrokes, and Coral.


title: Bookmaker

text: Improved TV coverage and the modernisation of the law have allowed betting in shops and casinos in most countries. In the UK, on-track bookies still mark up the odds on boards beside the racecourse and use tic-tac or mobile telephones to communicate the odds between their staff and to other bookies, but, with the modernisation of United Kingdom bookmaking laws, online and high street gambling are at an all-time high. A so-called super-casino had been planned for construction in Manchester, but the government announced that this plan had been scrapped on 26 February 2008.


title: Bookmaker

text: The law on betting on horse racing and lotteries was passed by the German legislature and came into force on 1 July 2012. Since then, a tax of 5% of the bet must be paid to the tax authorities for all sports betting (offline and online). This affects the entire sports betting market in Germany.


title: Bookmaker

text: The fundamental law governing gambling activities in Canada is the federal Criminal Code (the "Code"). Sections 201 to 206, including section 206, make all types of gambling, betting and lotteries illegal throughout Canada with very limited exceptions such as betting-mutuel on horse racing (provided for in section 204). While the federal Code is the applicable prohibitionist law, all regulations (and regulatory bodies) are provincial, with one exception - pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, which is regulated by the federal Canadian agency Pari-Mutuel. However, this law has many critics, as it is believed that the Canadian sports betting market can generate $25 billion a year.


title: Bookmaker

text: The Supreme Court overturned the federal ban on online gambling in 2018. However, while online gambling and casinos are legal, each state has its own rules. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the legal bookmakers are DraftKings, FanDuel and Pointsbet. Mississippi, New Jersey, Delaware, Nevada and West Virginia are on the road to legalisation, but Nevada and New Jersey have already passed laws. And most analysts predict the trend towards legalisation of online gambling will continue in more and more US states.


title: Bookmaker

text: Although online gambling first started in 1994 when the licensing authority of Antigua and Barbuda passed the Free Trade & Processes Act, bookmakers did not get involved until 2001. They were forced to act when research at the time found there were eight million online players worldwide.


title: Bookmaker

text: With the arrival of the World Wide Web, many bookmakers have an online brand, but independently owned bookmakers often still maintain a "bricks and mortar" the only operation as the software and hardware required to operate a successful online betting operation are complex and their costs are quite prohibitive; other bookmakers operate "skins" or "white label" websites, which they purchase from one of the large firms. The main websites require bets to be from countries where Internet gambling is allowed and from people over 18 years old. Some small bookmakers and startups purchase software from specialised white label solution providers. Since gambling products have a high conversion rate from one niche to another, most online betting websites also feature other gambling products such as poker, live dealer casino games, lottery, bingo, slots and other casino games. Controversially, the explosion in Internet gambling is being linked to a rise in gambling addiction, according to the UK's help and advice organisations for addicts, GamCare and Gamblers Anonymous.


title: Bookmaker

text: Increasingly, online bettors are turning to the use of betting exchanges such as Betfair and BETDAQ, which automatically match back and lay bets between different bettors, thus effectively cutting out the bookmaker's traditional profit margin also called an overround.


title: Bookmaker

text: These online exchange markets operate a market index of prices near but usually not at 100% competitiveness, as exchanges take commissions on winnings. True wholesale odds are odds that operate at 100% of probabilistic outcomes.


title: Bookmaker

text: Betting exchanges compete with the traditional bookmaker. They are generally able to offer punters better odds because of their much lower overheads but also give opportunities for arbitrage, the practice of taking advantage of a price differential between two or more markets. However, traditionally, arbitrage has always been possible by backing all outcomes with bookmakers (Dutching), as opposed to laying an outcome on an exchange. Exchanges, however, allow bookmakers to see the state of the market and set their odds accordingly.


title: Bookmaker

text: With the increasing number of online betting exchanges, betting exchanges are now providing free bet offers in an attempt to lure customers away from the competition. These free bets are generally based on the size of the deposit made into the gambling account. For example, if a customer deposited £20, the betting exchange would deposit an additional £20 for the customer to use. Free bet rules vary depending on the betting exchange.


title: Bookmaker

text: Some bookmakers have even taken to using betting exchanges as a way of laying off unfavourable bets and thus reducing their overall exposure. This has led to insecurity from some TABs in Australia, state-run betting agencies that attempted to deny Betfair an Australian licence by running unfavourable ads in the media regarding the company. When Tasmania granted Betfair a licence despite these efforts, the Western Australian state legislature passed a law that specifically criminalised using betting exchanges from within the state; however, the law was later ruled to be unconstitutional. As a result, internet gambling in Australia required a new legal framework. The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 regulates the online gambling market in Australia, together with all its amendments. The last amendment was introduced on 13 September 2017. This bill states that online casinos, online poker and live betting are illegal in Australia. The Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) is the regulatory body responsible for all supervising online gambling activities. Online sports betting is legal, however.


title: Bookmaker

text: Most televised sports in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe are now sponsored wholly or partly by Internet and high street bookmakers, with sometimes several bookmakers and online casinos being displayed on players' shirts, advertising hoardings, stadium signs and competition event titles. Sponsors are especially highlighted in the football category since football fans present a significant percentage of the bookmakers' target group.


title: Bookmaker

text: Many of the bookmakers are sponsoring some of the major football teams in the major European football leagues, although Werder Bremen are currently fighting the German courts for the freedom to continue featuring bookmaker Bwin on their shirts, as Germany and France take action against online gamers. For example, as of 1 January 2020, Germany bettors will not be able to bet more than €1,000 a month. The latest amendment of the ITG states that. New online sportsbook laws are expected shortly in Germany, as this law is only temporary: the expiration date is set to be on 20 June 2020.


title: Bookmaker

text: The situation is not that strict in France, however. Online sports betting in France is divided into two sections: Autorité de Régulation des Jeux en Ligne (ARJEL) regulates online sports betting, while online horse betting is regulated by the law "Decree 2010-498 from 17 May 2010. International bookmakers are allowed to enter the French market, thanks to the Law No. 2010-476 from 12 May 2010.


title: Bookmaker

text: With the recent banning of tobacco sponsorship and the significant commercial budgets available to the gaming industry, sponsorship by car manufacturers, alcoholic drinks, soft drinks and fast-food marketers is being rapidly replaced by sponsorship from gaming companies in the Far East and Europe.


title: Bookmaker

text: The United Kingdom's Gambling Act 2005 introduced a new regulatory system for governing gambling in Great Britain. This system includes new provisions for regulating the advertising of gambling products. These provisions of the Act came into effect in September 2007. It is an offence to advertise in the UK, gambling that physically takes place in a non-European Economic Area (EEA) or, in the case of gambling by remote means, gambling that is not regulated by the gambling laws of an EEA state. The Gambling Commission is the body that makes sure all sites and operators follow the new restrictions. In addition to the Gambling Act of 2005, according to the new gambling bill, online gambling sites are only allowed to offer services within the United Kingdom, if they are registered at the UK Gambling Commission.


title: Bookmaker

text: The situation is more confused in the United States, which has attempted to restrict operators of foreign gambling websites from accessing their domestic market. This resulted in 2007 in a ruling against the US government by the World Trade Organization. However, common online gambling laws in the United States still don't exist - it differs from state to state. All forms of online gambling are illegal within the states of Utah and Hawaii, while the states of Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey took a different approach: almost all forms of online gambling are legal in these states. These are the only US states where online casino sites can be legally registered. It is important to mention that Native Americans have their own gambling legislation - the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. However, they need their state's approval to be able to offer their services online.


title: Dianne Doan

text: Dianne Doan (born September 8, 1990) is a Canadian actress. She is known for portraying Lonnie in the Disney Channel Original Movies "Descendants" and "Descendants 2".


title: Dianne Doan

text: She first developed an interest in acting in grade 9 when she took drama classes as an elective. She started technical training in dance at the age of 10.


title: Dianne Doan

text: As a young adult, she later performed as a dancer in the Opening Ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and as a back-up dancer for Michael Bublé. In addition, she's worked as a dancer to other music videos for recording artists including Big Time Rush and Marianas Trench as well as worked on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance".


title: Dianne Doan

text: While she's made small appearances on shows like ABC's "Once Upon a Time" and TV Land's "Impastor", her big break came when she was cast in the Disney Channel made-for-television film "Descendants" as Lonnie, the daughter of Mulan and Li Shang. Disney's "Descendants" expanded into a successful franchise including prequel live-action mini series (which aired before the initial film), a sequel and an animated spin-off.


title: Dianne Doan

text: In 2016, she was cast in a major recurring role in History Channel's "Vikings" as Yidu for season four. Following that, she starred in a major role Verizon (go90) and AwesomenessTV's webseries "Guidance" where she played twin sisters.


title: Dianne Doan

text: In 2017, she joined the main cast of Cinemax's "Warrior" as the character of Mai Ling as a Series Regular. The series is produced by filmmaker Justin Lin, based on an original concept by the late Bruce Lee.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest in the United States.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Opened as a school for boys under the auspices of the Society of Jesus, it was the first Jesuit college in New England. Holy Cross sports teams are called the Crusaders and their sole color is purple; they compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Patriot League.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Holy Cross was founded by The Rt Rev. Benedict Joseph Fenwick, S.J., second Bishop of Boston, after his efforts to find a Catholic college in Boston were thwarted by the city's Protestant civic leaders. From the beginning of his tenure as bishop, Fenwick intended to establish a Catholic college within the boundaries of his diocese.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Relations with Boston's civic leaders worsened such that, when a Jesuit faculty was finally secured in 1843, Fenwick decided to leave the Boston school and instead opened the College of the Holy Cross west of the city in central Massachusetts, where he felt the Jesuits could operate with greater autonomy. The site of the college, Mount Saint James, was originally occupied by a Roman Catholic boarding school run by the Rev. James Fitton, with his lay collaborator Joseph Brigden, since 1832. On February 2, 1843, Fr. Fitton sold the land to Bishop Fenwick and the Diocese of Boston to be used to found the Roman Catholic college that the bishop had wanted in Boston. Fenwick gave the college the name of his cathedral church, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. The Bishop's letters record his enthusiasm for the project as well as for its location:


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Next May I shall lay the foundation of a splendid College in Worcester ... It is calculated to contain 100 boys and I shall take them for $125 per an. & supply them with everything but clothes. Will not this be a bold undertaking? Nevertheless I will try it. It will stand on a beautiful eminence & will command the view of the whole town of Worcester.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The school opened in October 1843 with the Rev. Thomas F. Mulledy, S.J., former president of Georgetown University, as its first president, and on the second day of November, with six students aged 9 to 19, the first classes were held. Within three years, the enrollment had increased to 100 students. Initially the education was more at the elementary and high school level; later it became a higher level institution.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Since its founding, Holy Cross has produced the fifth most members of the Catholic clergy out of all American Catholic colleges. The first class graduated in 1849, led by the valedictorian James Augustine Healy, the mixed-race son of an Irish planter in Georgia and his common-law wife, a mulatto former slave. Healy is now recognized as the first African-American bishop in the United States, but at the time he identified as white Irish Catholic and was largely accepted as such, without denying his African ancestry. His father sent all his sons north for their education at Holy Cross College; two other sons became priests, and three daughters also made careers in the Catholic Church. Healy graduated with his close friend Colby Kane, who would also go on to join the clergy, and was influential in many of Healy's early writings on Eucharistic transubstantiation.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Fenwick Hall, the school's main building, was completely destroyed by fire in 1852. Funds were raised to rebuild the college, and in 1853 it opened for the second time.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Petitions to secure a charter for the college from the state legislature were denied in 1847 for a variety of reasons, including anti-Catholicism on the part of some legislators. The increased rate of immigration from Ireland during the famine years roused resistance from some residents of Massachusetts. Initially, Holy Cross diplomas were signed by the president of Georgetown University. After repeated denials, a charter was finally granted on March 24, 1865, by Governor John Albion Andrew.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: During World War II, College of the Holy Cross was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: In 1998, Holy Cross initiated an eight-year capital campaign, "Lift High the Cross", with a three-year quiet period. The campaign for Holy Cross ended in fiscal 2006 with $216.3 million raised, surpassing its original goal of $175 million. The funds allowed Holy Cross to establish an additional 12 new faculty positions, along with more than 75 newly endowed scholarships for students. The campaign provided support for the renovation of the Mary Chapel as well as construction of new facilities on campus, including Smith Hall which houses the new Michael C. McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture; a five-story apartment-style residence housing 244 seniors; and a new 1,350-seat soccer stadium. During the campaign, the college's endowment grew to more than $544 million.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: On July 1, 2000, Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., became the president of the college. In 2011, Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., the Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University, was named McFarland's successor.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: In early 2018, the college began publicly exploring the possibility of changing its "Crusader" mascot and associated imagery. The college's leadership ultimately decided to keep the mascot, distinguishing its use of the nickname from the historical associations with the crusades. In line with this, the college's leadership decided to retire the previously used imagery of an armed medieval knight associated with the nickname.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: In September 2020, Boroughs announced his planned resignation effective June 30, 2021. He was succeeded by Vincent D. Rougeau, Dean of the Boston College Law School. Rougeau is the first lay and first Black president in the history of the college.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Holy Cross' campus, a registered arboretum, has won national awards for its landscaping. In 1977 Holy Cross was cited by the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS) for having the best-maintained school or university grounds in the United States. Holy Cross is marked by an irregular layout as its campus is situated on the northern slope of a very steep hill named Mount Saint James, which offers it a panoramic view of the city of Worcester. The Princeton Review ranked the campus as #5 most beautiful campus in the nation in 2010 and consistently ranks the campus in the top 15. The design and landscape is ingrained into many themes and nicknames for the school which is commonly known as The Hill.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The 37 college buildings include residential housing and academic buildings in the middle sections of the campus and athletic and practice facilities on the outskirts on its northern and southern ends. Holy Cross also owns six non-campus properties.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Anchoring the traditional campus gateway of Linden Lane are Stein and O'Kane Halls, the latter of which is marked by a clock tower. The oldest part of campus lies in this area, as O'Kane is connected to Fenwick Hall, the first building designed in 1843; it also houses the admissions offices and the Brooks Concert Hall. This area contains manicured trees and landscaped greens which include on the hillside three nude bronze statues by Enzo Plazzotta, Georg Klobe, and Welrick. The area around Fenwick and O'Kane Halls is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Notable buildings north of this area are Dinand Library; Smith Hall, the Hogan Campus Center; the scientific complex housing O'Neil, Swords, and Haberlin Halls; and Beaven Hall, home to an assortment of academic departments. The science complex was renamed for Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2022. Smith Hall, opened in 2001, was financed in large part by Holy Cross alumnus Park B. Smith, and is architecturally impressive as it is built into a hillside of the campus. Smith Hall connects the lower campus, where much of the academic life occurs, and the upper campus, where much of the social and residential life takes place on campus due to its design which incorporates Fenwick Hall. A plaza outside Smith Hall, named Memorial Plaza, commemorates seven Holy Cross alumni who perished in the September 11, 2001 attacks.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: To the western end of campus lies Millard Art Center, St. Joseph Memorial Chapel, the Chaplains' Office (Campion House), and Loyola Hall, which served as the Jesuit residence in the past, but has since been converted into another hall for student housing. The Jesuit residence Ciampi Hall is now located in the northeast corner of the campus.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The Holy Cross Library System is composed of four libraries centrally located within the campus grounds. Including its affiliation with the Central Massachusetts Regional Library System, a collaborative formed in 2003 by more than 20 academic, public, and special libraries with research collections in the central Massachusetts area, Holy Cross students have access to a combined total of approximately 3.8 million volumes and more than 23,000 journal, magazine, and newspaper subscriptions held among the 20-plus regional institutions.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The main, Dinand Library holds an estimated 601,930 books, serials, and periodicals. Originally opened in 1927, it expanded in 1978 with two new wings dedicated to the memory of Joshua and Leah Hiatt and victims of the Nazi Holocaust. The reading room of Dinand is also the scene of important college gatherings, among them the Presidential Awards Ceremony, first-year orientation presentations, and concerts. Dinand is considered by many students the most scholarly and inspiring building on campus. Constructed in the 1920s, the room's ceiling is sectioned in a grid-like pattern and embellished with gold, painted trim, and carvings along the top of the interior walls. Large wooden candelabra are suspended from the ceiling, and Ionic columns – echoing those on the Library's exterior – anchor three sides of the room. The main reference collection of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and bibliographies are found within Dinand as well as the on-line catalog, and a staffed reference desk.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Dinand Library also houses the College Archives which collects, preserves, and arranges records of permanent value from the college's foundation in 1843 to the present. The archives contain complete runs of all college publications including yearbooks, the college catalog, "The Crusader", its predecessor "The Tomahawk", the literary magazine "The Purple", newsletters, pamphlets, and similar material. An extensive photograph collection documents administrators, staff, faculty, students, alumni, athletic teams, student activities, the built environment, and college life in general.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: There is also an extensive collection of audiovisual material documenting theatrical plays, lectures, and sporting and other events. The College Archives also hold a Special Collections section which consists of a Rare Book Collection and the Jesuitana Collection (material by and about Jesuits). Noted collections include the papers of James Michael Curley, David I. Walsh, Louise Imogen Guiney, and Rev. Joseph J. Williams, S.J. There are also collections of material by and about Jesuits, college alumni, and friends of the college. The first naval chaplain to receive the Medal of Honor, Rev. Joseph T. O'Callahan, S.J., was laid to rest in the cemetery on campus and his award is kept in the college archives. The archives also hold research material about Catholic New England, the education of deaf Catholics, the Holocaust, as well as New England history.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The five smaller libraries are Fenwick Music Library, O'Callahan Science Library, the Rehm Library, the Visual Resources Library, and the Worcester Art Museum Library.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The Fenwick Music Library was founded in 1978. Particularly noteworthy are the Music Library's collections of scores and recordings of 20th-century composers, world music recordings, and composer biographies. The Music Library owns many of the authoritative editions of significant composers' collected works, such as Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The O'Callahan Science Library, named in honor of Rev. Joseph T. O'Callahan, S.J., houses over 95,000 volumes of works and periodicals serving the college's biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics departments and the more neuroscientific side of psychology.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The Rehm Library, dedicated in September 2001, is housed within Smith Hall. It serves as the primary public space for the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Culture and other departments with offices within Smith Hall. Rehm Library provides space for hospitality, Center-sponsored lectures and events, quiet space for reading and reflection, and enhanced library resources on religion and spirituality. While not a library in the traditional sense, the shelves of Rehm Library house a non-circulating collection of primary texts from an array of religious traditions. It was named in honor of alumnus Jack Rehm '54 and his family.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: In 2007, citing the college's commitment to Jesuit values, President Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The college's plan required the institution to reduce its carbon emissions by 20% before 2015. As an ultimate goal, Holy Cross aims to be carbon neutral by 2040. Holy Cross has taken numerous steps toward environmental sustainability, which has led to the reduction of the institution's carbon emissions by 46.8 percent between 2007 and 2017 according to the latest data.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: In keeping with sustainability efforts, Holy Cross has enacted multiple initiatives to reduce waste and pollution. The college entered a contract with Zipcar to operate four cars to reduce the need for individually owned cars on campus. Weather permitting, public safety officers operate battery powered cars and bicycles. Additionally, Kimball dining hall, the main dining hall of the college, went trayless in 2009. Approximately 25 to 50 percent less food is wasted, and up to a half gallon of water is saved per tray not washed, saving 900 gallons of water a day. Holy Cross provides all students with a reusable drink container at the beginning of each academic year.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Holy Cross has 328 faculty members who teach 3,142 undergraduate students. It offers 28 majors mainly focused on a liberal arts curriculum, each of which leads to the completion of the Bachelor of Arts degree. All B.A. candidates must successfully complete 32 semester courses in eight semesters of full-time study to graduate. Common requirements include one course each in arts, literature, religion, philosophy, history, and cross-cultural studies; and two courses each in language studies, social science, and natural and mathematical sciences. As of 2010, Holy Cross is in the top 3% of four-year colleges in the number of students going on to earn doctorates in their fields.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The top five majors for the 2008–2009 school year were economics, English, psychology, political science, and sociology. Holy Cross also offers multidisciplinary concentrations, pre-professional programs, and the option to create a major or minor through the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies. Holy Cross students who apply to medical school have a 72% acceptance rate and for law school a 92% acceptance rate. The college claims that medical school acceptance rate for its graduates is more than twice the national average.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: As noted by the college mission statement ("What is our special responsibility to the world's poor and powerless?"), a key focus of Holy Cross, as an institution, is the Jesuit philosophy of "homines pro aliis", "men and women for others". In 2010, Holy Cross obtained the highest rank of the 28 U.S. Jesuit colleges and universities in the percentage of its graduates who go on to serve in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Holy Cross has embraced sometimes controversial schools of theological thought, including liberation theology and social justice. As a result, in 1974, "Time" magazine referred to Holy Cross as the "cradle of the Catholic Left" because it educated Philip Berrigan and socialist leader Michael Harrington, author of the influential book on poverty, "The Other America". Today, Holy Cross, similar to the religious order of the Jesuits as a whole, has been criticized by some parties for being overly liberal and deviating substantially from official Church teaching and papal directives, especially on such issues as abortion, homosexuality, liberation theology, and in its sponsorship of events such as the "Vagina Monologues". Since 2000, the college has hosted a conference allowing seminars from Planned Parenthood and NARAL. In 2007, Bishop Robert McManus wrote the college asking Fr. McFarland to cancel the event, and threatened to remove the Catholic status of the college if the conference was not cancelled. Bishop McManus has not followed through on this threat.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: In 2001, Holy Cross was one of 28 colleges and universities in the country to receive a grant from the Lilly Endowment in the amount of $2 million. With the grant, the school launched a five-year program to "make theological and spiritual resources available to students as they discern their life work, including consideration of vocations of ministerial service within religious denominations". The grant has also been used to fund internships within the city of Worcester and Worcester County for students considering career opportunities in ministry, government, and social service agencies.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: "U.S. News & World Report" ranked Holy Cross tied for 36th in the U.S. among liberal arts colleges for 2021, 99th in "Best Value Schools", and tied for 133rd in "Top Performers on Social Mobility". Holy Cross is the highest ranking Catholic college among the top 50 liberal arts schools on the "U.S. News" list. In 2019, "Forbes" ranked Holy Cross 77th among all colleges and universities in its "America's Top Colleges" list and 33rd among liberal arts colleges. "Washington Monthly" ranked Holy Cross 18th among liberal arts colleges in the U.S. for 2020, based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service. "Kiplinger's Personal Finance" places Holy Cross at 15th in its 2019 ranking of 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States. In "PayScale" 2019–20 study, Holy Cross ranked 17th in the nation among liberal arts colleges for mid-career salary potential. College of the Holy Cross is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Holy Cross has traditionally drawn many of its students from a pool of historical Catholic high schools and private boarding schools, though a majority of current undergraduates come from public schools. Holy Cross' overall undergraduate acceptance rate for the incoming 2019 class was 34 percent. In 2020, the middle 50% SAT score range for those who submitted a score was 1290–1430 out of 1600. Holy Cross admitted its first women students in 1972, and its student population is currently majority female. Holy Cross was described as one of the Hidden Ivies for its academics and admissions process which are comparable to the Ivy League in the guide The Hidden Ivies, 3rd Edition: 63 of America's Top Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities, published in 2016.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: In May 2005, Holy Cross announced that it would no longer make standardized test scores an admissions requirement. College officials said this policy would reduce the importance of admissions tests and place greater weight on the academic experience of a candidate as demonstrated through the high school transcript and recommendations. Tuition for full-time students for the 2017–18 academic year is $49,980.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Holy Cross operates 11 on-campus residence halls divided into three geographic clusters. More than 90 percent of students live on campus. First-year students will often live in one of the residence halls situated near the top of the hill nicknamed Easy Street, Hanselman, Clark, or Brooks Halls. Healy and Lehy are also on Easy Street, but they are reserved for upperclassmen. Another housing option, near the center section of campus, is Wheeler Hall, a Sophomore Residence Hall. Upperclassmen students can choose, depending on the results of the housing lottery held in the Spring, between the Easy Street residence halls, minus Hanselman, or the upperclass residence halls in the lower portion of campus: Alumni, Carlin, and Loyola. Additionally, seniors have the options of Williams Hall, formerly known as "The Senior Apartments", and Figge Hall, the newest residence hall on campus. Residence hall pride is prominent on campus; various residence halls have created clubs or other forms of co-curricular programs.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The apartments in Williams Hall and Figge Hall are the most sought after living arrangements on campus. Each apartment houses four students and is equipped with a bathroom with separate shower, kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms. Williams Hall was completed in 2003 and rededicated in honor of Edward Bennett Williams on April 26, 2008. In 2011, the college dedicated Figge Hall, located on the upper campus closer to the Easy Street halls.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Second-year to fourth-year students also have the option of living off-campus but only a small percentage do so, as the school has built additional housing in recent years and the number of desirable apartments near campus is limited.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: A large number of student organizations are associated with the college. With its relative distance from a major city, and without a Greek life at Holy Cross, undergraduate social life revolves around a number of school-sponsored groups, events, and off-campus houses on nearby city streets (notably Boyden, Cambridge, Caro, Chelsea, College, and Southbridge streets) which are open to upperclassmen.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The college also features a variety of student journals, media, and newspapers including "The Fenwick Review", a journal of conservative thought; "The Advocate", a journal based in liberal principles; and "The Spire", the weekly newspaper published by Holy Cross students for the college community. Free copies of the 4,000-circulation paper are available online or at campus newsstands on ten Friday mornings each semester. Holy Cross also has a student-run radio station, "WCHC-FM 88.1". WCHC is a non-profit radio station that broadcasts commercial-free year round. The athletics department carries live broadcasts of many of the school's football, basketball, and hockey games. Holy Cross also has a law journal, "The Holy Cross Journal of Law & Public Policy", which is published annually by undergraduate students.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The Campus Activities Board (CAB), a student-run organization, runs several committees that oversee campus-wide activities and student services with a focus on evening and weekend programming. The Student Government Association (SGA) charters and provides most of the funding for these programs, and represents students' interests when dealing with the administration. SGA was developed under a model of shared governance with the Division of Student Affairs. The SGA maintains that it represents students through college governance, offers student services, and launches new programs and initiatives. This government consists of a dual executive of co-presidents along with an Executive Cabinet. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the elected Senate and the larger General Assembly which draws its membership from student organizations. The SGA Judicial Council acts as the judiciary, hearing SGA-related appeals as well as those resulting from student parking violations issued by the Department of Public Safety. Finally, an Election Committee oversees student government elections and decides on appeals that result from them.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Alternate College Theatre (ACT) is a theatre group on campus where students take part in producing, designing, directing, writing, and acting in their own student-run productions. They work closely with the Theatre department on campus and put on three shows every year (two straight plays and one musical) along with various other productions and events.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The largest student organization at Holy Cross, Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), is a community service organization sponsored by the college Chaplains' Office consisting of over 45 different outreach programs and over 600 active members. Other volunteer and social justice programs offered by Holy Cross include Pax Christi, the Appalachia Service Project, Oxfam America (formerly Student Coalition on Hunger and Homelessness (SCOHAH)), and the Arrupe Immersion Program, named in honor of Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., which Holy Cross describes as "a faith based program responding to the call to work for peace and justice in the world".


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The Holy Cross Knights of Columbus council is the third oldest college council in the order having been established in 1929.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The school color is purple. There are two theories of how Holy Cross chose purple as its official color. One suggests it was derived from the royal purple used by Constantine the Great (born about 275 A.D., died in 337 A.D.) as displayed on his labarum (military standard) and on those of later Christian emperors of Rome.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The outer circle states in Latin "College of the Holy Cross, Society of Jesus, Worcester, Massachusetts".


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The inner shield contains an open book (symbol of learning) and a cross of gold (symbol of Christian faith). Written in the book is the college's motto, "In Hoc Signo Vinces", which translates as, "By this sign thou shalt conquer". The phrase is credited to Constantine.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The cross divides the lower part of the shield into quarters, which are alternately red and sable, the colors on the ancient shield of Worcester, England. The upper part of the shield has in its center the emblem of the Society of Jesus, a blazing sun with the letters IHS, the first three letters of Jesus' name in Greek. On either side is a martlet, reminiscent of those on the ancestral crest of Bishop Fenwick.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Holy Cross's athletic teams for both men and women are known as the Crusaders. It is reported that the name "Crusader" was first associated with Holy Cross in 1884 at an alumni banquet in Boston, where an engraved Crusader mounted on an armored horse appeared at the head of the menu. In 2018, the college decided to phase out of using the Knight imagery, retiring the Holy Cross mascot Iggy T. Crusader. Holy Cross opted instead for the secondary (now primary) logo of a purple shield with an interlocking "HC".


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The Latin motto "In Hoc Signo Vinces", "In This Sign You Shall Conquer", has been attributed to Emperor Constantine the Great, a Roman emperor noted for his tolerance of Christians. According to some historians, Constantine had a dream or vision of a flaming cross in the sky with this inscription on the day preceding his decisive victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge (October 28, 312). This victory led to his capturing Rome and convinced him of the importance of Christianity.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Holy Cross sponsors 27 varsity sports, all of which compete at the NCAA Division I level (FCS for football). The Crusaders are members of the Patriot League, the Atlantic Hockey Association, and Hockey East Conference in women's hockey. Of its 27 varsity teams, Holy Cross supports 13 men's and 14 women's sports. The carrying of 26 Division I varsity programs gives Holy Cross the largest ratio of teams-per-enrollment in the country.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: The college is a founding member of the Patriot League, and boasts that one-quarter of its student body participates in its varsity athletic programs. For the first decade of its existence, Patriot League schools did not offer athletic scholarships. The league began allowing schools to offer athletic scholarships for all sports except football in 2001, after American University joined the league, and in 2012 league members were authorized to offer football scholarships as well.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Principal athletic facilities include the Fitton Field football stadium (capacity 23,500), Hart Recreation Center's basketball court (3,600), the newly renovated Fitton Field baseball park also called Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field (3,000), Holy Cross Field House, Hart Ice Rink (1,600), Linda Johnson Smith Stadium (1,320), and Smith Wellness Center located inside the Hart Center. The Linda Johnson Smith Soccer Stadium opened in the fall of 2006.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Holy Cross is one of eight schools to have won an NCAA championship in both baseball and basketball, having won the 1952 College World Series and the 1947 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. The college has also won the 1954 National Invitation Tournament and participated in the 1946 Orange Bowl. Since electing to focus more on academics than athletics, the college has had several notable moments on the national stage. In 2006, the Holy Cross men's ice hockey team upset the No. 1 seed Minnesota Golden Gophers in the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. In 2016, the Holy Cross men's basketball team qualified for the NCAA tournament, earning its first tournament win since 1953. In 2017, the Holy Cross baseball team earned a bid to the NCAA tournament, defeating no. 25 ranked Nebraska in the Corvallis Regional.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Holy Cross had more 38,000 alumni as of November, 2021. There are currently 25 active alumni clubs in the U.S. and 1 international club. A number of Holy Cross alumni have made significant contributions in the fields of government, law, academia, business, arts, journalism, and athletics, among others. As of 2019, the alumni median salary for a recent Holy Cross graduate was $62,800; the mid-career median salary for a Holy Cross graduate was $129,700.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Clarence Thomas, United States Supreme Court Justice; Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and NBC's The Chris Matthews Show; and Basketball Hall of Fame members and Boston Celtics immortals Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn are among the college's most famous alumni. LSD pioneer Timothy Leary was a student at Holy Cross, though he withdrew after two years. Michael Harrington, author of "The Other America" and an influential figure in initiating the 1960s War on Poverty, was a graduate of the college, as was the famed pacifist leader Phillip Berrigan. Wendell Arthur Garrity, United States federal judge famous for issuing the 1974 order that Boston schools be desegregated by means of busing, is also an alumnus. Washington, D.C. super lawyer Edward Bennett Williams was a graduate. In addition to his legal career, Williams owned the Washington Redskins and Baltimore Orioles.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Bob Casey, Sr., Pennsylvania governor, Bob Casey, Jr., his son, Pennsylvania treasurer and U.S. Senator, and Edward D. DiPrete, Governor of Rhode Island are among the most notable alumni with involvement in politics. Jon Favreau, Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama and co-creator of Pod Save America. Mark Kennedy Shriver, member of the Kennedy political family and Vice President and managing director of U.S. Programs for the charity Save the Children, graduated from Holy Cross in 1986.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: In 2003, an honorary degree and public platform was given to pro-choice Holy Cross alumnus Chris Matthews despite pro-life alumni objections. College President Fr. Michael McFarland defended the invitation and degree, despite clear direction from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop policies and Catholic Church policies never to give a public platform to those at odds with central holdings of the Church, such as the teachings on abortion. McFarland along with the majority of the current Holy Cross community continue to defend this, stating that while Matthews is pro-choice, that is not his defining characteristic and he did not talk purely about abortion in his speech.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: Several alumni have held top positions in the world of business and finance: Bob Wright, Chairman & CEO, NBC Universal, and Vice Chairman, General Electric; James David Power III, J.D. Power and Associates founder; William J. McDonough, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Vice Chairman of Merrill Lynch.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: In media and the arts, Holy Cross has several distinguished alumni: Ann Dowd, Emmy-winning actress best known for her roles in "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The Leftovers"; Neil Hopkins, actor best known for his roles in "Lost" and "Nip/Tuck"; Bill Simmons, ESPN.com sports columnist and head of The Ringer, Channel 33, and the Bill Simmons Podcast Network; Dan Shaughnessy, sports columnist for "The Boston Globe"; Bartlett Sher, Tony Award-winning Broadway director; Joe McGinniss, bestselling author of The Selling of the President, Fatal Vision, and other books; Edward P. Jones, 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction for writing "The Known World"; Billy Collins, 2001–03 Poet Laureate of the United States; Dave Anderson, "The New York Times" sports columnist, 1981 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary; Jack Higgins, editorial cartoonist for the "Chicago Sun-Times", 1989 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning; and Kevin O'Connor, the host of TV's "This Old House". In art and architecture, Vito Acconci.


title: College of the Holy Cross

text: In the sciences, Holy Cross also has several notable alumni, including Joseph Murray, winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Medicine; immunologist Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and chief medical advisor to the president; and MacArthur Foundation "genius" bioengineer Jim Collins.


title: Phyllis George

text: Phyllis Ann George (June 25, 1949 – May 14, 2020) was an American businesswoman, actress, and sportscaster. In 1975, George was hired as a reporter and co-host of the CBS Sports pre-show "The NFL Today", becoming one of the first women to hold an on-air position in national televised sports broadcasting. She also served as the First Lady of Kentucky from 1979 to 1983.


title: Phyllis George

text: George was born to Diantha Louise George (née Cogdell) (1919-2003) and James Robert George (1918-1996) in Denton, Texas. She attended North Texas State University (now University of North Texas) for three years until she was crowned Miss Texas in 1970. At that time, Texas Christian University awarded scholarships to Miss Texas honorees. As a result, George left North Texas and enrolled at TCU until winning the Miss America crown later that fall. She was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority.


title: Phyllis George

text: George first competed for Miss Texas as Miss Denton in 1969 finishing fourth. The next year she competed as Miss Dallas and was named Miss Texas 1970, then was crowned Miss America 1971 on September 12, 1970. The Women's Liberation Front demonstrated at the event.


title: Phyllis George

text: In August 1971, George traveled to Vietnam with Miss Iowa Cheryl Browne; Miss Nevada 1970 Vicky Jo Todd; Miss New Jersey 1970 Hela Yungst; Miss Arizona 1970 Karen Shields; Miss Arkansas 1970 Donna Connelly; and George's replacement after she was crowned Miss America Miss Texas 1970 Belinda Myrick. They participated in a 22-day United Service Organizations tour for American troops there.


title: Phyllis George

text: During her year-long stint as Miss America, George appeared on numerous talk shows, including three interviews on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson".


title: Phyllis George

text: CBS Sports producers approached George to become a sportscaster in 1974. The following year, she joined the cast of "The NFL Today", co-hosting live pregame shows before National Football League games. She was one of the first women to have a nationally prominent role in television sports coverage. As a former beauty queen with a limited television background, she was criticized for not possessing the traditional qualifications for a sportscaster. After three seasons on "The NFL Today", she was replaced by another beauty queen, Jayne Kennedy. George returned to the show in 1980 and remained until 1984. She became known for her interviews with athletes. Hannah Storm, an anchor at ESPN's "SportsCenter", called George "a true trailblazer" for being an inspirational role model for women who wanted to pursue careers in sportscasting.


title: Phyllis George

text: Another duty George had with CBS Sports was working on horse racing events, including the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Additionally, George had a brief stint on a television news version of "People" magazine in 1978 and a job as a morning television talk show host as co-anchor of the "CBS Morning News" in 1985. She also hosted her own prime-time talk show, 1994's "A Phyllis George Special", on which she interviewed then-President Bill Clinton, and a 1998 talk show titled "Women's Day" on the cable network PAX. George also appeared as a guest on "The Muppet Show" in 1979.


title: Phyllis George

text: In 1985, CBS settled on Phyllis George to serve as a permanent anchor for its morning news program. George was given a three-year contract following a two-week trial run. As co-anchor, she interviewed newsmakers including then–First Lady Nancy Reagan.


title: Phyllis George

text: A low point of her eight-month stint on "The CBS Morning News" happened when George embarrassed herself during a May 1985 interview with Gary Dotson and Cathleen Webb. Dotson just had been freed after six years in prison on a rape charge by Webb. Webb ended up recanting her story so Dotson was set free. Both appeared on the CBS program as part of (as George later told Tom Shales of "The Washington Post") a Webb-Dotson press tour "charade." Both were on or had appeared on NBC News and ABC News as well as other media outlets. As the segment began to wrap, George first suggested the two shake hands. After a brief hesitation from them and no hand shake, George then proposed they "hug it out." A brief moment of awkwardness followed but no hug. The invitation to embrace was deemed highly inappropriate prompting a few phone calls from irate CBS viewers. George also was criticized in the press.


title: Phyllis George

text: According to news reports at the time, George had been brought in to boost the ratings of the perennial third place ranked program. CBS News staffers were mystified as to why someone with little to no journalism experience was picked over a more qualified candidate from the CBS News roster of reporters and anchors. George had been a talent for the sports division, but had not worked in news. However, this experiment failed to work out, and George was ousted just a few months later. Maria Shriver, then a CBS News employee, took her place as part of another revamp of the program.


title: Phyllis George

text: George founded two companies in the course of her business career, the first of which was "Chicken by George" chicken fillets. In 1988 after operating for only two years, George sold the company to Hormel Foods, which agreed to operate it as a separate division. In 1991, George received the "Celebrity Women Business Owner of the Year" from the National Association of Women Business Owners.


title: Phyllis George

text: In 2003, she created Phyllis George Beauty, which markets a line of cosmetics and skincare products through television shopping network HSN.


title: Phyllis George

text: She also wrote or co-authored five books—three about crafts, one on dieting (her first book, "The I Love America Diet", published in 1982), and the final one published during her lifetime, "Never Say Never" (2002).


title: Phyllis George

text: George was the founder of the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, and was an avid folk and traditional arts collector. She was also a founding member of the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship.


title: Phyllis George

text: George resurfaced in 2000 when she played a minor character in the hit movie "Meet the Parents". It was one of her very few film roles.


title: Phyllis George

text: George was married twice. Her first marriage was to Hollywood producer Robert Evans, and her second to Kentucky Fried Chicken owner and governor of Kentucky John Y. Brown Jr. George served as Kentucky's First Lady during Brown's term in office. During her marriage to Brown, she had two children, Lincoln Tyler George Brown and Pamela Ashley Brown. Both of George's marriages ended in divorce.


title: Phyllis George

text: George died of complications from polycythemia vera, a blood cancer, on May 14, 2020, aged 70, at the Albert B. Chandler Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: 19 is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Adele, released on 28 January 2008 by XL Recordings. Following Adele's graduation from the BRIT School in April 2006, she began publishing songs and recorded a three-song demo for a class project and gave it to a friend, who posted the demo on Myspace, where it became very successful and led to interest from the record label. This led to Adele signing a recording contract at age 17 with the label and providing vocals for Jack Peñate. During this session for Peñate's song she met producer Jim Abbiss, who would go on to produce the majority of her debut album.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Named after the age of the singer during its release and production, Adele wrote most of the album's material solely, but did work with a select few writers and producers including Jim Abbiss, Eg White and Sacha Skarbek. Their collaborations created a blue-eyed soul album with folk rock, indie pop, and jazz influences and lyrics describing heartbreak, nostalgia and relationships. Upon release, "19" received positive reviews from music critics, who praised Adele's vocal prowess and songwriting talent at such a young age and noted her as having the "potential to become among the most respected and inspiring international artists of her generation." "19" also received numerous accolades including a nomination for the Mercury Prize and winning the European Border Breakers Award. At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, Adele won Best New Artist alongside Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Chasing Pavements".


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Four singles were released from the album, with "Chasing Pavements" and "Make You Feel My Love" reaching the top ten on the UK Singles Chart, while the former became Adele's first entry on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The album also contains her first song, "Hometown Glory", written when she was 16, which is based on her home suburb of West Norwood in London. "19" became a global success, reaching number one in Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, while top 10 in fifteen countries including Australia, Brazil and the United States. The album is certified 8× platinum by the BPI with sales of over 2.4 million, while 3× platinum in the US by RIAA, having sold over 3 million copies. The album has sold over 8.4 million copies worldwide.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Adele graduated from the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon in April 2006, where she was a classmate of Leona Lewis and Jessie J. Adele credits the school with nurturing her talent even though, at the time, she was more interested in going into A&R and hoped to launch other people's careers.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Four months after graduation, she published two songs on the fourth issue of the online arts publication "PlatformsMagazine.com." She had recorded a three-song demo for a class project and given it to a friend. The friend posted the demo on Myspace, where it became very successful and led to a phone call from Richard Russell, boss of the music label XL Recordings. She doubted if the offer was real because the only record company she knew was Virgin Records, and she took a friend with her to the meeting.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Nick Huggett, at XL, recommended Adele to manager Jonathan Dickins at September Management, and in June 2006, Dickins became her official representative. September was managing Jamie T at the time and this proved a major draw for Adele, a big fan of the British singer-songwriter. Huggett then signed Adele to XL in September 2006.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Adele provided vocals for Jack Peñate's song, "My Yvonne", for his debut album "Matinée", and it was during this session she first met producer Jim Abbiss, who would go on to produce both the majority of her debut album, "19," and tracks on "21."


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Adele recorded a cover of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" on the recommendation of her manager Jonathan Dickins, who loved the song.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: The first single released from "19" was "Chasing Pavements", which Adele wrote in collaboration with Eg White.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: "Chasing Pavements" was inspired by an incident Adele had with a former boyfriend of six months. After learning he had cheated on her, she went to the bar he was at and punched him in the face. After being thrown out, Adele walked down the street alone and thought to herself, "What is it you're chasing? You're chasing an empty pavement." She sang and recorded it on her mobile phone and arranged the chords when she got home.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Adele and White co-wrote two other songs for the album: "Melt My Heart to Stone" and "Tired". She also collaborated with Sacha Skarbek on the single "Cold Shoulder". However, most of the songs were written solely by Adele, including "Best for Last", "Crazy for You", "First Love", and "My Same", as well as her debut single, "Hometown Glory". That song was written by Adele in 10 minutes after her mother tried to persuade her to leave her home town of West Norwood in London for university.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: In July 2008, Adele informed noted UK soul writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul that the reason for naming her debut album '19' was to reflect her age while she was writing it: "I just kinda remember becoming a bit of a woman during that time. And I think that is definitely documented in the songs." The Taiwanese edition was released on 5 March. As well as the standard track list, the album features three bonus tracks: "That's It I Quit I'm Movin' On" ("Chasing Pavements" B-side), "Now and Then" ("Cold Shoulder" B-side) and "Painting Pictures" ("Make You Feel My Love" B-side). The Indonesian special edition was released on 3 March. As well as the standard track list, the album features a bonus video for "Chasing Pavements".


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: By 2008, Adele had become the headliner and performed an acoustic set, in which she was supported by Damien Rice.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: She embarked on a short North American tour in the same month, and "19" was released in the US in June. "Billboard" magazine stated of it: "Adele truly has potential to become among the most respected and inspiring international artists of her generation." The An Evening with Adele world tour began in May 2008 and ended in June 2009.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: She later cancelled the 2008 US tour dates to be with a former boyfriend. She said in "Nylon" magazine in June 2009, "I'm like, 'I can't believe I did that.' It seems so ungrateful... I was drinking far too much and that was kind of the basis of my relationship with this boy. I couldn't bear to be without him, so I was like, 'Well, OK, I'll just cancel my stuff then.'" By the middle of October 2008, Adele's attempt to break in America appeared to have failed. But then she was booked as the musical guest on the 18 October 2008 episode of NBC's "Saturday Night Live." The episode, which included an expected appearance by then US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, earned the program its best ratings in 14 years with 17 million viewers. Adele performed "Chasing Pavements" and "Cold Shoulder", and the following day, "19" topped the iTunes charts and ranked at number five at Amazon.com while "Chasing Pavements" rose into the top 25. The album reached number 11 on the "Billboard" 200 as a result, a jump of 35 places over the previous week.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: "19" received generally positive reviews from critics. The album holds a 68 out of 100 rating, based on 19 critical reviews, at Metacritic. "The Observer"s Caspar Llewellyn Smith wrote in his review, "The way [Adele] stretched the vowels, her wonderful soulful phrasing, the sheer unadulterated pleasure of her voice, stood out all the more; little doubt that she's a rare singer, which another track first available on her MySpace site, 'Daydreamer', confirmed" they gave the album a five-star response. "Pitching up somewhere between blues, folk and jazz, she's included something for everyone without ever pandering to a particular trend", wrote Chris Long from "BBC Music". "Her melodies exude warmth, her singing is occasionally stunning and, in the dramatic Hometown Glory, the spiky cool of Cold Shoulder (which is unexpectedly reminiscent of Shara Nelson-era Massive Attack) and the piano epic Make You Feel My Love, she has tracks that make Lily Allen and Kate Nash sound every bit as ordinary as they are." Chuck Taylor said in "Billboard" that "Adele truly has potential to become among the most respected and inspiring international artists of her generation." Mikael Wood was less impressed in "Entertainment Weekly", writing that "Adele's songs aren't as sharp as Duffy's...Still, her singing throughout is a thing to behold." "Uncut" was more critical, believing that "Adele can certainly sing, but '19' reeks of some A&R trendhound making it his/her biz to sign The New Amy and not resting till s/he's found the right chick from South London to fit the bill". According to "NME", "as '19' reveals itself, it's clear that the Amy associations are little more than empty mediaspeak without any real weight. Despite the early indicators, there's precious little on the album that prevents it from collapsing under the weight of its own expectation".


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Adele became the first recipient of the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008. "The Times" "Encyclopedia of Modern Music" named "19" an "essential" blue-eyed soul recording.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: She also won an Urban Music Award for "Best Jazz Act". She also received a Q Awards nomination in the category of Breakthrough Act and a Music of Black Origin nomination in the category of Best UK Female.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: On 3 December 2008, the album spawned four Grammy Award nominations: Best New Artist for Adele, and Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Chasing Pavements". The following year, she received a second consecutive nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, for "Hometown Glory", but lost to "Halo" by Beyoncé.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Her success occurred simultaneously with several other British female soul singers, with the British press dubbing her a new Amy Winehouse. This was described as a third British Musical Invasion of the US. However, Adele called the comparisons between her and other female soul singers lazy, noting "we're a gender, not a genre". AllMusic wrote that "Adele is simply too magical to compare her to anyone."


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: Following the release of her debut album "19", Kanye West and Beyoncé were among the artists vocal in their praise of her music. Beyoncé cited Adele as one of the influences for her fourth album, "4".


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number one. In the same week as "21" was released, "19" re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number four, with sales of 25,419 copies. On 6 February 2011, the album remained on the chart at number four, with strengthening sales of 27,660 copies. It was the second best selling album of 2011 in the United Kingdom, behind "21", as it tripled its 2008 seven non-consecutive week-long top 10-visit with 21 straight weeks. As of March 2016, "19" has sold over 2,309,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In Ireland, due to the success of "21", the album returned to its peak position of number 3 on the week ending 18 March 2011, three years after it originally peaked, just to set a new high at number two on the following week and to stay there for six non-consecutive weeks, behind "21". The album debuted at number 16 on the New Zealand Albums Chart, due to the success of "21" and has peaked at number three. In March 2017, "19" returned to No. five in its 58th charting week with her other two albums in the top five as well.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: In the United States, "19" debuted at number 61 and remained in the lower ends of the "Billboard" 200 for many proceeding weeks. After a performance on the US show "Saturday Night Live", it rose to number 46 and a week later to number 11 with 25,000+ copies sold. In 2009, after winning two Grammy Awards, the album rose to number 10 on the US "Billboard" 200 and total sales reached 843,880. In February 2012, "19" reached a new peak of number 4 on the "Billboard" 200, and the album is now a certified double platinum by the certified (RIAA) in the United States. As of the week ending 24 April 2011, "19" was a number one on the Top Pop Catalog Albums for nine weeks, making it only the third album by a female artist to top that chart at least that long in the past 20 years. On the following week, it stayed at number one on the chart, making it the first studio album doing so since Michael Jackson's "Thriller 25" was at number one for 11 weeks in 2008. Months later, it had moved up from number 27 to number 16 on the "Billboard" 200, topping the Top Pop Catalog Albums for the sixteenth week.


title: 19 (Adele album)

text: In Australia, the album returned to the top 10, at No. 9, in its 74th charting week in March 2017 with her other studio albums "25" and "21" placed at No. 2 and 4 respectively.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage ("Brassica rapa" subsp. "pekinensis" or "Brassica rapa" Pekinensis Group) is a type of Chinese cabbage originating near the Beijing region of China that is widely used in East Asian cuisine. Since the 20th century, it has also become a widespread crop in Europe, the Americas and Australia. In much of the world, it is referred to as "Chinese cabbage". In Australia it also is referred to as "wombok".


title: Napa cabbage

text: The word "napa" in the name napa cabbage comes from colloquial and regional Japanese, where "nappa" () refers to the leaves of any vegetable, especially when used as food. The Japanese name for this specific variety of cabbage is hakusai (), a Sino-Japanese reading of the Chinese name (), literally "white vegetable". The Korean name for napa cabbage, baechu (), is a nativized word from the Sino-Korean reading, , of the same Chinese character sets. Today in Mandarin Chinese, napa cabbage is known as dàbáicài (), literally "big white vegetable", as opposed to the "small white vegetable" that is known in English as bok choy. Other names include "Chihili" or "Michihili".


title: Napa cabbage

text: Outside of Asia, this vegetable is also referred to as Chinese cabbage or sometimes celery cabbage. It is also known as siu choy (Cantonese ), wombok in Australia and wong bok or won bok in New Zealand, all corruptions of wong ngaa baak (Cantonese ). In the United Kingdom this vegetable is known as Chinese leaf or winter cabbage, and in the Philippines as petsay (from Hokkien, ) or pechay baguio. Another name used in English is petsai or pe-tsai. In Russia it is called pekinskaya kapusta (), literally "Beijing cabbage".


title: Napa cabbage

text: The first records of napa cabbage cultivation date back to the 15th century in the Yangtze River region in China. From China it later spread to Korea and Japan. Beginning in the 19th century with the Chinese diaspora, it was distributed to the rest of Asia, Europe, America as well as Australia. During the 16th century napa cabbage was first introduced to America from Europe and the supply of seed materials from Europe continued until World War I. After the blockade of the European seed supply, US government research institutes and the seed industry developed new seed stocks for vegetable crops. Oregon and California were the cabbage seed production areas during that time. Today it is cultivated and eaten throughout the world.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage might have originated from natural hybridization between turnip ("Brassica rapa subsp. rapa") and pak-choi ("Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis"). Artificial crosses between these two species, as well as molecular data, strengthen this suggestion.


title: Napa cabbage

text: The leaves, which are the harvested organ, lay side by side densely, are lime green coloured with white leaf veins and have a smooth surface. The vegetable has an oval form and weighs . The leaves are organized in basal rosettes. The flowers are yellow and have a typical Brassicaceae cross-linked arrangement, hence the name Crucifereae, which means “cross-bearing”. Because the plant is harvested in an earlier stage than flowering, normally the flowers are not visible on the field.


title: Napa cabbage

text: It develops similar to other head-forming leaf vegetables, for example cabbage lettuce. The chronological stages on the BBCH-scale are germination, leaf formation, vegetative growth (head-forming), appearance of the sprout that bears the flowers, flowering, fruit development, seed ripening and senescence.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage is an annual plant that reaches the generative period in the first year. It must be consumed in its vegetative period, so there is a challenge in cultivation not to reach the stadium of flowering. The stadium of flowering can be initiated by cold temperatures or the length of the day. Napa cabbage reproduces mainly by allogamy. Napa cabbage produces more leaves, bigger leaves and a higher biomass under long day conditions than under short day conditions.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage is a cool season annual vegetable which grows best when the days are short and mild. The plant grows to an oblong shaped head consisting of tightly arranged crinkly, thick, light-green leaves with prominent white veins. Innermost layer leaves feature light yellow color.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage belongs to the family Brassicaceae, commonly called the mustard or cabbage family. As a cruciferous plant it is closely related to species of "Brassica" like broccoli, bok choy and cauliflower.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage is widely used in China, Japan, and Korea. Napa cabbage is used as a sign of prosperity in China, and often appears as a symbol in glass and porcelain figures. The Jadeite Cabbage sculpture of Taiwan's National Palace Museum is a carving of a napa cabbage variety. It is also found in North American and Australian cities after Asian immigrants settled in the regions.


title: Napa cabbage

text: In Korean cuisine, napa cabbage is the main ingredient of "baechu-kimchi", the most common type of kimchi, but is also eaten raw as a wrap for pork or oysters, dipped in gochujang. The outer, tougher leaves are used in soups. It can be used in stir-fry with other ingredients, such as tofu, mushroom and zucchini. It is also eaten with hot pot meals. Napa cabbage is particularly popular in South Korea's northern Gangwon Province. In European, American and Australian kitchens, it is more common to eat it cooked or raw as salad.


title: Napa cabbage

text: The vegetable is rich in vitamin C (26 mg/100g) and has a fair amount of calcium (40 mg/100g). It tastes mildly aromatic.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage can be cultivated in many different areas of the world, the main area of diversification represents Asia.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage requires deeply loosened medium heavy soil. There must not be any compaction due to plowing. The crop achieves particularly high yields on sandy loam. Extremely sandy or claylike soils are not suitable.


title: Napa cabbage

text: The crop prefers a pH range from 6.0 to 6.2, a high organic matter content and good moisture holding capacity of the soil. Lower pH or droughty soil can lead to calcium or magnesium deficiency and internal quality defects.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage needs much water during the whole growth period. Often an irrigation system is needed, especially for August and September. The required amount of water depends on the stage of crop growth, weather conditions, and soil type. The most critical stage after establishment is when the head is forming. Inadequate water at this time will result in reduced uptake of calcium. This condition causes dead leaf tips within the head which makes it unmarketable. During head formation, of water per week is needed to maintain sustained growth rates.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Temperature requirements are low. Temperatures below are tolerated for short time periods; persistent frosts below are not endured. Too low temperature can induce premature bolting. The plants perform best under temperatures between , but depending on the cultivar.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage has very small seeds with a thousand kernel weight of about 2.5 to 2.8 g. For professional cultivation it is recommended to use disinfected seeds to prevent onset diseases. With the single-grain sowing technique, about 400 to 500 g of seeds per hectare is required; with the normal sowing technique, about 1 kg per hectare. If the normal sowing technique is used, the seedlings must be thinned out after two to four weeks. The seeds should be deposited deep, with a row width of and distance between the seeds.


title: Napa cabbage

text: The seedlings can be grown in the greenhouse and then transplanted into the field after two to three weeks. Earlier harvest can be achieved with this method. Seventy thousand to 80,000 seedlings per hectare are required. The transplanting method is normally used for the spring crop and the seeding technique for the fall crop.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Fertilizer recommendations are in the range of the nutrient removal. Organic fertilizer must be applied before sowing due to the short cultivation time of napa cabbage and the slow availability of organic fertilizers. Synthetic N fertilizer should be applied in three equal doses. The last application must happen before two thirds of the cultivation time is over to avoid quality losses during storage.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Napa cabbage can be harvested 8–12 weeks after sowing. The harvest work is mostly done by hand. The plant is cut above the ground. It is usual to harvest several times per field to achieve consistent cabbage quality. Cabbages will keep in good condition for three to four months in cool stores at and 85 to 90 percent relative humidity. Napa cabbage achieves a yield of 4 to 5 kg/m.


title: Napa cabbage

text: "Brassica rapa" species are diploid and have 10 chromosomes. A challenge for breeding of napa cabbage is the variable self-incompatibility. The self-incompatibility activity was reported to change by temperature and humidity. In vitro pollination with 98% relative humidity proved to be the most reliable as compared to greenhouse pollination.


title: Napa cabbage

text: A lot of work has already been done on breeding of napa cabbage. In the 21st century, 880 varieties of Napa cabbage were registered by the Korea Seed and Variety Service.


title: Napa cabbage

text: Breeding of napa cabbage was started by the Korean government research station of horticultural demonstration in 1906 to overcome starvation. As napa cabbage and radish are the main vegetables for kimchi, research focused on increasing yield. The most important person for this process was Dr. Woo Jang-choon who bred hybrid cultivars with self-incompatibility and contributed to commercial breeding by developing valuable materials and educating students. The main purpose of the hybrid cultivar was high yield and year-round production of napa cabbage after 1960.


title: Napa cabbage

text: To enable year round production of napa cabbage, it has to be modified to tolerate high and low temperatures. Normally, sowing in the late summer and harvesting in late autumn can produce high quality vegetables. As an example, a summer cultivar called “Nae-Seo-beak-ro” was developed 1973 by a commercial seed company. It tolerates high temperatures, could endure high humidity in the monsoon, and showed resistance to viral disease, soft rot and downy mildew. The low temperature in early spring reduces the quality of the vegetable and it cannot be used for kimchi. In the 1970s the developing of winter cultivars started. The majority of new cultivars could not endure the cold winter conditions and disappeared. The cultivar “Dong-Pung” (meaning “east wind”) was developed in 1992 and showed a high resistance to cold temperature. It is mostly used in Korea, where fresh napa cabbage is nowadays cultivated year round.


title: Napa cabbage

text: In the 1970s, one seed company developed the rose-shape heading variety while other seed companies focused on the semi-folded heading type. As a result of continuous breeding in the commercial seed companies and the government research stations, farmers could now select what they wanted from among various high quality hybrids of Chinese cabbage. The fall season cultivar 'Yuki', with white ribs and tight leaf folding, gained the RHS's Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 2003.


title: Napa cabbage

text: In 1988, the first cultivar with yellow inner leaf was introduced. This trait has prevailed until today.


title: Napa cabbage

text: A very important breeding aim is to get varieties with resistance to pests and diseases. There exist varieties with resistance to turnip mosaic virus but as mentioned above, there exist numerous other diseases. There have been attempts to breed varieties with clubroot resistance or powdery mildew resistance but the varieties failed due to bad leaf texture traits or broken resistances.


title: Napa cabbage

text: "Alternaria" diseases are caused by the organisms "Alternaria brassicae", "Alternaria brassicicola" and "Alternaria japonica". Their English names are black spot (not to be confused with midrib 'pepper spots' which are physiological in origin and often result from improper storage), pod spot, gray leaf spot, dark leaf spot or "Alternaria" blight. The symptoms can be seen on all aboveground plant parts as dark spots. The infected plants are shrivelled and smaller than normal. Alternaria diseases infect almost all brassica plants, the most important hosts are oilseed brassicas.


title: Napa cabbage

text: The fungus is a facultative parasite, what means that it can survive on living hosts as well as on dead plant tissue. Infected plant debris is in most circumstances the primary source of inoculum. The spores can be dispersed by wind to host plants in the field or to neighbouring brassica crops. This is why cross infections often occur in areas where different brassica crops are cultivated in close proximity. The disease spreads especially fast when the weather is wet and the plants have reached maturity.


title: Napa cabbage

text: "Alternaria brassicae" is well adapted to temperate regions while "Alternaria brassicicola" occurs primarily in warmer parts of the world. Temperature requirement for "Alternaria japonica" is intermediate.


title: Napa cabbage

text: There exist some wild accessions of "Brassica rapa" subsp. "pekinensis" with resistance to "Alternaria brassicae" but not on commercial cultivars. These resistances should be included to breeding programmes. "Alternaria" epidemics are best avoided by management practices like at least 3 years non-host crops between brassica crops, incorporation of plant debris into the soil to accelerate decomposition and usage of disease-free seeds.