title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The gauge Weston-super-Mare Tramways network opened on 12 May 1902. The main route ran from Birnbeck Pier along the sea front to the Sanatorium (now Royal Sands); a branch line ran to the railway station and on to the tram depot in Locking Road. The fleet originally consisted of 12 double deck cars and 4 open-sided "toast rack" cars. The system was bought out by the competing bus company and closed on 18 April 1937, by which time the fleet comprised 8 double deck and 6 "toast racks". An earlier proposal for the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Tramway to run along the streets of the town to the sea front had failed to materialise, leaving the line as an ordinary railway (the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway) with a terminus in Ashcombe Road.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Weston is close to junction 21 of the M5 motorway, to which it is linked by a dual-carriageway relief road built in the 1990s. This replaced Locking Road as the designated A370 route and avoided some of the traffic congestion along that narrower urban road.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Most local bus services are provided by First West of England. All services call at stops in the Regent Street and Big Lamp Corner area, including some stops in the adjacent High Street. Some town services and those to Sand Bay, Wells, Burnham-on-Sea and Bristol Airport start from or run via the main railway station. The service to Sand Bay is sometimes operated by an open top bus. National Express operate long distance coach services, mostly from the coach terminal in Locking Road Car Park which is close to the railway station. Bakers Dolphin previously operated a service to London but this was withdrawn in 2013.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The town had a bus station on the sea front from 1928 until 1987. After nine months of construction a new "bus hub" consisting of a street lined with bus stops was opened in February 2022. It is situated on Alexandra Parade.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The Unitary authority of North Somerset, provides support for 78 schools, delivering education to approximately 28,000 pupils. Infant and primary schools in Weston include: Ashcombe Primary, Ashbrooke House School, Becket Primary, Bournville Primary School, Castle Batch Primary school, Christ Church C of E Primary, Corpus Christi Catholic Primary, Herons' Moor Community Primary, Hutton C of E Primary, Kewstoke Primary, Mead Vale Primary, Mendip Green, Milton Park Primary, St. Georges Church School, St Mark's VA Church of England/Methodist Ecumenical Primary School, St. Martins C of E school, Uphill Academy, Walliscote Primary, Windwhistle Primary and Worlebury St. Pauls C.E.V.A. First School.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Secondary education is provided by Broadoak Academy, Churchill Academy and Sixth Form, Priory Community School, Winterstoke Hundred Academy, Worle Community School and Hans Price Academy. The town's main further education provider is Weston College, and the town's expanding higher education provision is supplied by University Centre Weston.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Nigel Leat, a teacher at Hillside First School, was jailed indefinitely in summer 2011 for Paedophile offences that happened over a 14-year period. The school's headmaster lost his job in December 2011 due to the incident.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The town contains several arts venues. The Playhouse serves both tourists and the local population. The Winter Gardens on the seafront hosts shows, exhibitions and conferences. The Blakehay Theatre & Community Arts Centre is a small venue housed in a former Baptist church. All Saints Church hosts regular concerts, some of high national standing. This church is also used for recording, especially by the Emerald Ensemble and has featured on BBC TV programme "Songs of Praise".


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The Odeon Cinema was opened in 1935 and is a building in the modernist style designed by Thomas Cecil Howitt. It houses the only Compton theatre pipe organ in an Odeon cinema outside London and is one of only two working theatre organs left in the country still performing in their original location in commercially operating cinemas. This Compton organ was installed in 1935 and is the only one left in the West Country, the next nearest being the Odeon Leicester Square, London. All other models have been either restored and moved elsewhere, or destroyed. Occasional organ concerts continue to be held at the venue. The building has Grade II Listed status.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Weston-super-Mare has a small number of live music venues of note. "Scally's" hosts more established touring rock bands, while the "Brit Bar", "the Back Bar", "The London", and "The Imperial" hold regular open mic nights which attract a wide array of local musicians, as well as artists from further afield. The "T4 on the Beach" concert had been hosted annually since 2006, up until 2012, by Channel 4 youth programme "T4". Well known bands and singers perform four or fewer of their hits. However, the vocals are mimed as the event is being produced for live TV broadcast. Each summer the beach is also used as the venue for the Weston-super-Mare Sand Sculpture Festival.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The town was the subject of a song "Sunny Weston-super-Mare" performed by local band The Wurzels. The last scenes of "The Remains of the Day", a James Ivory film of 1993, were shot at locations in the town including the Grand Pier and the Winter Gardens.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The Weston Arts Festival takes place each year during September and October using local venues including the Blakehay Theatre, Playhouse, All Saints, and galleries and offering a wide range of cultural events.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Weston is also the final event on the November West Country Carnival circuit, when a large number of brightly illuminated floats parade through the streets.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The town's weekly newspaper is "The Weston & Somerset Mercury", which has been serving the population since 1843. It is now owned by publishing company Archant. There are also two online publications The Weston Echo, and Weston super Mare People.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Its volunteers make and present studio programmes, including interviews with local councillors, musicians and community leaders, as well as filming local events in and around the town.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The 2011–2013 Sky1 television comedy series "The Café" was co-written by Michelle Terry who was born in the town and the series was filmed in Weston-super-Mare.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: In August 2015 the artist Banksy opened the temporary art installation 'Dismaland' at the Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare venue.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: In late 2019 a new community radio station called WaveWSM was also opened with studios in the centre of the town, bringing local internet radio to the town, with presenters and shows local to Weston as well as shows syndicated in from around the UK. The plan Is for a local breakfast show to start in January 2020.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: In 2022, See Monster, a retired gas platform repurposed as an art installation, opened at the Tropicana as part of the national art festival . The installation was purported to be the first of its kind in the world. Its opening was preceded by three drone light shows by SkyMagic.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The Grand Pier is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the town. It houses funfair style attractions, a go-kart track, cafes, a fudge factory, and a host of arcade games, and underwent a £34 million re-development after a fire in 2008 destroyed the main pavilion. After a harsh winter which delayed progress, the new pier pavilion reopened on 23 October 2010.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Weston's first pier, Birnbeck Pier, standing on a small island to the north of the bay is currently closed to the public. The current owners, Manchester-based company Urban Splash purchased the pier in 2006. A competition was held as a means to encourage redevelopment of the site for commercial use. To date, no firm plans are in place, and the future of Birnbeck Pier is uncertain. The pier houses Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Knightstone Island housed a theatre, swimming pool and sauna, after having been purchased by the physician Edward Long Fox in 1830 to create a therapeutic spa with range of hot, cold and chemical baths. After years of disrepair and dereliction, the area has been redeveloped by Redrow Homes. During 2006/2007, luxury apartments and commercial outlets have been built on the site. Consideration has been taken due to the listed building status of much of the site. Boat trips from here include the "Waverley" and "Balmoral" and trips to Steep Holm and Flat Holm islands as well as short trips around Weston Bay.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The Tropicana outdoor swimming pool that is located on the southern section of the sea front has not been occupied since 2000. A private developer, Henry Boot, was selected to redevelop the site with a new "Life Station" leisure complex, which was planned to include a six lane, swimming pool, water park, 96-bed hotel, restaurant, eight-screen cinema, 14 retail units, and a 20-lane bowling alley. The redevelopment was beset by delays and controversy. A group of local residents challenged the council over its decision to appoint Henry Boot, asking to put forward their own proposals for the site. In November 2009, the plans were finally abandoned, leaving the future of the site uncertain. In 2010 the council invited submissions from developers for a new, less ambitious, scheme to redevelop the site with a swimming pool at its heart. A decision on a new scheme was expected towards the end of 2010. The local authority announced on 23 August 2011 that it was giving developers six months to propose plans for a smaller development otherwise they will arrange to demolish the Tropicana.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: In February 2013, North Somerset Council granted planning permission to a consortium of local businesses who intend to build a new swimming pool complex on the site. The Tropicana is occupied by an amusement park called Funland during summer months, featuring a wild mouse roller coaster and several thrill rides.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The First World War memorial in Grove Park, containing a sculpture by Alfred Drury, was unveiled in 1922, with additions by Walter Cave for the Second World War. It contains the names of 402 men from the area who fell in the First World War. It consists of a winged allegorical figure of Victory holding an olive branch, which stands on an octagonal column. The memorial is a grade II listed building.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Most of the town's churches and chapels are neo-Gothic 19th century structures. The Medieval village church of St John the Baptist was completely demolished in 1824 to make way for a new and larger place of worship. The Catholic St Joseph's Church was built in 1858 by Charles F. Hansom and extended in 1893 by Alexander Scoles.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: All Saints Church was built between 1898 and 1902 to a design by George Frederick Bodley and completed by his pupil F. C. Eden in the 14th century style so favoured by Bodley. It is a Grade II* listed building. Holy Trinity Church, designed by H Lloyd and opened in 1861, is also Grade II*.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: There is a Greek Orthodox Church of St Andrew the Apostle in Grove Road, Milton. Victoria Methodist Church was built in 1935–36 to replace an earlier church of 1899–1900, which was destroyed by fire in 1934.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Football team Weston-super-Mare A.F.C. play in the Southern Premier South at the purpose-built Woodspring Stadium, which opened in August 2004.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: There are two rugby clubs in the town; Weston-super-Mare RFC, formed in 1875, and Hornets RFC, formed in 1962. Weston play in South West Premier league, whilst Hornets play in the Tribute South West 1 West league. These are national level 5 and level 6 respectively in the English rugby union system.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: Somerset County Cricket Club played first class and one-day matches for one week a season on a pitch prepared at Clarence Park, near the sea front. This began in 1914 and continued until the last "festival" in 1996.


title: Weston-super-Mare

text: The town is well known amongst motocross enthusiasts for staging the Weston beach race every autumn. In addition, races are also held for youth riders, sidecarcross riders and quad bike competitors. The 2008 winner of the Weston Beach Race was ten time World Motocross Champion Stefan Everts of Belgium.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Eugene Marquis "T. Y." Hilton (born November 14, 1989) is an American football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at FIU, and was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: After having 861 receiving yards his rookie season, Hilton took over the number one receiver role on the team from veteran Reggie Wayne. Due to chemistry with his fellow 2012 draftee Andrew Luck, Hilton caught over 1,000 yards in four straight seasons, including leading the league in the category in 2016. Hilton has made four Pro Bowls over his career.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Hilton was born to Tyrone and Cora Hilton. He attended Miami Springs High School and was a two-sport star in basketball and football for the Golden Hawks. He was selected by the "Miami Herald" as a First Team All-Dade selection in football in his senior year, while also selected as a First Team All-Dade in basketball both his junior and senior years. He averaged 18.7 yards per catch as a senior, with 785 receiving yards accumulated in the season to go with 16 touchdowns. In addition, he played on special teams and was successful as a kick returner, returning four kicks for touchdowns in 10 games.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Hilton committed to Florida International University (FIU) on February 6, 2008. He was scouted by the University of Mississippi, West Virginia University, the University of Florida and FIU. He made the choice to go to FIU over West Virginia the night before National Signing Day, when his son chose FIU eight times in a row when he put both an FIU and West Virginia hat in front of him.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Hilton was a starter under head coach Mario Cristobal in every year of his enrollment at FIU. In 2008, he returned a punt for a touchdown in his collegiate debut against Kansas on his first touch of the game. To start the month of October, Hilton broke out with three receptions for 145 yards and two touchdowns against North Texas. Later that year, he recorded a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Louisiana–Lafayette. In the following game against Arkansas State, he had six receptions for 199 receiving yards and threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Junior Mertile late in the game after he fumbled the hand off in a reverse play. This play became known in FIU as "The Hilton Heave". He was responsible for 12 touchdowns in his freshman year, scoring them all in five different ways, the first player in the program to do so (seven touchdown receptions, two rushing touchdowns, one passing touchdown, one punt return, and one kickoff return). He also set the FIU single season record for total receiving yards (41 receptions for 1,013 yards), average yards per reception (24.7 yards per reception), and all-purpose yardage (2,162). He finished his freshman season ranked third in the nation in all-purpose yardage per game, with an average of 180.25 yards per contest and was consequently named Sun Belt Freshman Player of the Year.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Foreshadowing the start of FIU's 2009 campaign against Alabama, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban referred to Hilton as "a better offensive player than anybody [from Virginia Tech] that we played against last week". In 2009, Hilton's first touch of the season was a 96-yard kickoff return against Alabama. He paced the team with 57 catches for 632 yards and five touchdowns, as well as returning 22 kickoffs for 633 yards, despite struggling with an injured knee picked up in the fifth game of the season against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. He finished his sophomore season with 1,301 all-purpose yards.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: In 2010, Hilton got off to a slow start, scoring no touchdowns in the first four games of the season, before returning home to play Western Kentucky and scoring his first touchdown of the season, a rushing touchdown. After a mid-season loss to the FAU Owls, Hilton came back strong the next game against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks, scoring four separate touchdowns, the first coming on a 95-yard kick return while the others were two passes from quarterback Wesley Carroll and the last a rushing touchdown. Later in the season against Troy, Hilton put up 158 yards rushing in six carries with two rushing touchdowns on his way to helping set a school record of 448 total rushing yards in a game.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: In FIU's first bowl game appearance in the 2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Hilton returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the second half of the game against the Toledo Rockets. He was also instrumental in a late hook and lateral play on a 4th-and-17 situation, helping his team get the first down and keeping them alive to eventually set up the winning field goal. He was named the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl MVP for his efforts in helping his team beat Toledo by a score of 34–32. At the end of his junior season, Hilton was honored as Sun Belt Player of the Year, as well as being named to the All-Sun Belt Conference First Team at the wide receiver and return specialist positions. He finished his junior season with 2,089 all-purpose yards, 848 of them on receptions over 59 catches and 282 rushing yards over 30 carries, a personal best.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: In 2011, Hilton got off to a hot start in his senior season, putting up a school record 283 all-purpose yards in FIU's rout of the North Texas Mean Green. A week later, Hilton was instrumental in FIU's 24–17 upset of the Louisville Cardinals, with 74 and 83 yard catches for touchdowns. He finished that game with seven receptions for 201 yards, breaking his school and personal single game receiving records. On October 8 against Akron, he had 12 receptions for 144 yards in the 27–17 victory. On November 12, he had a 97-yard punt return for a touchdown against FAU. He finished the 2011 season with 72 receptions for 1,038 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns to go along with one punt return touchdown.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: On April 27, 2012, Hilton was selected in the third round with the 92nd overall pick of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. He was the 13th wide receiver taken in the draft. In late May 2012, Hilton signed a contract with Indianapolis worth $2.6 million over four years. Hilton was utilized during his rookie season as a punt/kick returner and as a slot receiver for fellow rookie, quarterback Andrew Luck. During a Week 12 game against the Buffalo Bills, Hilton returned a punt for 75 yards and later caught an eight-yard touchdown pass. The two scores proved to be the difference in a 20–13 victory.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Hilton finished his rookie year with four games reaching the 100-yard mark. He totaled 50 catches for 861 yards and led the team in touchdown catches with seven. He made his playoff debut in the against the Baltimore Ravens. He had eight receptions for 66 yards in the 24–9 loss.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Hilton began the 2013 season as the third wide receiver on the depth chart, behind veterans Reggie Wayne and Darrius Heyward-Bey.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Hilton had a career-high day for yardage against the Seattle Seahawks top-ranked pass defense in a Week 5 game. He had five catches for 140 yards and two key touchdown receptions, including a then career-long 73-yard touchdown. Hilton's scores helped the Colts win the game over the eventual Super Bowl XLVIII champions by a score of 34–28.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Due to the season-ending ACL tear by Reggie Wayne in Week 7 and low production from Darrius Heyward-Bey, Hilton became the number one receiving target for the team. In the Week 9 game against the Houston Texans that immediately followed Wayne's injury, Hilton's 121 receiving yards and three touchdowns contributed to a fourth-quarter comeback. In Week 17, with a pass from Andrew Luck, Hilton recorded his first career 1,000 yard season, and broke his career-high for receiving yards in a game with 155.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: In the Colts 45–44 comeback victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, Hilton recorded 13 receptions for 224 yards (both playoff-franchise records) and two touchdowns. His 224 yards are the third-most by a receiver in a playoff game in NFL history, trailing Anthony Carter's 227-yard game for the Minnesota Vikings in 1988 and Eric Moulds's 240-yard game for the Buffalo Bills in 1999. In the , he had four receptions for 103 yards in the 43–22 loss to the New England Patriots.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: In a Week 6 matchup against the Houston Texans, Hilton established a new career-high in receiving yards, recording nine receptions for 223 yards and a touchdown. He finished one yard short of Raymond Berry's franchise-record, set in 1957. In Week 12, Hilton surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for the second consecutive season. Hilton broke his personal receiving yards record in Week 14 against the Cleveland Browns. He caught 10 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns, bringing his season total yardage to 1,295. Hilton also tied his personal best in touchdown receptions with seven on the season. He was named to his first-career Pro Bowl on December 23. Hilton would miss Week 16 with a hamstring injury, and did not record a catch in Week 17, finishing the season with a career-high 1,345 yards on 82 receptions. He earned his first Pro Bowl nomination for his 2014 season. He was ranked 35th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2015.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: The Colts made the postseason and faced off against the Cincinnati Bengals in the . In the 26–10 victory, Hilton had six receptions for 103 receiving yards. In the , Hilton had four receptions for 72 receiving yards in the 24–13 victory over the Denver Broncos. In the , Hilton had one reception for 36 yards in the 45–7 loss to the New England Patriots.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: On August 13, 2015, Hilton signed a five-year, $65 million extension with the Colts, with $39 million guaranteed. On the season, he had two games going over the 100-yard mark. He played in all 16 games in the 2015 season, recording 69 receptions for 1,124 yards and five touchdowns. On January 25, 2016, Hilton was named to his second-consecutive Pro Bowl.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: In the Colts' Week 3 game against the San Diego Chargers, Hilton had eight receptions for 174 yards, including a game winning 63-yard touchdown reception. In Week 5 against the Chicago Bears, Hilton had 10 receptions for 171 yards and a touchdown to help the Colts win 29–23. On December 20, he was named to his third consecutive Pro Bowl. Hilton finished the 2016 season with six touchdowns. He led the NFL in receiving yards for the 2016 season with 1,448. He joined Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, Roger Carr, and Raymond Berry as the only Colts in team history to lead the NFL in receiving yards. He earned a Pro Bowl nomination for the third consecutive season. He was ranked 61st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: In Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns, Hilton caught seven passes for 153 yards and a 61-yard touchdown to help the Colts win 31–28. In Week 5 against the San Francisco 49ers, Hilton caught seven passes for 177 yards to help the Colts win 26–23 in overtime. During Week 9 against the Houston Texans, Hilton posted an NFL-leading 175 receiving yards and two touchdowns as the Colts won 20–14, earning him AFC Offensive Player of the Week. He finished the season with 57 receptions for 966 yards and four touchdowns. He was named to his fourth straight Pro Bowl on January 10, 2018, as an injury replacement.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: In Week 4 against the Houston Texans, Hilton caught four passes for 115 yards in a 37–34 overtime loss. On November 18, against the Tennessee Titans, he had nine receptions for 155 yards and two touchdowns. During a Texans rematch in Week 14, Hilton finished with 199 receiving yards as the Colts won 24-21. Overall, he finished the 2018 season with 76 receptions for 1,270 yards and six touchdowns. Hilton returned to the playoffs for the first time since the 2014 season as the Colts earned the #6-seed in the AFC. In the victory over the Houston Texans, he had five receptions for 85 yards. In the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, he had four receptions for 60 yards and a touchdown. He was ranked 70th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2019.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Before the Colts and Hilton opened up the 2019 season, Andrew Luck unexpectedly retired. During the season-opener against the Los Angeles Chargers, Hilton caught eight passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns from Jacoby Brissett in the 24-30 overtime loss. Overall, Hilton appeared in ten games, missing six due to injuries, and finished the 2019 season with 45 receptions for 501 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Hilton was placed on the active/non-football injury list at the start of training camp on August 2, 2020. He was added back to the active roster on August 12.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Hilton started the 2020 season with a new quarterback in veteran Philip Rivers. In Week 12 against the Tennessee Titans, Hilton recorded four catches for 81 yards, including his first touchdown reception of the season, during the 45–26 loss.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: In Week 13 against the Houston Texans, Hilton recorded eight catches for 110 yards and a touchdown during the 26–20 win. This was Hilton’s first 100-yard receiving game of the season. In Week 14, against the Las Vegas Raiders, he had five receptions for 86 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the 44–27 victory. He finished the 2020 season with 56 receptions for 762 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: On March 31, 2021, Hilton re-signed on a one-year, $8 million contract with the Colts. He was placed on injured reserve on September 2, 2021, to start the season. He was activated on October 16, 2021. Hilton played in ten games in the 2021 season. He finished with 23 receptions for 331 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: On December 12, 2022, after going unsigned all offseason and most of the regular season, Hilton signed with the Dallas Cowboys.


title: T. Y. Hilton

text: Hilton and his wife are parents to a daughter. In addition, Hilton has a son. Hilton, whose given name is Eugene, explained how he became known as T. Y.: "My daddy’s name is Tyrone, so ever since I was little, everyone has just used the first two letters of that."


title: Date Masamune

text: Date Masamune was born as Bontenmaru (梵天丸) later Tojiro (藤次郎) the eldest son of Date Terumune, born in Yonezawa Castle (in modern Yamagata Prefecture). At the age of 14 in 1581, Masamune led his first campaign, helping his father fight the Sōma clan. In 1584, at the age of 17, Masamune succeeded his father, Terumune, who chose to retire from his position as "daimyō". Masamune's army was recognized by its black armor and golden headgear.


title: Date Masamune

text: Masamune is known for a few things that made him stand out from other "daimyō" of the time. In particular, his famous crescent-moon-bearing helmet won him a fearsome reputation. As a child, smallpox robbed him of sight in his right eye, though it is unclear exactly how he lost the organ entirely. Various theories behind the eye's condition exist. Some sources say he plucked out the eye himself when a senior member of the clan pointed out that an enemy could grab it in a fight. Others say that he had his trusted retainer Katakura Kojūrō gouge out the eye for him, making him the "One-Eyed Dragon" of Ōshu.


title: Date Masamune

text: The Date clan had built alliances with neighboring clans through marriages over previous generations, but local disputes remained commonplace. Shortly after Masamune's succession in 1584, a Date retainer named Ōuchi Sadatsuna defected to the Ashina clan of the Aizu region. Masamune declared war on Ōuchi and the Ashina for this betrayal, and started a campaign to hunt down Sadatsuna. Formerly amicable alliances were cast aside as he began to attack and conquer the lands of Sadatsuna's allies in pursuit, even those of his kin in Mutsu and Dewa Provinces.


title: Date Masamune

text: In the winter of 1585, one of these allies, Nihonmatsu Yoshitsugu felt defeat was approaching and chose to surrender to the Date instead. Masamune agreed to accept the surrender, but on the heavy condition that the Nihonmatsu give up most of their territory to the Date. This resulted in Yoshitsugu kidnapping Masamune's father Terumune during their meeting in Miyamori Castle, where Terumune was staying during the time. The incident ended with Terumune and Yoshitsugu killed as the fleeing Nihonmatsu party clashed with the pursuing Date troops near the Abukuma River.


title: Date Masamune

text: Due to the death of Date Terumune by the hands of Nihonmatsu Yoshitsugu, Masamune swore vengeance. In January 1586, Masamune had his revenge by launching an attack against the Nihonmatsu at the Battle of Hitotoribashi.


title: Date Masamune

text: The Date clan fought many battles with their neighbours afterwards, including the Battle of Koriyama in 1588, the Siege of Kurokawa and the Battle of Suriagehara in 1589. After defeating the Ashina clan, Masamune made Kurokawa Castle in Aizu domain his base of operations.


title: Date Masamune

text: In 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi seized Odawara Castle and compelled the Tōhoku-region "daimyō" to participate in the campaign. Although Masamune refused Hideyoshi's demands at first, he had no real choice in the matter since Hideyoshi was the virtual ruler of Japan. Masamune still delayed, infuriating Hideyoshi. Expecting to be executed, Masamune, wearing his finest clothes and showing no fear, faced his angry overlord. Not wanting further trouble, Hideyoshi spared his life, saying that "He could be of some use."


title: Date Masamune

text: Being a major power in northern Japan, Masamune was naturally viewed with suspicion, as any potential rival would be viewed. Toyotomi Hideyoshi reduced the size of his land holdings after his tardiness in coming to the Siege of Odawara against Hōjō Ujimasa.


title: Date Masamune

text: In 1591, Masamune forfeited the ancestral land of the Date Clan (present day Date City, Kawamata, Koori, and Kunimi) to Hideyoshi, causing widespread riots. He never regained the territory.


title: Date Masamune

text: After he fought against Kunohe Rebellion, he was given Iwatesawa and the surrounding lands as his home domain. Masamune moved there, rebuilt the Iwadeyama Castle, renamed it Iwadeyama, and encouraged the growth of a town at its base. Masamune stayed at Iwadeyama for 13 years and turned the region into a major political and economic center.


title: Date Masamune

text: In 1598, after Hideyoshi's death, Masamune began to support Tokugawa Ieyasu—apparently at the advice of Katakura Kojūrō. Tokugawa Ieyasu increased the size of his lands again, but was constantly suspicious of Masamune and his policies.


title: Date Masamune

text: Although Tokugawa Ieyasu and other Date allies were always suspicious of him, Date Masamune for the most part served the Tokugawa loyally.


title: Date Masamune

text: Tokugawa Ieyasu awarded Masamune the lordship of the huge and profitable Sendai Domain, which made Masamune one of Japan's most powerful "daimyō". Tokugawa had promised Masamune a one-million "koku" domain, but, even after substantial improvements were made, the land only produced 640,000 "koku", most of which was used to feed the Edo region.


title: Date Masamune

text: In 1604, Masamune, accompanied by 52,000 vassals and their families, moved to what was then the small fishing village of Sendai. He left his fourth son, Date Muneyasu, to rule Iwadeyama. Masamune would turn Sendai into a large and prosperous city.


title: Date Masamune

text: Later in 1616, when Tokugawa Ieyasu was on his deathbed, Masamune visited him and read him a piece of Zen poetry. Masamune was highly respected for his ethics; a still-quoted aphorism is, "Rectitude carried to excess hardens into stiffness; benevolence indulged beyond measure sinks into weakness."


title: Date Masamune

text: In 1636, Masamune died of a combination of esophageal cancer and peritonitis at the age of 68 years. He was returned to Sendai in the same daimyō procession as when he was alive. The bakufu gave approval for his eldest son, Date Tadamune, to inherit the Date clan territory.


title: Date Masamune

text: Masamune expanded trade in the northeastern Tōhoku region. Although initially faced with attacks by hostile clans, he managed to overcome them after a few defeats and eventually ruled one of the largest fiefdoms of the later Tokugawa shogunate. He built many palaces and worked on many projects to beautify the region. He is also known to have encouraged foreigners to come to his land. Even though he funded and promoted an envoy to establish relations with the Pope in Rome, he was likely motivated at least in part by a desire for foreign technology, similar to that of other lords, such as Oda Nobunaga. Further, once Tokugawa Ieyasu outlawed Christianity, Masamune reversed his position, and though disliking it, let Ieyasu persecute Christians in his domain. For 270 years, Tōhoku remained a place of tourism, trade, and prosperity. Matsushima, for instance, a series of tiny islands, was praised for its beauty and serenity by the wandering haiku poet Matsuo Bashō.


title: Date Masamune

text: He showed sympathy for Christian missionaries and traders in Japan. In addition to allowing them to come and preach in his province, he also released the prisoner and missionary Padre Sotelo from the hands of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Date Masamune allowed Sotelo as well as other missionaries to practice their religion and win converts in Tōhoku.


title: Date Masamune

text: Masamune notably funded and backed one of Japan's few journeys of far-flung diplomacy and exploration in this period. He ordered the building of the exploration ship "San Juan Bautista", using foreign (European) ship-building techniques. He sent one of his retainers, Hasekura Tsunenaga, Sotelo, and an embassy numbering 180 on a successful voyage to establish relations with the Pope in Rome. This expedition visited such places as the Philippines, Mexico, Spain and Rome. Previously, Japanese lords had never funded this sort of venture, so it was probably the first successful voyage. At least five members of the expedition stayed in Coria (Seville) of Spain to avoid the persecution of Christians in Japan. 600 of their descendants, with the surname Japón (Japan), are now living in Spain.


title: Date Masamune

text: When the Tokugawa government banned Christianity, Masamune had to obey the law. However, some sources suggest that Masamune's eldest daughter, Irohahime, was a Christian.


title: Date Masamune

text: Like many figures of the Sengoku period, Date Masamune has been featured in literature, film, manga, anime, video games, and other media. There are a few prominent and notable examples. In the Iver P. Cooper "1632" series book "", Masamune is a prominent character in the short novel "Rising Sun" which is set in the North Pacific region focusing on Japan's expansion into North America.


title: Date Masamune

text: Masamune is the protagonist of the anime series "Masamune Datenicle", produced by the city of Date in collaboration with Fukushima Gainax in order to promote the city's historic connection to the Date Clan. In this series, he is depicted as a child taking on the role of leader of his clan for the first time. Previous leaders of the Date Clan manifest in order to help him prepare for his first battle.


title: Date Masamune

text: In the video game series "Samurai Warriors" (Koei) Masamune Date is featured as a playable character. In his first appearance, he was a very young man and fought with dual wooden swords, later, his appearance was changed to be a bit older and his weapons were switched out for a more European style sword and a pair of pistols. He is also a prominent character in the "Sengoku Basara" series (Capcom), and has been featured in every major release, portrayed as a reckless, but astute general with a penchant for using humorous English verses, he is also notable for carrying six katanas, which he can equip as "dragon's claws", wielding them between his fingers, three in each hand.


title: Date Masamune

text: The professional wrestling organization Osaka Pro Wrestling featured two wrestlers using the ring names Masamune and Hideyoshi, who together form the tag team "Sengoku".


title: Date Masamune

text: In "Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga", Masamune is reincarnated as a French bulldog nicknamed Boo in modern-day Japan.


title: Date Masamune

text: In "Ginga Densetsu Weed: Orion" Masamune's dog version is the main antagonist. His father, Terumune and Kojuuruu also play roles in the comic.


title: Date Masamune

text: In the video game "Persona 5 Strikers" (known as "Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers" in Japan), Masamune is referenced multiple times upon the cast arriving in Sendai. The statue at Aobayama Park is visited immediately upon arriving in the city, and a shrine that appears similar to his gravesite also appears.


title: Date Masamune

text: In the video game "", the protagonist, Kaname Date, has his left eye removed prior to the game's story, which is likely a reference to Masamune, himself.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Stephanie Murphy (born Đặng Thị Ngọc Dung; September 16, 1978) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 7th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated incumbent Republican John Mica in 2016. The district includes much of downtown and northern Orlando, as well as all of Winter Park, Maitland, Sanford, and Altamonte Springs.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy was born in 1978 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, before leaving the country with her family in 1979. After growing up in Northern Virginia, Murphy attended the College of William & Mary and Georgetown University. Before becoming a member of Congress, she worked as a national security specialist at the United States Department of Defense, an executive at Sungate Capital, and a business professor at Rollins College.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy is the first Vietnamese-American woman, first Vietnamese-American Democrat, and the second Vietnamese-American overall (after South Vietnam-born Republican Joseph Cao of Louisiana) to be elected to Congress.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: On December 20, 2021, Murphy announced that she will not run for reelection to a fourth term in 2022.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Stephanie Murphy was born Đặng Thị Ngọc Dung on September 16, 1978, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Her family fled Communist-controlled Vietnam in 1979 when she was six months old. Their boat ran out of fuel and they were rescued by the United States Navy at sea. They settled in Northern Virginia, where she grew up.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: With the help of Pell Grants and student loans, Murphy attended the College of William & Mary, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. She then went to Georgetown University, from which she received a Master of Science degree in foreign service.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: After the September 11 attacks, Murphy went to work for the United States Department of Defense as a national security specialist. For her service, she received the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award. She worked as an executive on investment efforts and government affairs initiatives at Sungate Capital in Winter Park, Florida, and as a business professor at Rollins College.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: In 2013, the company 3N2 employed Murphy to lead a design team for new women's softball pants; she is listed in patent records as an inventor of "NuFit Knickers". In 2018 Murphy came under criticism after it was revealed that her husband's company has the pants and other sports gear made in China.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy declared her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives for Florida's 7th congressional district in the 2016 elections. She ran against 12-term incumbent Republican John Mica in the November 8 general election. She was endorsed by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and former congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Murphy defeated Mica with 51% of the vote. She is the second Vietnamese-American, after Joseph Cao, to be elected to the United States Congress, and the first Vietnamese-American woman to do so.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy ran in a district that was somewhat bluer than its predecessor after a court-ordered mid-decade redistricting. The old 7th had been a marginal district, even though Mica had won it twice without serious difficulty (he represented a more Republican St. Augustine/Daytona Beach/Orlando district from 1993 to 2013). Mitt Romney won it over Barack Obama in 2012, with 51% of the vote. In contrast, had the redrawn 7th existed in 2012, Obama would have won it with 49.4%.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: After meeting with President Trump in September 2017, Murphy said that she and fellow Democrats could work with him.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: According to political commentators, Murphy faced the challenge of representing an evenly divided district. "Of the three freshman Democrats from Central Florida, which include U.S. Reps. Val Demings, D-Orlando, and Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, Murphy faces the toughest race for re-election," the "Orlando Sentinel" wrote on January 2, 2018. "I think she has one of the toughest districts in the country," said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida. "It's very difficult to please everybody in a swing district, and that's why it's so challenging."


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy was sworn into office on January 3, 2017. She has urged the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate various bomb threats against Jewish facilities. She joined the Blue Dog Coalition in the 115th U.S. Congress, and in December 2018 was named one of three co-chairs, handling administration, for the 116th U.S. Congress.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: With the Democrats winning a majority in the House in 2018, Murphy was named to the Ways and Means Committee.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: In March 2019, Murphy endorsed Beto O'Rourke in the 2020 Democratic party presidential primaries. After O'Rourke withdrew from the race, Murphy endorsed Michael Bloomberg in January 2020, becoming his campaign's national co-chair. After Bloomberg withdrew in March 2020, Murphy endorsed Joe Biden.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: On December 20, 2021, Murphy announced on Twitter that she would not seek reelection to a fourth term, writing, "I've decided not to seek another term in Congress. Serving Central Florida has been the honor of my life, but it's also been incredibly challenging for my family and me." There was speculation that her decision was made because Republicans in the state legislature would redraw her into an unwinnable district, but the decision came several months before new maps were approved in May 2022.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: On July 1, 2021, Murphy was one of seven Democrats Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed to the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. In a statement following the announcement, Murphy pledged "to fulfill this solemn responsibility to the best of my ability. My goal is simple and straightforward: to find the truth of what happened, and why it happened, so we can ensure that it never happens again. I will follow the facts wherever, and to whomever, they lead—without preconceived conclusions and through a strictly non-partisan lens." She concluded her statement: "To see the citadel of American democracy assaulted is a reminder that our democracy is not self-sustaining. It needs to be preserved and protected by American patriots of every political stripe.”


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: On July 12, 2022, Murphy co-led the Select Committee's seventh public hearing with Representative Jamie Raskin. In her opening statement, she said, "We will show some of the coordination that occurred between the White House and members of Congress as it relates to January 6th. And some of these members of Congress would later seek pardons." The hearing also focused on the role the far-right extremist groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers played in organizing the attack. Trump's December 19, 2020, tweet "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" and its spread to his supporters was also discussed. To show the impact, the committee played audio recordings of its interview with an anonymous Twitter employee who worked from 2020 to 2021 and was on the team responsible for the platform's content moderation policies. The employee said the tweet served "as a call to action, and in some cases as a call to arms" to Trump's supporters.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: In Murphy's closing statement, she said: "Our committee’s overriding objective is to fight fiction with facts. To create a full account for the American people and for the historical record. To tell the truth of what happened and why it happened. To make recommendations so it never happens again. To defend our democracy. To me, there is nothing more patriotic than that."


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: In 2021, Murphy was one of nine Democrats who refused to support the Build Back Better Act unless the House first voted on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy is a self-identified capitalist. She supports a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. constitution, which would prohibit the government from spending more than it takes in on a given year. She views growing federal budget deficits as "major threats to the economy, the future health of America, and national security."


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: In an April 2020 conference call with business executives and lobbyists, Murphy expressed support for a lobbyist-led effort to reverse a ban in the original CARES Act that blocked business advocacy and lobbying groups from participating in the taxpayer-funded Paycheck Protection Program. The effort included a request to be eligible for an additional $25 billion in government funds for canceled events and other lost revenue from the pandemic.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy was part of an effort by some Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to use the coronavirus outbreak to press Trump to remove tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods and imported steel and aluminum. After the administration rejected the requests, she and Representative Joe Cunningham sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter requesting that she include a suspension of the tariffs in the COVID-19 relief package and mandate that the government refund to businesses the tariffs already paid on imported Chinese goods and imported steel and aluminum.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy introduced a bill to make it easier for small business owners to obtain low-interest loans. It passed the House. She also co-sponsored a law, passed and signed by Trump, that ensures that small businesses will receive a share of federal government contracts.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy supports comprehensive immigration reform to fix what she characterizes as a broken system with one that is "consistent with American values." She supports a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants and reforms to the visa system to focus on economic development. To demonstrate her support for immigration reform, she posted online a picture of herself wearing an "I Am An Immigrant" t-shirt along with the message, "#IAmAnImmigrant and proud of it. Our nation's diversity is its strength. Opportunity and freedom keep the American dream alive."


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy was one of 24 House Democrats to vote for Kate's Law, which proposes to increase the penalties for those who have been deported or removed from the U.S. and are apprehended reentering the country.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy opposed Trump's executive order to temporarily ban entry into the U.S. by citizens of six Muslim-majority countries, North Korea and Venezuela. "I strongly oppose the President's executive orders on refugees, which violate fundamental American values and undermine our national security," she said. "We must work in a bipartisan manner to strengthen our refugee policy in a way that keeps us secure AND upholds our values."


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy decided to run for office when incumbent Republican John Mica accepted a campaign contribution from the NRA two days after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. (The 7th congressional district includes much of Orlando). She won office with the support of gun-control groups, such as Americans for Responsible Solutions and the Pride Fund to End Gun Violence, which formed after the Pulse shooting. Murphy supports universal background checks, as well as prohibiting those on the No Fly List from purchasing firearms. She has said, "We should protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners, but we should also protect our communities by passing commonsense gun laws."


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: In 2017, Murphy introduced into the House the "Gun Violence Research Act", which was designed to repeal the 1996 Dickey Amendment, a federal ban on the use of federal funds to fund gun-violence research. She said the ban on gun-violence research was "un-American to its core." After the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, several Republican Congress members indicated that they supported the Gun Violence Research Act, and Murphy ultimately spoke to Vice President Mike Pence, which she credits with helping the bill pass as an amendment to a budget bill that year. The first grants for studies were issued in October 2020. In March 2018, Murphy said that gun control might be approaching "a tipping point" because young people "had to grow up where they don't know anything but school mass shootings. They're sick and tired of it, and they're activating."


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: On January 7, 2021, Murphy called for Trump to be removed from office under the 25th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. She voted in favor of Trump's second impeachment on January 13, 2021.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy was one of 8 Democrats to oppose a House resolution limiting Trump's military actions against Iran without congressional approval.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: In the aftermath of the attack on the capitol, Murphy proposed to deny security clearances to QAnon believers.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: In a December 2020 op-ed in the "Tampa Bay Times", Murphy characterized climate change as a "national security threat and economic opportunity" for Florida.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy co-sponsored the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a sweeping civil rights and police reform bill that would limit legal protections for police from individual lawsuits, ban chokeholds, create a national registry of police misconduct, and grant the Department of Justice more power to investigate local police departments for potential misconduct, among a number of other provisions.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy authored a statement from the Blue Dog Caucus calling for "swift and systematic change" and calling on Republicans to join them in pursuing police reform.


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: Murphy considers herself a pro-trade Democrat, saying in a speech before the National Foreign Trade Council Foundation, "...I don’t support free trade.  That’s a common term, but a misnomer—because it suggests unfettered trade or a free-for-all. I believe trade in goods and services is vital to advancing America’s economic and security interests. I believe protectionist measures are more likely to result in self-harm than self-preservation. I support a trading system that is rules-based.  These rules should help ensure U.S. companies rise or fall on their own merits, and don’t have to compete on an unfair playing field with foreign-based companies that mistreat workers, pollute the environment, steal intellectual property, or receive excessive government support."


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: In February 2022, Murphy was the only House Democrat to vote against the America COMPETES Act of 2022, a bill primarily focused on encouraging and strengthening American scientific and technological innovation and R&D. Murphy said that while she supported many elements of the bill, "the trade section of the bill includes problematic, poorly-vetted provisions and excludes sensible, bipartisan provisions that were part of the Senate-passed version of the bill" according to Murphy. She said the bill "does more to limit trade than to enhance trade, even though expanded trade helps far more American workers than it hurts, reduces the prices that American consumers pay for goods and services, and is a powerful weapon in our strategic competition with China."


title: Stephanie Murphy

text: In 2022, Murphy was one of 16 Democrats to vote against the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (May 22, 1938 – January 21, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Imagined to be the next Hepburn-type ingenue, she was nominated for a Tony Award at age 18, playing the title role in "The Diary of Anne Frank". She appeared on the covers of LIFE and Newsweek in 1955. A close friend of Marilyn Monroe and Richard Burton, she wrote two best-selling tell-all books. Her later career primarily consisted of slasher and horror films, followed by TV roles, by the 1980s.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg was born in New York City to theatre director and drama coach Lee Strasberg of the Actors Studio and former actress Paula Strasberg. Her brother, John, is an acting coach. Her father was born in what is now Ukraine, and her mother in New York City. They were both from Jewish families who emigrated from Europe.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg attended the Professional Children's School, and then spent time at both The High School of Music & Art and the High School of Performing Arts. She also did some modelling.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: At age 14, Strasberg appeared off-Broadway in "Maya" in 1953, which ran seven performances. Her TV debut was in "Catch a Falling Star", an episode of "Goodyear Playhouse" directed by Delbert Mann the same year.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: She was in "Romeo and Juliet" for "Kraft Theatre" (1954), playing Juliet, and episodes of "General Electric Theater" and "Omnibus".


title: Susan Strasberg

text: She had a regular role in a short-lived sitcom, "The Marriage", playing the daughter of Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. It was the first network show broadcast in color.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg made her film debut in "The Cobweb" (1955). She followed it with a widely praised performance as a teenager in "Picnic" (1955), playing the younger sister of Kim Novak.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg originated the title role in the Broadway production of "The Diary of Anne Frank", directed by Garson Kanin, which ran for 717 performances from 1955 to 1957. Brooks Atkinson wrote that she was "a slender, enchanting young lady with a heart-shaped face, a pair of burning eyes, and the soul of an actress."


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg was nominated for a Tony Award at the age of 18 and became the youngest actress to star on Broadway with her name above the marquee title. In 1955 she appeared twice on the cover of "Life" (July 11, 1955 issue; November 11, 1955 issue) and soon after on the cover of "Newsweek" (December 19, 1955 issue).


title: Susan Strasberg

text: The success of the play led to numerous film offers. She decided on the lead in "Stage Struck" (1958), directed by Sidney Lumet. It was a remake of "Morning Glory" (1933) with Katharine Hepburn. According to one obituary, "It had seemed as if the beautiful, dark-haired actress might have an impact equal to that made by Jean Simmons and Audrey Hepburn as ingenues."


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg was not cast in the George Stevens film version of "Anne Frank". Several reasons have been suggested for this: that Stevens did not want to deal with the influence of Strasberg's mother, Paula, and that Stevens saw Strasberg at the end of the play's run when her performance had become tired. Strasberg did not test for the role.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg's next appearance on Broadway was in "Time Remembered" (1957–58) by Jean Anouilh with Richard Burton and Helen Hayes. It was another success and ran for 248 performances.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg continued to guest star on TV shows like "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse", "Play of the Week" (a production of "The Cherry Orchard" with Hayes), and "Our American Heritage".


title: Susan Strasberg

text: She was in the cast of the New York City Centre production of William Saroyan's "The Time of Your Life" that played at the Brussels World Fair in 1958. It was filmed for "Armchair Theatre".


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg appeared in Sean O'Casey's "The Shadow of a Gunman" (1958–59) for Jack Garfein alongside members of the Actors Studio; it ran for 52 performances. Brooks Atkinson said she had "willowy freshness".


title: Susan Strasberg

text: She went to Europe to star in the Italian–Yugoslav Holocaust film "Kapò" (1960), which was nominated for an Academy Award as its year's Best Foreign Language Film.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg based herself in Italy for the next few years. "I wanted to see what it was like when I was alone", she said.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: She traveled to England to make "Scream of Fear" (1961) for Hammer Films, and in Italy did "Disorder" (1962) with Louis Jourdan and the Hollywood film "Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man" (1962).


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg returned to the US to appear on Broadway in "The Lady of the Camellias" (1963), directed by Franco Zeffirelli. The director said Strasberg had the qualities of being "romantic, cynical, classical, contemporary." The show only ran for 13 performances.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg began to concentrate on television, guest-starring on "Dr Kildare", "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre", "Breaking Point", "Burke's Law", and "The Rogues".


title: Susan Strasberg

text: She made "The High Bright Sun" (1965) in England then went back to TV: "Run for Your Life", "The Legend of Jesse James" (starring Christopher Jones, who became her husband), "The Big Valley" and "The Invaders".


title: Susan Strasberg

text: She made "Chubasco" (1967) with Jones, and did some counterculture movies: "The Trip" (1967) for Roger Corman, as the wife of Peter Fonda, and "Psych-Out" (1968) with Jack Nicholson. She also did "The Name of the Game Is Kill!" (1968), "The Brotherhood" (1968) and "The Sisters" (1969).


title: Susan Strasberg

text: In the late 1960s & 1970s Strasberg did mostly TV: "The Big Valley"; "The Virginian"; "Bonanza"; "Lancer"; "The Name of the Game"; "Premiere"; "The F.B.I."; "CBS Playhouse"; "Marcus Welby, M.D."; "The Streets of San Francisco"; "Night Gallery"; "McCloud"; "Alias Smith & Jones"; "The Sixth Sense"; "Assignment Vienna"; "The Wide World of Mystery"; "The Evil Touch"; "Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law"; "The Rockford Files" (twice); and "Mannix". "I did mediocre things because that way I didn't have to test myself", she said later. "I had a tremendous need not to shame my father."


title: Susan Strasberg

text: She did occasional TV movies like "Hauser's Memory" (1970), "Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones" (1971) and "...And Millions Die!" (1973) and the occasional feature like "Ternos Caçadores" (1970), "The Legend of Hillbilly John" (1972), and Orson Welles' "The Other Side of the Wind" (ultimately released in 2018).


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg had a regular role on the series "Toma" (1974). She guested on "Police Surgeon", "McMillan & Wife", "Petrocelli", "Ellery Queen", "Kate McShane", "Medical Story", "Bronk", and "Harry O".


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg had the lead in "So Evil, My Sister" (1974) and was in "Mystery at Malibu" (1976), "Sammy Somebody" (1976), "" (1977), "Rollercoaster" (1977), "The Manitou" (1977),"Tre soldi e la donna di classe" (1977), "In Praise of Older Women" (1978), "The Immigrants" (1978), and "Beggarman, Thief" (1979).


title: Susan Strasberg

text: In 1976 she appeared in a short film directed by Lee Grant called "The Stronger", based on a play by August Strindberg, which she said reignited her passion for acting.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: In 1980 she published a memoir, "Bittersweet", because she said her career was "stalled. . . . It seemed totally untenable to me, acting for 25 years—I had played Juliet, Cleopatra, and Anne Frank—and there I was, sitting in Hollywood just waiting for somebody to want me."


title: Susan Strasberg

text: In the 1980s Strasberg's credits included "Bloody Birthday" (1981); "The Love Boat"; "Mazes and Monsters" (1982); "Sweet Sixteen" (1983); "The Returning" (1983); "The New Mike Hammer"; "Tales of the Unexpected"; "Tales from the Darkside"; "The Delta Force" (1986); "Remington Steele"; "Hot Shots"; "Murder, She Wrote"; "Cagney & Lacey"; and "The Runnin' Kind" (1989).


title: Susan Strasberg

text: "I love acting", she said in 1983. "I mean, I can't quite conceive of not doing it. But it's less important to me since I started writing, because I really like writing. And I really enjoy, I love lecturing and speaking and having that kind of contact with people too."


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Her last performances included the biopic "Schweitzer" (1990), the action movie "Prime Suspect" (1990) with Frank Stallone and "Il giardino dei ciliegi" (1992).


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg wrote two best-selling books. "Bittersweet" was an autobiography in which she wrote about her tumultuous relationships with her parents and with actors Richard Burton and Christopher Jones, as well as with her own daughter's struggles with a heart defect. She received a $100,000 advance for it and sold paperback rights for $300,000.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: "Marilyn and Me: Sisters, Rivals, Friends" (1992) was about Strasberg's friendship with Marilyn Monroe, whom she called a "surrogate sister" and a "member" of the Strasberg family for many years.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Strasberg was working on a third book about her personal spiritual journey at the time of her death entitled "Confessions of a New Age Heretic".


title: Susan Strasberg

text: Before her marriage, Strasberg had relationships with Bobby Driscoll, Warren Beatty, Cary Grant, and Richard Burton.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: On September 25, 1965, Strasberg married actor Christopher Jones, with whom she had appeared in an episode of "The Legend of Jesse James" in Las Vegas. Their daughter, Jennifer Robin, was born six months later. The couple divorced in 1968 due to her husband's mental instability. Jennifer was born with a congenital birth defect, which Strasberg blamed on her and Jones's drug-taking.


title: Susan Strasberg

text: In the mid-1990s Strasberg was diagnosed with breast cancer. Although believed to be in remission, she died of the disease at her home in New York City on January 21, 1999, at the age of 60.


title: Centennial Light

text: The Centennial Light is the world's longest-lasting light bulb, burning since 1901, and almost never turned off. It is located at 4550 East Avenue, Livermore, California, and maintained by the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department. Due to its longevity, the bulb has been noted by "The Guinness Book of World Records", "Ripley's Believe It or Not!", and General Electric.


title: Centennial Light

text: The Centennial Light was originally a 30-watt (or 60-watt) bulb, but is now very dim, emitting about the same light as a 4-watt nightlight. The hand-blown, carbon-filament common light bulb was invented by Adolphe Chaillet, a French engineer who filed a patent for this technology. It was manufactured in Shelby, Ohio, by the Shelby Electric Company in the late 1890s; many just like it still exist and can be found functioning. According to Zylpha Bernal Beck, the bulb was donated to the Fire Department by her father, Dennis Bernal, in 1901. Bernal owned the Livermore Power and Water Company and donated the bulb to the fire station when he sold the company. That story has been supported by firefighter volunteers of that era.


title: Centennial Light

text: Evidence suggests that the bulb has hung in at least four locations. It was originally hung in 1901 in a hose cart house on L Street, then moved to a garage in downtown Livermore used by the fire and police departments. When the fire department consolidated, it was moved again to a newly constructed City Hall that housed the unified department.


title: Centennial Light

text: Its unusual longevity was first noticed in 1972 by reporter Mike Dunstan. After weeks of interviewing people who had lived in Livermore all their lives, he wrote "Light Bulb May Be World's Oldest", published in the "Tri-Valley Herald". Dunstan contacted the "Guinness Book of World Records", "Ripley's Believe It or Not", and General Electric, who all confirmed it as the longest-lasting bulb known in existence. The article came to the attention of Charles Kuralt of the CBS-TV program "On the Road with Charles Kuralt".


title: Centennial Light

text: Retired Deputy Fire Chief Tom Bramell wrote a history of the bulb. It is titled "A Million Hours of Service".


title: Centennial Light

text: In 1976, the fire department moved to Fire Station #6 with the bulb; the bulb socket's cord was severed for fear that unscrewing the bulb could damage it. It was deprived of electricity for only 22 minutes during the transfer, which was made in a specially designed box and with full firetruck escort. An electrician was on hand to install the bulb into the new fire station's emergency generator. "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" stated that the short delay would not mar the bulb's continuous burning record. Since that move, the bulb has run continuously on an uninterruptible power supply; previously it had only been off the grid for short periods of time (e.g. a week in 1937 for a renovation and the odd power outage). In 2001, the bulb's 100th birthday was celebrated with a community barbecue and live music.


title: Centennial Light

text: On the evening of May 20, 2013, the general public witnessed, through a dedicated webcam, that the bulb had apparently burned out. The next morning, an electrician was called in to confirm its status. It was determined that the bulb had not burned out when the dedicated power supply was bypassed, using an extension cord. The power supply was found to have been faulty. Approximately nine hours and 45 minutes had passed before the light was reestablished.


title: Centennial Light

text: The bulb is cared for by the Centennial Light Bulb Committee, a partnership of the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department, Livermore Heritage Guild, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, and Sandia National Laboratories. The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department plans to house and maintain the bulb for the rest of its life, regardless of length. When it does go out, they have no plans for it, although "Ripley's Believe it or Not!" has requested it for their museum.


title: Centennial Light

text: The bulb was officially listed in the "Guinness Book of World Records" as "the most durable light" in 1972, replacing another bulb in Fort Worth, Texas. The bulb was listed in the book for the next 16 editions. It was not listed during 1988–2006, without a reason being given, before returning in 2007.


title: Centennial Light

text: According to the fire chief, every few months a news outlet will publish a story on the bulb, generating visitors and general interest, then it will drop back into obscurity for a while. Dozens of magazines and newspapers have featured articles on the bulb. The bulb has been visited and featured by many major news channels in the United States, including NBC, ABC, Fox, CBS, WB, CNN and NPR. The bulb has received letters acknowledging and celebrating its longevity from the city of Shelby, Ohio, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, the California State Assembly, the California State Senate, Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, Senator Barbara Boxer, and President George W. Bush. The bulb was featured on an episode of "MythBusters" on December 13, 2006, in the PBS documentary "Livermore" and an episode of "California's Gold" with Huell Howser, in an episode of "99% Invisible," in the web series "17776", and by documentary filmmaker Roberto Serrini in the web series "TravelClast".


title: The God Delusion

text: The God Delusion is a 2006 book by British evolutionary biologist, ethologist Richard Dawkins, a professorial fellow at New College, Oxford and, at the time of publication, the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.


title: The God Delusion

text: In "The God Delusion", Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator, God, almost certainly does not exist, and that belief in a personal god qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. He is sympathetic to Robert Pirsig's statement in "" (1991) that "when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion." With many examples, he explains that one does not need religion to be moral and that the roots of religion and of morality can be explained in non-religious terms.


title: The God Delusion

text: In early December 2006, it reached number four in the "New York Times" Hardcover Non-Fiction Best Seller list after nine weeks on the list. More than three million copies were sold.


title: The God Delusion

text: According to Dawkins in a 2016 interview with Matt Dillahunty, an unauthorised Arabic translation of this book has been downloaded 3 million times in Saudi Arabia. The book has attracted widespread commentary, with many books written in response.


title: The God Delusion

text: Dawkins has argued against creationist explanations of life in his previous works on evolution. The theme of "The Blind Watchmaker", published in 1986, is that evolution can explain the apparent design in nature. In "The God Delusion" he focuses directly on a wider range of arguments used for and against belief in the existence of a god (or gods).


title: The God Delusion

text: Dawkins identifies himself repeatedly as an atheist, while also pointing out that, in a sense, he is also agnostic, though "only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden".


title: The God Delusion

text: Dawkins had long wanted to write a book openly criticising religion, but his publisher had advised against it. By 2006, his publisher had warmed to the idea. Dawkins attributes this change of mind to "four years of Bush" (who "literally said that God had told him to invade Iraq"). By that time, a number of authors, including Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens, who together with Dawkins were labelled "The Unholy Trinity" by Robert Weitzel, had already written books openly attacking religion. According to the Amazon.co.uk retailer in August 2007, the book was the best-seller in their sales of books on religion and spirituality, with Hitchens's "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" coming second. This led to a 50% growth in that category over the three years to that date.


title: The God Delusion

text: Dawkins dedicates the book to Douglas Adams and quotes the novelist: "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" The book contains ten chapters. The first few chapters make a case that there almost certainly is no God, while the rest discuss religion and morality.


title: The God Delusion

text: Chapter one, "A deeply religious non-believer", seeks to clarify the difference between what Dawkins terms "Einsteinian religion" and "supernatural religion". He notes that the former includes quasi-mystical and pantheistic references to God in the work of physicists like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, and describes such pantheism as "sexed up atheism". Dawkins instead takes issue with the theism present in religions like Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. The proposed existence of this interventionist God, which Dawkins calls the "God Hypothesis", becomes an important theme in the book. He maintains that the existence or non-existence of God is a scientific fact about the universe, which is discoverable in principle if not in practice.


title: The God Delusion

text: Dawkins summarises the main philosophical arguments on God's existence, singling out the argument from design for longer consideration. Dawkins concludes that evolution by natural selection can explain apparent design in nature.


title: The God Delusion

text: He writes that one of the greatest challenges to the human intellect has been to explain "how the complex, improbable design in the universe arises", and suggests that there are two competing explanations:


title: The God Delusion

text: This is the basic set-up of his argument against the existence of God, the Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit, where he argues that the first attempt is self-refuting, and the second approach is the way forward.


title: The God Delusion

text: At the end of chapter 4 ("Why there almost certainly is no God"), Dawkins sums up his argument and states, "The temptation [to attribute the appearance of design to actual design itself] is a false one, because the designer hypothesis immediately raises the larger problem of who designed the designer. The whole problem we started out with was the problem of explaining statistical improbability. It is obviously no solution to postulate something even more improbable". In addition, chapter 4 asserts that the alternative to the designer hypothesis is not "chance", but "natural selection".


title: The God Delusion

text: Dawkins does not claim to disprove God with absolute certainty. Instead, he suggests as a general principle that simpler explanations are preferable (see Occam's razor) and that an omniscient or omnipotent God must be extremely complex (Dawkins argues that it is logically impossible for a God to be simultaneously omniscient and omnipotent). As such he argues that the theory of a universe without a God is preferable to the theory of a universe with a God.


title: The God Delusion

text: The second half of the book begins by exploring the roots of religion and seeking an explanation for its ubiquity across human cultures. Dawkins advocates the "theory of religion as an accidental by-product – a misfiring of something useful" as for example the mind's employment of intentional stance. Dawkins suggests that the theory of memes, and human susceptibility to religious memes in particular, can explain how religions might spread like "mind viruses" across societies.


title: The God Delusion

text: He then turns to the subject of morality, maintaining that we do not need religion to be good. Instead, our morality has a Darwinian explanation: altruistic genes, selected through the process of evolution, give people natural empathy. He asks, "would you commit murder, rape or robbery if you knew that no God existed?" He argues that very few people would answer "yes", undermining the claim that religion is needed to make us behave morally. In support of this view, he surveys the history of morality, arguing that there is a moral Zeitgeist that continually evolves in society, generally progressing toward liberalism. As it progresses, this moral consensus influences how religious leaders interpret their holy writings. Thus, Dawkins states, morality does not originate from the Bible, rather our moral progress informs what parts of the Bible Christians accept and what they now dismiss.


title: The God Delusion

text: "The God Delusion" is not just a defence of atheism, but also goes on the offensive against religion. Dawkins sees religion as subverting science, fostering fanaticism, encouraging bigotry against homosexuals, and influencing society in other negative ways. Dawkins regards religion as a "divisive force" and as a ""label" for in-group/out-group enmity and vendetta".


title: The God Delusion

text: He is most outraged about the teaching of religion in schools, which he considers to be an indoctrination process. He equates the religious teaching of children by parents and teachers in faith schools to a form of mental abuse. Dawkins considers the labels "Muslim child" and "Catholic child" equally misapplied as the descriptions "Marxist child" and "Tory child", as he wonders how a young child can be considered developed enough to have such independent views on the cosmos and humanity's place within it.


title: The God Delusion

text: The book concludes with the question of whether religion, despite its alleged problems, fills a "much needed gap", giving consolation and inspiration to people who need it. According to Dawkins, these needs are much better filled by non-religious means such as philosophy and science. He suggests that an atheistic worldview is life-affirming in a way that religion, with its unsatisfying "answers" to life's mysteries, could never be. An appendix gives addresses for those "needing support in escaping religion".


title: The God Delusion

text: The book provoked an immediate response, both positive and negative, and was published with endorsements from scientists, such as Nobel laureate and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA James D. Watson, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, as well as the popular writers of fiction and illusionists Penn and Teller. Metacritic reported that the book had a weighted average score of 59 out of 100. The book was nominated for Best Book at the British Book Awards, where Richard Dawkins was named Author of the Year. Nevertheless, the book received mixed reviews from critics, including both religious and atheist commentators. In the "London Review of Books", Terry Eagleton accused Richard Dawkins of not doing proper research into the topic of his work, religion, and further agreed with critics who accused Dawkins of committing straw man fallacies against theists (something Dawkins rebuts).


title: The God Delusion

text: Oxford theologian Alister McGrath (author of "The Dawkins Delusion?" and "") argues that Dawkins is ignorant of Christian theology, and therefore unable to engage religion and faith intelligently. In reply, Dawkins asks: "Do you have to read up on leprechology before disbelieving in leprechauns?", and—in the paperback edition of "The God Delusion"—he refers to the American biologist PZ Myers, who has satirised this line of argument as "The Courtier's Reply". Dawkins had an extended debate with McGrath at the 2007 "Sunday Times" Literary Festival.


title: The God Delusion

text: Eastern Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart says that Dawkins "devoted several pages of "The God Delusion" to a discussion of the 'Five Ways' of Thomas Aquinas but never thought to avail himself of the services of some scholar of ancient and mediaeval thought who might have explained them to him ... As a result, he not only mistook the Five Ways for Thomas's comprehensive statement on why we should believe in God, which they most definitely are not, but ended up completely misrepresenting the logic of every single one of them, and at the most basic levels."


title: The God Delusion

text: Christian philosopher Keith Ward, in his 2006 book "Is Religion Dangerous?", argues against the view of Dawkins and others that religion is socially dangerous.


title: The God Delusion

text: Ethicist Margaret Somerville suggested that Dawkins "overstates the case against religion", particularly its role in human conflict.


title: The God Delusion

text: Many of Dawkins' defenders claim that critics generally misunderstand his real point. During a debate on Radio 3 Hong Kong, David Nicholls, writer and president of the Atheist Foundation of Australia, reiterated Dawkins' sentiments that religion is an "unnecessary" aspect of global problems. Dawkins argues that "the existence of God is a scientific hypothesis like any other". He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA). In an interview with the "Time" magazine, Dawkins said:


title: The God Delusion

text: I think that Gould's separate compartments was a purely political ploy to win middle-of-the-road religious people to the science camp. But it's a very empty idea. There are plenty of places where religion does not keep off the scientific turf. Any belief in miracles is flat contradictory not just to the facts of science but to the spirit of science.


title: The God Delusion

text: Astrophysicist Martin Rees has suggested that Dawkins' attack on mainstream religion is unhelpful. Regarding Rees' claim in his book "Our Cosmic Habitat" that "such questions lie beyond science; however, they are the province of philosophers and theologians", Dawkins asks "what expertise can theologians bring to deep cosmological questions that scientists cannot?" Elsewhere, Dawkins has written that "there's all the difference in the world between a belief that one is prepared to defend by quoting evidence and logic, and a belief that is supported by nothing more than tradition, authority or revelation."


title: The God Delusion

text: On 3 October 2007, John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, publicly debated Richard Dawkins at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Dawkins' views as expressed in "The God Delusion", and their validity over and against the Christian faith.


title: The God Delusion

text: "The God Delusion Debate" marked Dawkins' first visit to the Old South and the first significant discussion on this issue in the "Bible Belt".


title: The God Delusion

text: The event was sold out, and "The Wall Street Journal" called it "a revelation: in Alabama, a civil debate over God's existence." Dawkins debated Lennox for the second time at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in October 2008. The debate was titled "Has Science Buried God?", in which Dawkins used a form of an Eddington concession in saying that, although he would not accept it, a reasonably respectable case could be made for "a deistic god, a sort of god of the physicist, a god of somebody like Paul Davies, who devised the laws of physics, god the mathematician, god who put together the cosmos in the first place and then sat back and watched everything happen" but not for a theistic god. Several days later, in a public debate in Inverness, Scotland, John Lennox used this part of Dawkins' speech out of context claiming that "Dawkins now believes that a good case can be made for deism", which Dawkins refuted in his conference in Atlanta, describing Lennox as insincere.


title: The God Delusion

text: As of January 2010, the English version of "The God Delusion" had sold over 2 million copies. , it increased to 3 million copies. It was ranked second on the Amazon.com best-sellers' list in November 2006. It remained on the list for 51 weeks until 30 September 2007. The German version, entitled "Der Gotteswahn", had sold over 260,000 copies . "The God Delusion" has been translated into 35 languages.


title: The God Delusion

text: For "The God Delusion", Dawkins was named Author of the Year at the 2007 British Book Awards. The Giordano Bruno Foundation awarded the 2007 Deschner Prize to Dawkins for the "outstanding contribution to strengthen secular, scientific, and humanistic thinking" in his book.


title: The God Delusion

text: In Turkey, where the book had sold at least 6,000 copies, a prosecutor launched a probe into whether "The God Delusion" was "an attack on holy values", following a complaint in November 2007. If convicted, the Turkish publisher and translator, Erol Karaaslan, would have faced a prison sentence of inciting religious hatred and insulting religious values. In April 2008, the court acquitted the defendant. In ruling out the need to confiscate copies of the book, the presiding judge stated that banning it "would fundamentally limit the freedom of thought".


title: The God Delusion

text: Dawkins' website, richarddawkins.net, was banned in Turkey later that year after complaints from Islamic creationist Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya) for alleged defamation. By July 2011, the ban had been lifted.


title: The God Delusion

text: The book has been officially translated into many different languages, such as Spanish, German, Italian, and Turkish. Dawkins has also promoted unofficial translations of the book in languages such as Arabic and Bengali. There are also Telugu and Tamil translations of the book. The Richard Dawkins Foundation offers free translations in Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, and Indonesian.


title: William Hogarth

text: William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects", and he is perhaps best known for his series "A Harlot's Progress", "A Rake's Progress" and "Marriage A-la-Mode". Knowledge of his work is so pervasive that satirical political illustrations in this style are often referred to as "Hogarthian".


title: William Hogarth

text: Hogarth was born in London to a lower-middle-class family. In his youth he took up an apprenticeship with an engraver, but did not complete the apprenticeship. His father underwent periods of mixed fortune, and was at one time imprisoned in lieu of outstanding debts, an event that is thought to have informed William's paintings and prints with a hard edge.


title: William Hogarth

text: Influenced by French and Italian painting and engraving, Hogarth's works are mostly satirical caricatures, sometimes bawdily sexual, mostly of the first rank of realistic portraiture. They became widely popular and mass-produced via prints in his lifetime, and he was by far the most significant English artist of his generation. Charles Lamb deemed Hogarth's images to be books, filled with "the teeming, fruitful, suggestive meaning of words. Other pictures we look at; his pictures we read."


title: William Hogarth

text: William Hogarth was born at Bartholomew Close in London to Richard Hogarth, a poor Latin school teacher and textbook writer, and Anne Gibbons. In his youth he was apprenticed to the engraver Ellis Gamble in Leicester Fields, where he learned to engrave trade cards and similar products.


title: William Hogarth

text: Young Hogarth also took a lively interest in the street life of the metropolis and the London fairs, and amused himself by sketching the characters he saw. Around the same time, his father, who had opened an unsuccessful Latin-speaking coffee house at St John's Gate, was imprisoned for debt in the Fleet Prison for five years. Hogarth never spoke of his father's imprisonment.


title: William Hogarth

text: In 1720, Hogarth enrolled at the original St Martin's Lane Academy in Peter Court, London, which was run by Louis Chéron and John Vanderbank. He attended alongside other future leading figures in art and design, such as Joseph Highmore, William Kent, and Arthur Pond. However, the academy seems to have stopped operating in 1724, at around the same time that Vanderbank fled to France in order to avoid creditors. Hogarth recalled of the first incarnation of the academy: "this lasted a few years but the treasurer sinking the subscription money the lamp stove etc were seized for rent and the whole affair put a stop to." Hogarth then enrolled in another drawing school, in Covent Garden, shortly after it opened in November 1724, which was run by Sir James Thornhill, serjeant painter to the king. On Thornhill, Hogarth later claimed that, even as an apprentice, "the painting of St Pauls and gree[n]wich hospital … were during this time runing in my head", referring to the massive schemes of decoration painted by Thornhill for the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, and Greenwich Hospital.


title: William Hogarth

text: Hogarth became a member of the Rose and Crown Club, with Peter Tillemans, George Vertue, Michael Dahl, and other artists and connoisseurs.


title: William Hogarth

text: By April 1720, Hogarth was an engraver in his own right, at first engraving coats of arms and shop bills and designing plates for booksellers.


title: William Hogarth

text: In 1727, he was hired by Joshua Morris, a tapestry worker, to prepare a design for the "Element of Earth". Morris heard that he was "an engraver, and no painter", and consequently declined the work when completed. Hogarth accordingly sued him for the money in the Westminster Court, where the case was decided in his favour on 28 May 1728.


title: William Hogarth

text: Early satirical works included an "Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme" (c. 1721, published 1724), about the disastrous stock market crash of 1720, known as the South Sea Bubble, in which many English people lost a great deal of money. In the bottom left corner, he shows Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish figures gambling, while in the middle there is a huge machine, like a merry-go-round, which people are boarding. At the top is a goat, written below which is "Who'l Ride". The people are scattered around the picture with a sense of disorder, while the progress of the well dressed people towards the ride in the middle shows the foolishness of the crowd in buying stock in the South Sea Company, which spent more time issuing stock than anything else.


title: William Hogarth

text: Other early works include "The Lottery" (1724); "The Mystery of Masonry brought to Light by the Gormagons" (1724); "A Just View of the British Stage" (1724); some book illustrations; and the small print "Masquerades and Operas" (1724). The latter is a satire on contemporary follies, such as the masquerades of the Swiss impresario John James Heidegger, the popular Italian opera singers, John Rich's pantomimes at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and the exaggerated popularity of Lord Burlington's protégé, the architect and painter William Kent. He continued that theme in 1727, with the "Large Masquerade Ticket".


title: William Hogarth

text: These he himself valued highly, and they are among his best early works, though they are based on small book illustrations.


title: William Hogarth

text: In the following years, he turned his attention to the production of small "conversation pieces" (i.e., groups in oil of full-length portraits from high. Among his efforts in oil between 1728 and 1732 were "The Fountaine Family" (c.1730), "The Assembly at Wanstead House", "The House of Commons examining Bambridge", and several pictures of the chief actors in John Gay's popular "The Beggar's Opera". One of his real-life subjects was Sarah Malcolm, whom he sketched two days before her execution.


title: William Hogarth

text: One of Hogarth's masterpieces of this period is the depiction of an amateur performance by children of John Dryden's "The Indian Emperour, or The Conquest of Mexico by Spaniards, being the Sequel of The Indian Queen" (1732–1735) at the home of John Conduitt, master of the mint, in St George's Street, Hanover Square.


title: William Hogarth

text: Hogarth's other works in the 1730s include "A Midnight Modern Conversation" (1733), "Southwark Fair" (1733), "The Sleeping Congregation" (1736), "Before" and "After" (1736), "Scholars at a Lecture" (1736), "The Company of Undertakers" (1736), "The Distrest Poet" (1736), "The Four Times of the Day" (1738), and "Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn" (1738). He might also have printed "Burlington Gate" (1731), evoked by Alexander Pope's Epistle to Lord Burlington, and defending Lord Chandos, who is therein satirized. This print gave great offence, and was suppressed. However, modern authorities such as Ronald Paulson no longer attribute it to Hogarth.


title: William Hogarth

text: In 1731, Hogarth completed the earliest of his series of moral works, a body of work that led to wide recognition. The collection of six scenes was entitled "A Harlot's Progress" and appeared first as paintings (now lost) before being published as engravings. "A Harlot's Progress" depicts the fate of a country girl who begins prostituting – the six scenes are chronological, starting with a meeting with a bawd and ending with a funeral ceremony that follows the character's death from venereal disease.


title: William Hogarth

text: The inaugural series was an immediate success and was followed in 1733–1735 by the sequel "A Rake's Progress". The second instalment consisted of eight pictures that depicted the reckless life of Tom Rakewell, the son of a rich merchant, who spends all of his money on luxurious living, services from prostitutes, and gambling – the character's life ultimately ends in Bethlem Royal Hospital. The original paintings of "A Harlot's Progress" were destroyed in the fire at Fonthill House in 1755; the oil paintings of "A Rake's Progress" (1733–34) are displayed in the gallery room at Sir John Soane's Museum, London, UK.


title: William Hogarth

text: When the success of "A Harlot's Progress" and "A Rake's Progress" resulted in numerous pirated reproductions by unscrupulous printsellers, Hogarth lobbied in parliament for greater legal control over the reproduction of his and other artists' work. The result was the Engravers' Copyright Act (known as 'Hogarth's Act'), which became law on 25 June 1735 and was the first copyright law to deal with visual works as well as the first to recognise the authorial rights of an individual artist.


title: William Hogarth

text: In 1743–1745, Hogarth painted the six pictures of "Marriage A-la-Mode" (National Gallery, London), a pointed skewering of upper-class 18th-century society. This moralistic warning shows the miserable tragedy of an ill-considered marriage for money. This is regarded by many as his finest project and may be among his best-planned story serials.


title: William Hogarth

text: Marital ethics were the topic of much debate in 18th-century Britain. The many marriages of convenience and their attendant unhappiness came in for particular criticism, with a variety of authors taking the view that love was a much sounder basis for marriage. Hogarth here painted a satire – a genre that by definition has a moral point to convey – of a conventional marriage within the English upper class. All the paintings were engraved and the series achieved wide circulation in print form. The series, which is set in a Classical interior, shows the story of the fashionable marriage of Viscount Squanderfield, the son of bankrupt Earl Squander, to the daughter of a wealthy but miserly city merchant, starting with the signing of a marriage contract at the Earl's grand house and ending with the murder of the son by his wife's lover and the suicide of the daughter after her lover is hanged at Tyburn for murdering her husband.


title: William Hogarth

text: William Makepeace Thackeray wrote: This famous set of pictures contains the most important and highly wrought of the Hogarth comedies. The care and method with which the moral grounds of these pictures are laid is as remarkable as the wit and skill of the observing and dexterous artist. He has to describe the negotiations for a marriage pending between the daughter of a rich citizen Alderman and young Lord Viscount Squanderfield, the dissipated son of a gouty old Earl ... The dismal end is known. My lord draws upon the counsellor, who kills him, and is apprehended while endeavouring to escape. My lady goes back perforce to the Alderman of the City, and faints upon reading Counsellor Silvertongue's dying speech at Tyburn (place of execution in old London), where the counsellor has been 'executed for sending his lordship out of the world. Moral: don't listen to evil silver-tongued counsellors; don't marry a man for his rank, or a woman for her money; don't frequent foolish auctions and masquerade balls unknown to your husband; don't have wicked companions abroad and neglect your wife, otherwise you will be run through the body, and ruin will ensue, and disgrace, and Tyburn.


title: William Hogarth

text: In the twelve prints of "Industry and Idleness" (1747), Hogarth shows the progression in the lives of two apprentices, one of whom is dedicated and hard working, while the other, who is idle, commits crime and is eventually executed. This shows the work ethic of Protestant England, where those who worked hard were rewarded, such as the industrious apprentice who becomes Sheriff (plate 8), Alderman (plate 10), and finally the Lord Mayor of London in the last plate in the series. The idle apprentice, who begins "at play in the church yard" (plate 3), holes up "in a Garrett with a Common Prostitute" after turning highwayman (plate 7) and "executed at Tyburn" (plate 11). The idle apprentice is sent to the gallows by the industrious apprentice himself. For each plate, there is at least one passage from the Bible at the bottom, mostly from the Book of Proverbs, such as for the first plate: