title: Rodolfo Graziani

text: In 1943, the United States proposed to her Allies a replacement for the League of Nations with a new body, the United Nations. The United Nations War Crimes Commission was created to investigate allegations of war crimes committed by Axis powers in World War II. On 31 December 1946, Ambaye Wolde Mariam from The Ethiopian War Crimes Commission presented to the UN War Crimes Commission its preliminary findings against Graziani. This related, however, to the period before WWII. The Ethiopian government felt it would have no difficulty from the sufficient amount of evidence it had to justify a trial against Graziani, especially for the massacres he ordered in February 1937. On 4 March 1948, charges against Graziani were presented to the United Nations War Crimes Commission. The commission was presented with evidence of the Italian policy of systematic terrorism and Graziani’s self-admitted intention to execute all Amharas authorities and cited a telegram from Graziani to General Nasi, in which Graziani had written, "Keep in mind also that I have already aimed at the total destruction of Abyssinian chiefs and notables and that this should be carried out completely in your territories". The UN Commission agreed that there was a prima facie case against eight Italians, including Graziani.


title: Rodolfo Graziani

text: However, the Allies questioned the veracity of Ethiopia's claim against the Italians on the grounds that it was impossible to identify which individuals in the Italian military hierarchy had actually issued the criminal orders. The British government was the firmest supporter of that stance, and the United States pursued a policy "largely characterized by ambivalence towards Italian aggression". The Ethiopian government made a direct request to the "Four Policemen", but that was immediately rejected on technical grounds. In addition, many in the Italian press firmly opposed any Italian officer being put on trial for war crimes. Faced with such resistance and indifference, Ethiopia had no choice but to back down from their requests, to the consternation of many Ethiopians.


title: Rodolfo Graziani

text: In 1948, an Italian military tribunal sentenced Graziani to 19 years in jail for collaborating with the Nazis, but he was released after only four months because his lawyers demonstrated that his actions had been only after he "received orders". He never faced any further prosecutions for any other specific war crimes. Unlike the Germans and the Japanese, the Italians did not have their commanders subjected to prosecutions by Allied tribunals.


title: Rodolfo Graziani

text: In the early 1950s, Graziani had some involvement with the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), and he became the "Honorary President" of the party in 1953.


title: Rodolfo Graziani

text: In August 2012, $160,000 of public money was used to help finance the building of a large monument atop Graziani's tomb in Affile. The subscription was supplemented by private funding from the mayor of Affile, Ettore Viri. The new mausoleum was engraved with the words "Fatherland" and "Honor". Local left-wing politicians and national commentators harshly criticized the monument whereas the town's "mostly conservative" population approved. Public funding for the Graziani monument was suspended by the newly elected Lazio administration after the 2013 regional elections. A statement from Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Graziani did not deserve to be memorialized but instead be condemned in history for his war crimes, genocidal behavior and crimes against humanity.


title: Rodolfo Graziani

text: Graziani was portrayed by British actor Oliver Reed in the 1981 war film "Lion of the Desert". On its release, it was banned by the Italian government because, in the words of Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, it was "damaging to the honor of the army".


title: Rodolfo Graziani

text: The Italian singer and composer Franco Battiato included a reference to Graziani in his song "Lettera al Governatore della Libia" (Letter to the governor of Libya) with the phrase "Lo sai che quell'idiota di Graziani farà una brutta fine" (You know that the idiotic Graziani will have a bad end).


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The Dhofar Rebellion, also known as the Dhofar War or the Omani Civil War, was waged from 1963 to 1976 in the province of Dhofar against the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman. The war began with the formation of the Dhofar Liberation Front, a group which aimed to create an independent state in Dhofar, free from the rule of the Omani Sultan Said bin Taimur. The rebels also held the broader goals of Arab nationalism which included ending British influence in the Persian Gulf region.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The war initially took the form of a low level insurgency with guerrilla warfare being used against Omani forces and the foreign presence in the country. A number of factors such as the British withdrawal from Aden and support from China and the Soviet Union brought the rebels increased success, with the communists controlling the entirety of the Jebel region by the late 1960s. The 1970 Omani coup d'état led to the overthrow of Sultan Said bin Taimur by his reformist son Qaboos bin Said who was backed by a major British military intervention in the conflict. The British initiated a "hearts and minds" campaign to counter the communist rebels and began the process of modernising the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces while simultaneously deploying the Special Air Service to conduct anti-insurgency operations against the rebels. This approach led to a string of victories against the rebels and was boosted by the Shah of Iran's intervention in the conflict to support the Sultanate of Oman in 1973. The war ended with the final defeat of the rebels in 1976.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: In 1962, Oman was a very underdeveloped country. Sultan Said bin Taimur, an absolute ruler under British influence, had outlawed almost all technological development and relied on British support to maintain the rudimentary functions of the state. Dhofar itself was a dependency of Oman but was culturally and linguistically distinct from Oman proper.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The province of Dhofar consists of an intermittent narrow, fertile coastal plain, on which stand Salalah, the provincial capital, and other towns such as Mughsayl, Taqah, and Mirbat. Behind this are the rugged hills of the Jebel Dhofar. The western portion of this range is known as the Jebel Qamar, the central part as the Jebel Qara and the eastern part as the Jebel Samhan. From June to September each year, the jebel receives moisture-laden winds (the Khareef or monsoon) and is shrouded in cloud. As a result, it is heavily vegetated, and for much of the year is green and lush. The inhabitants of the villages and communities on the jebel are known as "jibalis" (hill people). To the north, the hills slope down via rough wadis and cliffs into the gravel plains and sand seas of the Empty Quarter.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: In 1962 a dissatisfied tribal leader, Musallam bin Nufl (Mussalim bin Nafl), formed the Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF) and obtained arms and vehicles from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and Oman had earlier clashed over ownership of the Buraimi Oasis, and the Saudis had already supported two failed insurrections in the Jebel Akhdar in the interior of Oman in 1957–59. The DLF also received support from Imam Ghalib Bin Ali, the exiled Imam of Oman, who had led these earlier revolts.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: Bin Nufl and his men made an epic crossing of the Empty Quarter to reach Dhofar. As early as December 1962, Bin Nufl's guerrilla band performed sabotage operations on the British air base at Salalah and ambushed oil industry vehicles.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: From 1964 the DLF began a campaign of hit-and-run attacks on oil company installations and government posts. Many of the DLF were trained former soldiers of the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces (SAF), or of the Trucial Oman Scouts in the United Arab Emirates.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The Sultan had relied on the "Dhofar Force", a locally recruited irregular unit of only 60 men, to maintain order in the region. In April 1966, members of this unit attempted to assassinate the Sultan. This event apparently changed the nature of the conflict. The Sultan retired to his palace in Salalah, never to be seen in public again. This only served to add to rumours that the British were running Oman through a "phantom" Sultan. The Sultan also launched a full-scale military offensive against the DLF, contrary to the advice of his British advisors. Heavy-handed search and destroy missions were launched in Dhofar, villages were burned and wells were concreted over or blown up. A member of the SAF reported that after receiving heavy resistance, it "proved that the position was unattainable, and after blowing up the village wells we evacuated the camp."


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: From the early days of the rebellion, Nasserite and other left wing movements in the neighbouring Aden Protectorate, later the Protectorate of South Arabia, were also involved. In 1967, two events combined to give the Rebellion a more revolutionary complexion. One was the Israeli victory in the Six-Day War which radicalised opinion throughout the Arab world. The other was the British withdrawal from Aden and the establishment of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY, aka South Yemen). From this point, the rebels had a source of arms, supplies and training facilities adjacent to Dhofar, and fresh recruits from groups in the PDRY. Training camps, logistical bases and other facilities were set up in the coastal town of Hawf, only a few miles from the border with Oman.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The Dhofari liberation movement adopted a Marxist-Leninist ideology with the objective of liberating "all of the Gulf from British imperialism." Political scientist Fred Halliday reported during his visit to the area that "wherever we went we saw people wearing Mao and Lenin badges, reading socialist works and discussing." Works included Lenin's, the German playwright Bertolt Brecht's and of some who were associated with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) such as the writer and strategist Ghassan Kanafani. Discussions were published by "Sawt al-Thawra" and "9 Yunyu".


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: Two congresses were held to define the political objectives of the movement, in 1965 and 1968. At the second congress, the Dhofar Liberation Front became the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arabian Gulf, or PFLOAG. The program adopted at these two congresses was strongly tinged with communism. Its aim was to establish a "democratic people's republic" and to expel the British army from Oman. The Front sought to establish a constitution, abolish martial law, restore freedom of the press and expression and ensure the rights of minorities. On economic issues, it intended to nationalize the oil companies, develop industries and implement land reform. The Front called for more social justice and affirmed its support for all Asian, African and Latin American liberation movements. References were also made to the Palestinian struggle. The rebels opened schools to which both boys and girls had access (girls' education was forbidden in Oman until 1970). Tribalism was fought against and social relations tended to evolve, with a specific place given to women, including in the armed struggle.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The move towards Marxism–Leninism ensured that the PFLOAG received sponsorship from both South Yemen and China. China in particular was quick to support the PFLOAG as it was a peasant-based organisation, giving it a strong Maoist credibility. Chinese support for the PFLOAG also had another benefit for them, as it acted as a counterbalance to increasing Soviet influence in the Indian Ocean. China was quick to establish an embassy in Aden and "the Yemeni regime allowed its territory to be used for channelling weapons" to the PFLOAG.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The transformation of the DLF, combined with a new supply of Chinese and Soviet weaponry and better training, ensured that the armed wing of the PFLOAG turned into an effective fighting force. In May 1968, an attack by a battalion of the Sultan's Armed Forces against a rebel position at Deefa in the Jebel Qamar was defeated by heavily armed and well-organised and trained rebels.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: However, the radicalisation of the rebel movement led to a split between those such as bin Nufl who were fighting mainly for local autonomy and recognition, and the more doctrinaire revolutionaries (led by Mohammad Ahmad al-Ghassani). One of bin Nufl's lieutenants, Said bin Gheer, was an early and influential defector to the Sultan. Nevertheless, by 1969 the DLF and PFLOAG fighters had overrun much of the Jebel Dhofar, and cut the only road across it—that from Salalah to "Midway" (Thumrait) in the deserts to the north. They were known to the Sultan's Armed Forces as "Adoo", Arabic for "enemy", or sometimes as "the Front", while they referred to themselves as the People's Liberation Army or PLA. They were well-armed with weapons such as the AK-47 assault rifle and SKS semi-automatic carbine. They also used heavy machine guns (the DShK), mortars up to 82mm in calibre and 140mm BM-14 or 122mm "Katyusha" rockets. By 1970 communists controlled the entire Jebel. Terror was then used to break up the traditional tribal structure. Young men were sent to train for guerilla warfare in China and Russia.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The units of the Sultan's Armed Forces were under strength with only 1,000 men in Dhofar in 1968. They were also badly equipped, mainly with World War II vintage weapons such as bolt-action rifles, which were inferior to the PFLOAG's modern firearms. These rifles were replaced by the FN FAL only late in 1969. Even the SAF's clothing and boots were ragged and unsuitable for the terrain. The units of the SAF were generally not properly trained to face hardy guerrillas on their own ground, and no Omani held a rank above that of Lieutenant (a result of the Sultan's fears of opposition to his rule among the armed forces). The SAF generally were unable to operate in less than company strength on the jebel (making their operations clumsy and conspicuous), and were mainly restricted to Salalah and its immediate area. At various times, small detachments from Nos. 2 (Para), 15 (Field) and 51 (Field) squadrons of the British RAF Regiment, and other units (a Royal Artillery locating troop, a 5.5-inch medium battery of the Royal Jordanian Artillery, and a 25-pounder battery of the Sultan's artillery) had to be deployed to protect the vital airfield at Salalah from infiltrators and from harassing mortar and rocket fire.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: Other insurgents in the northern section of Oman formed a separate resistance movement, the National Democratic Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf (NDFLOAG). In June 1970 they attacked two SAF posts at Nizwa and Izki. They were repulsed but the incident convinced many (including the Sultan's British advisers and backers) that new leadership was required.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: In the 1970 Omani coup d'état on 23 July 1970, Said bin Taimur was deposed and went into exile in London. He was replaced by his son, Qaboos bin Said, who immediately instigated major social, educational and military reforms. Qaboos was well educated, first in Salalah by an old Arab scholar and then at Sandhurst, after which he was commissioned into the Cameronians, a regiment of the British Army. He then completed his education sitting in on councils, attending committee meetings and visiting industry and administrative centres in Britain before returning to Oman. His "five point plan" involved:


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: Within hours of the coup, British Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers were flown into Oman to further bolster the counterinsurgency campaign. They identified four main strategies that would assist the fight against the PFLOAG:


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The military commanders on the ground (rather than the UK Ministry of Defence) suggested the implementation of a "hearts and minds" campaign, which would be put into operation primarily by a troop (25 men) from the SAS. The British government (then under Conservative leader Edward Heath) supported this unconventional approach to the counterinsurgency campaign. It approved the deployment of 20 personnel of the British Royal Engineers, who would aid in the construction of schools and health centres, and drilled wells for the population of Dhofar. Royal Army Medical Corps Field Surgical Teams and some Royal Air Force medical teams would also operate out of Salalah hospital, in order to open a humanitarian front in the conflict. The British government additionally provided monetary support for the creation of the Dhofar Development Programme, whose aim was to wrest support from the PFLOAG through the modernisation of Dhofar. The operation was almost a carbon copy of a system that had proved successful in the Malayan Emergency some twenty years previously.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: To assist in the civil development and coordinate it with the military operations, the command structure in Dhofar was reorganised, with the newly appointed Wāli or civilian governor (Braik bin Hamoud) being given equal status to the military commander of the Dhofar Brigade (Brigadier Jack Fletcher to 1972, Brigadier John Akehurst from that date).


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: A major effort was made to counter rebel propaganda and induce the Dhofari population to support the government. In particular, appeals were made to Islam and to traditional tribal values and customs, against the rebels' secular or materialist teachings. A significant outlet for government propaganda was the many inexpensive Japanese transistor radios which were sold cheaply or distributed free to jibalis who visited Salalah and other government-held towns to sell firewood or vegetables. Although the PFLOAG could also broadcast propaganda by radio, the Government's propaganda was factual and low-key, while that of the rebels, broadcast by Radio Aden, was soon perceived to be exaggerated and stereotyped.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: On 27 December 1970 Sultan Qaboos gave an interview to "Al Khaleej" and commented on the situation in Dhofar saying:


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: "This crisis developed in the past, but its after-effects still exist. And on the very first day [of assuming power] we addressed ourselves to the discontented there, and extended our hand to them saying that what they were complaining about regarding the absence of liberties and services, such as education and health, would end; that it was up to them to come forward and demonstrate their goodwill; that we should co-operate together and that defects inherited from the past needed full time on our part to cope with them".


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: One step which had a major impact on the uprising was the announcement of an amnesty for surrendered fighters, and aid in defending their communities from rebels. A cash incentive was offered to rebels who changed sides, with a bonus if they brought their weapon. Following the split between the PFLOAG and DLF wings of the rebel movement, several prominent rebel leaders changed sides, including bin Nufl himself and his deputy, Salim Mubarak, who had commanded the eastern region.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The rebels who defected to the Sultan formed "Firqat" irregular units, trained by British Army Training Teams, or BATTs, from the Special Air Service. Salim Mubarak played a major role in establishing the first "Firqat" (and the only one to be formed from members of more than one tribe), but died, apparently of heart failure, shortly after its first successful actions. Eighteen "Firqat" units, numbering between 50 and 150 men each, were eventually formed. They usually gave themselves names with connections to Islam, such as the "Firqat Salahadin" or "Firqat Khalid bin Walid". (Some of the PFLOAG units also gave themselves ideological names, such as Ho Chi Minh or Che Guevara). These "firqat" irregular groups played a major part in denying local support to the rebels. Being "jibalis" themselves (and in many cases with family connections among the communities on the Jebel), they were better at local intelligence-gathering and "hearts and minds" activities than the northern Omani or Baluchi personnel of the regular SAF, although they exasperated commanders of the regular SAF by refusing to take part in operations outside their tribal areas, or during Ramadan.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The first serious step in re-establishing the Sultan's authority on the Jebel took place in October 1971, when Operation Jaguar was mounted, involving five "Firqat" units. three companies of the SAF and two squadrons of the SAS. After hard fighting, the SAS and "Firqats" secured an enclave on the eastern Jebel Samhan from which they could expand. The SAS introduced two new weapons to support the mobile but lightly equipped "firqats": the rapid firing GPMG, which could lay down a heavier weight of fire than the Bren light machine gun previously available to the SAF, and the Browning M2 heavy machine gun, which was deployed to match the DShK machine guns used by the "adoo".


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: Meanwhile, the regular units of the SAF were expanded and re-equipped. Extra officers and NCO instructors from the British Army and Royal Marines (and also the Pakistan Army) were attached to all units (there were nominally twenty-two British or contracted personnel with each infantry battalion) while Omani personnel were educated and trained to become officers and senior NCOs. British specialist elements, including mortar locating radar troops and artillery observation officers, also rotated through Oman over several years.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The revitalised SAF created fortified lines running north from the coast and up to the summit of the Jebel, to interdict the movement of rebels and the camel trains carrying their supplies from the PDRY. The "Leopard Line" was established in 1971, but this line had to be abandoned during the following monsoon season as it could not be supplied. The more effective "Hornbeam Line" was set up in 1972, running north from Mughsayl on the coast west of Salalah. The lines consisted of fortified platoon and company outposts on commanding peaks, linked by barbed wire. The posts possessed mortars and some also had artillery, to provide cover for patrols and to harass rebel positions and tracks used by them. The SAF soldiers continually sortied from their outposts to set ambushes on the most likely enemy infiltration routes and mount attacks against rebel mortar- and rocket-launching positions. Anti-personnel land mines were sown on infiltration routes. The rebels also used anti-personnel mines against suspected SAF patrol bases, and even laid anti-tank land mines on tracks used by SAF vehicles.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The Sultan of Oman's Air Force was also expanded, acquiring BAC Strikemaster aircraft which provided air support to units on the ground, and eight Shorts Skyvan transport aircraft and eight Agusta Bell 205 transport helicopters which supplied "firqat" and SAF posts on the jebels. A flight of RAF Westland Wessex helicopters also operated from Salalah.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: On 17 April 1972, a battalion of the SAF made a helicopter landing to capture a position codenamed "Simba" at Sarfait near the border with South Yemen. The captured position overlooked the rebels' supply lines along the coastal plain, but did not block them. Although the demands on its transport aircraft and helicopters to maintain the post at Sarfait forced the SAF to abandon some positions in the eastern Jebel, Sarfait was nevertheless retained for four years.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: Immediately after China established relations with Iran, all support to the rebels in Dhofar was cut off by China which had changed its mind about insurgencies, since it viewed them as counterproductive to countering the Soviets.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: As a result of the various measures undertaken by the Omani government, "firqats" and regular SAF, the rebels were being deprived both of local support and supplies from the PDRY. This was recognised at a Third National Congress of the movement, held in Rakhyut in June 1971. Some military improvements were suggested, such as better discipline to avoid wasteful expenditure of ammunition and better coordination between units. It was acknowledged that the movement had estranged many of the local population, by indiscriminate punishments by "people's courts", the movement's inability to match the government's civil aid program and the effectiveness of the government's information service which promoted Islam over Marxism.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: To retrieve the military situation, the rebels mounted a major attack on the coastal town of Mirbat during the monsoon season of 1972. On 19 July 1972, at the Battle of Mirbat, 250 rebel fighters attacked 100 assorted "firqat" under training, paramilitary "askars" (armed police) and a detachment of the Special Air Service. In spite of the low "khareef" cloud cover, air support from Strikemaster aircraft was available, and helicopters landed SAS reinforcements. The rebels were repulsed with heavy losses.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: As a result of Sultan Qaboos's diplomatic initiatives, the Shah of Iran had sent an Imperial Iranian Army brigade numbering 1,200 and with its own helicopters to assist the Sultan's Armed Forces in 1973. The Iranian brigade first secured the Salalah-Thumrait road, while their helicopters played a vital role in keeping the isolated "Simba" position supplied. In 1974, the Iranian contribution was expanded into the Imperial Iranian Task Force, numbering 4,000. They attempted to establish another interdiction line, codenamed the "Damavand Line", running from "Manston", a few miles east of Sarfait, to the coast near the border with the PDRY. Heavy opposition from the rebels, which included artillery fire from within the PDRY, thwarted this aim for several months. Eventually, the town of Rahkyut, which the PFLO had long maintained as the capital of their liberated territory, fell to the Iranian task force.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: Shah Mohamad Reza Pahlavi justified his intervention in Oman by the need to defend the Strait of Hormuz: "Just imagine that these savages should seize the other bank of the Ormuz Straits, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Our life depends on that. And those people at war with the Sultan are savages. They may even be worse than communists". Iranian troops remained in the country after the end of the war but were withdrawn after the Iranian revolution.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: In January 1974, after several splits and defections, the rebel movement renamed itself the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman. This public contraction of their aims coincided with a reduction in the support they received from the Soviet Union and China. Meanwhile, the rebels were steadily cleared from the Jebel Qara and Jebel Samhan by "firqats" and were driven into the western part of the Jebel Qamar.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: Nevertheless, the rebels kept the respect of their opponents for their resilience and skill. In January 1975, in the hastily organised Operation Dharab, the SAF attempted to capture the main rebel logistic base in the Shershitti Caves. A SAF company from a battalion which took a wrong route blundered into an ambush in an "adoo" "killing ground" above the caves and suffered heavy casualties.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: During late February 1975, three battalions of the SAF eliminated much of the rebel "9th June" Regiment (named after the anniversary of the outbreak of the rebellion) in the rugged Wadi Ashoq in the Jebel Samhan between the Damavand and Hornbeam lines. This largely restored SAF morale.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: During the next few months, the SAF seized an airstrip at Deefa, but were unable to make immediate use of it during the "khareef". Some regular troops from the PDRY reinforced the PFLO's fighters, who also deployed SA-7 anti-aircraft missiles for the first time. However, their premature use of this weapon deprived them of the advantage of surprise. Also, the Sultan's Air Force had acquired 31 Hawker Hunter aircraft from the Royal Jordanian Air Force. The SA-7 was much less effective against these aircraft than against Strikemasters.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: In October 1975, the SAF launched a final offensive. An attack from "Simba", intended to be a diversion, nevertheless succeeded in descending cliffs and slopes in total height to reach the coast at Dalqhut, and thus finally cut off the "adoo" from their bases in the PDRY. While the Iranian Task Force threatened the Shershitti Caves from the south, another SAF battalion advanced from Deefa, threatening to surround the remaining "adoo" territory in the Jebel Qamar. Hawker Hunter aircraft of the Sultan's Air Force attacked artillery positions in the PDRY. Over the next few months, the remaining rebel fighters surrendered or sought sanctuary in the PDRY. The Rebellion was finally declared to be Jebel defeated in January 1976, although isolated incidents took place as late as 1979.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The British influence was still considerable at the end of the war. The special envoy in Oman of "The Times" of London explained in 1976:


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: Most of the civil servants and all the army officers I met, with one single exception, were British. Major General Perkins himself [commander-in-chief of the Omani army] assured us that ’if Great Britain were to withdraw from Oman it would be catastrophic’ […]. Serving in Oman was very useful for the training of officers posted out here. […] It is the only country in the world where you can wage a war like this one, a large-scale war using every kind of weapon".


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: The port city of Gwadar in Balochistan, Pakistan, had been Omani territory until 1958. Baloch troops formed a substantial part of the Sultan's Army. During the rebellion, Oman sought to hire more Baloch troops. The Baluch Students Organization (BSO), a leftist students' organization, expressed solidarity with the Dhofari rebels. In 1979, BSO activist Hameed Baloch tried to shoot at an Omani military officer who was visiting Balochistan to recruit more Baloch troops. The Omani officer was unhurt, and Baloch was convicted by a Pakistani military court and executed.


title: Dhofar Rebellion

text: As with many military operations the British were involved in, the use of nicknames was commonplace and these were used alongside local names:


title: Catalans

text: Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: "catalans"; , Italian: "catalani", ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, an autonomous community in Spain and the inhabitants of the Roussillon historical region in southern France, today the Pyrénées Orientales department, also called Northern Catalonia and "Pays Catalan" in French.


title: Catalans

text: Some authors also extend the word "Catalans" to include all people from areas in which Catalan is spoken, namely those from Andorra, Valencia, the Balearic islands, eastern Aragon, Roussillon, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia.


title: Catalans

text: The Catalan government regularly surveys its population regarding its "sentiment of belonging". As of July 2019, the results point out that 46.7% of the Catalans and other people living in Catalonia would like independence from Spain, 1.3% less than the year before.


title: Catalans

text: In 1500 BCE the area that is now known primarily as Catalonia was, along with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, inhabited by Proto-Celtic Urnfield people who brought with them the rite of burning the dead. Much of the Pyrenees mountains was inhabited at the time by peoples related to modern Basques, and today many town names in the western Catalan Pyrenees can be linked to Basque etymologies. These groups came under the rule of various invading groups starting with the Greeks that founded Empúries and the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, who set up colonies along the coast, including Barcino (present-day Barcelona). Following the Punic Wars, the Romans replaced the Carthaginians as the dominant power in the Iberian eastern coast, including parts of Catalonia, by 206 BCE. Rome established Latin as the official language and imparted a distinctly Roman culture upon the local population, which merged with Roman colonists from the Italian peninsula. An early precursor to the Catalan language began to develop from a local form of popular Latin before and during the collapse of the Roman Empire. Various Germanic tribes arrived following nearly six centuries of Roman rule, which had completely transformed the area into the Roman province of Tarraconensis. The German Visigoths established themselves in the fifth century, making their first capital in the Iberian peninsula Barcelona, and they later would move to Toledo. This continued until 718 when Muslim Arabs took control of the region in order to pass through the Pyrenees into French territory. With the help of the Franks, a land border was created commonly known nowadays as Old Catalonia (which would consist of the counties County of Barcelona, Ausona, County of Pallars, County of Rosselló, County of Empúries, County of Cerdanya and County of Urgell) which faced Muslim raids but resisted any kind of settlement from them. "New Catalonia" and its Native peoples were fully in control of the Arab invaders for around a century. The Franks on the other side of the Pyrenees held back the main Muslim raiding army which had penetrated virtually unchallenged as far as central France at the Battle of Tours in 732. Frankish suzerainty was then extended over much of present-day Catalonia. Larger wars with the Muslims began in the March of Barcelona which led to the beginnings of the Reconquista by Catalan forces over most of Catalonia by the year 801. As the border between Muslim and Frankish realms stabilized, Barcelona would become an important center for Christian forces in the Iberian Peninsula.


title: Catalans

text: In 1137, the County of Barcelona entered a dynastic union with the kingdom of Aragon to form what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon in the so-called Reconquista. This allowed the reclamation of Muslim-dominated lands, eventually conquering the kingdoms of Valencia and Majorca (the Balearic Islands). From the 14th century, the territory of the Catalan counties started to be called the Principality of Catalonia. In the last quarter of the 15th century, the marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon led to the dynastic union of the Crown of Aragón with the Crown of Castille, in which each of the constitutive territories kept its own laws, power structures, borders and monetary systems.


title: Catalans

text: Regional unrest led to conflicts such as the Revolt of the Germanies in Valencia and Majorca, and the 1640 revolt in Catalonia known as the Reapers' War. This latter conflict embroiled Spain in a larger war with France as many Catalan nobles allied themselves with Louis XIII. The war continued until 1659 and ended with the Peace of the Pyrenees, which effectively partitioned Catalonia as the northern strip of the March came under French rule, while the rest remained under Spanish hegemony. The Catalan government took sides with the Habsburg pretender against the Bourbon one during the War of the Spanish Succession that started in 1705 and ended in 1714. The Catalan failure to defend the continuation of Habsburg rule in Spain culminated in the surrender of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 which came to be commemorated as Catalonia's National Day.


title: Catalans

text: During the Napoleonic Wars, much of Catalonia was seized by French forces by 1808, as France ruled the entire country of Spain briefly until Napoleon's surrender to Allied Armies. In France, strong assimilationist policies integrated many Catalans into French society, while in Spain a Catalan identity was increasingly suppressed in favor of a Spanish national identity. The Catalans regained autonomy during the Spanish Second Republic from 1932 until Francisco Franco's nationalist forces retook Catalonia by 1939. It was not until 1975 and the death of Franco that the Catalans as well as other Spaniards began to regain their right to cultural expression, which was restarted by the Spanish Constitution of 1978. Since this period, a balance between a sense of local identity versus the broader Spanish one has emerged as the dominant political force in Catalonia. The former tends to advocate for even greater autonomy and independence; the latter tends to argue for maintaining either a status quo or removal of autonomy and cultural identity, depending on the leanings of the current government. As a result, there tends to be much fluctuation depending on regional and national politics during a given election cycle. Given the stronger centralist tendencies in France, however, French Catalans display a much less dynamic sense of uniqueness, having been integrated more consistently into the unitary French national identity.


title: Catalans

text: The vast majority of Catalans reside in the autonomous community of Catalonia, in the northeast part of Spain. At least 100,000 Catalan speakers live in the "Pays Catalan" in France. An indeterminate number of Catalans emigrated to the Americas during the Spanish colonial period and to France in the years following the Spanish Civil War.


title: Catalans

text: Described by author Walter Starkie in "The Road to Santiago" as a subtle people, he sums up their national character with a local term "seny" meaning "common sense" or a pragmatic attitude toward life. The counterpart of Catalan "seny" is "rauxa" or madness, epitomized by "crazy", eccentric and creative Catalan artists like Antoni Gaudí, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró or Antoni Tàpies. The "masia" or "mas" is a defining characteristic of the Catalan countryside and includes a large house, land, cattle, and an extended family, but this tradition is in decline as the nuclear family has largely replaced the extended family, as in the rest of western Europe. Catalans in Spain are officially recognised as a "nationality" and enjoy a high degree of political autonomy, which has led to reinforcement of a Catalan identity.


title: Catalans

text: The Catalan language is a Romance language. It is the language closest to Occitan, and it also shares many features with other Romance languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Aragonese, and Italian. There are a number of linguistic varieties that are considered dialects of Catalan, among them, the dialect group with the most speakers, Central Catalan.


title: Catalans

text: The total number of Catalan speakers is over 9.8 million (2011), with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them speak Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia). Very few Catalan monoglots exist; basically, virtually all of the Catalan speakers in Spain are bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with a sizable population of Spanish-only speakers of immigrant origin (typically born outside Catalonia or with both parents born outside Catalonia) existing in the major Catalan urban areas as well. In Roussillon, only a minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process of language shift. According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52.7% have Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages.


title: Catalans

text: The inhabitants of the Aran valley count Aranese–an Occitan dialect–rather than Catalan as their own language. These Catalans are also bilingual in Spanish.


title: Catalans

text: In September 2005, the .cat TLD, the first Internet language-based top-level domain, was approved for all web pages intending to serve the needs of the Catalan linguistic and cultural community on the Internet. This community is made up of those who use the Catalan language for their online communication or promote the different aspects of Catalan culture online.


title: Catalans

text: The traditional dress (now practically only used in folkloric celebrations) included the "barretina" (a sort of woollen, long cap usually red or purple) and the "faixa" (a sort of wide belt) among men, and "ret" (a fine net bag to contain hair) among women. The traditional footwear was the "espardenya" or espadrille.


title: Catalans

text: The Catalan diet is part of the Mediterranean diet and includes the use of olive oil. Catalan people like to eat veal ("vedella") and lamb ("xai").


title: Catalans

text: In Catalan gastronomy, "embotits" (a wide variety of Catalan sausages and cold meats) are very important; these are pork sausages such as "botifarra" or "fuet". In the past, bread figured heavily in the Catalan diet; now it is used mainly in the morning (second breakfast, especially among young students and some workers) and supplements the noon meal, at home and in restaurants. Bread is still popular among Catalans; some Catalan fast-food restaurants don't serve hamburgers, but offer a wide variety of sandwiches.


title: Catalans

text: The discipline of abstinence, not eating meat during Lent, once was very strong, but today it is only practiced in the rural areas. Spicy food is rare in the Catalan diet but there are quite garlicky sauces such as "allioli" or "romesco".


title: Catalans

text: One type of Catalan dish is "escudella", a soup which contains chick peas, potatoes, and vegetables such as green cabbage, celery, carrots, turnips, and meats such as "botifarra" (a Catalan sausage), pork feet, salted ham, chicken, and veal. In Northern Catalonia, it is sometimes called "ollada".


title: Catalans

text: Other Catalan dishes include "calçots" (a type of onions that are similar in shape to leeks, often grilled and eaten with a romesco sauce) and "escalivada".


title: Catalans

text: The traditional religion in Catalonia is Roman Catholicism. However, in the course of recent history, Catalonia has undergone several waves of secularization.


title: Catalans

text: The first wave of secularization happened during the eighteenth century as a result of the enlightenment influence to the bourgeoisie. The second one happened during the nineteenth century, that had a huge impact on the lower and middle class, but was interrupted by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939).


title: Catalans

text: The end of the Francoist regime led to a loss of power by the Catholic Church and to another wave of secularization that extends since the 1980s. During the 1990s most of the population of Catalonia was non-practising Catholic. Nowadays 52.4% of Catalans declare themselves Catholic, practising or not, 30.2% of Catalans are agnostic or atheist, and there is also a considerable share of other religions, often connected to recent immigration: 7.3% Muslim, 2.5% Evangelical, 1.3% Buddhism, and 1.2% Orthodox Christians. According to the most recent study sponsored by the government of Catalonia, as of 2016, 61.9% of the Catalans identify as Christians, up from 56.5% in 2014. At the same time, 16.0% of the population identify as atheists, 11.9% as agnostics, 4.8% as Muslims, 1.3% as Buddhists, and a further 2.4% as being of other religions.


title: Catalans

text: Catalonia is one of the richest and most developed regions in Southern Europe. Barcelona is among the most industrialized metropolises. A regional capital, it is a magnet for domestic and foreign migrants.


title: Catalans

text: Fire is the element used in most important traditional festivals, which are derived from pagan roots. These celebrations have a high acceptance of fire between the Catalans, like the Flame of Canigó to the Bonfires of Saint John.


title: Catalans

text: An important and well-known celebration is La Diada de Sant Jordi, held on 23 April, in which men give women roses, and women give men a book.


title: Catalans

text: Historical memory is the second axis of celebrations in Catalonia, where the Catalan people reunite with their date of birth as a people.


title: Catalans

text: Among the religious celebrations, there are St. George's Day and the celebrations of Saint Vincent Martyr and Saint Anthony Abbot. The maximum expressions of this element are the Easter processions and performances of Passion Plays. Some festivals have a complicated relationship with religion, such as Carnival and the "Dances of Death", or specific aspects of Christmas such as the Tió de Nadal or the "caganer" in Nativity scenes.


title: Catalans

text: Other key elements of a Catalan celebration are: food, central to every party and especially to the pig slaughter and harvest festivals; contests such as the "castells" (human towers), choice of major and festive floats; music, songs and bands; processions; dances; and animals, especially bulls and representations of mythological creatures. The Patum of Berga has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.


title: Catalans

text: Because of their intertwining history, many of the traditional symbols of Catalonia coincide with Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The oldest known Catalan symbol is the coat of arms of the King of Aragon, or "bars of Aragon", one of Europe's oldest heraldic emblems; in modern times, Catalan nationalists have made it the main symbol of Catalan identity and it is even associated with the Catalan language.


title: Catalans

text: As for anthems, "The Reapers" ("Els Segadors") is the official anthem of Catalonia and is also used in the other lands of the Principality; the Balanguera represents the people from the Balearic Islands and, in the case of Valencia, the official "Anthem of the Exhibition" ("Himne de l'Exposició") alongside Muixeranga as symbols of the country.


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: John Edward Szeles (September 9, 1958 – February 22, 2022), better known by the stage name The Amazing Johnathan, was an American comedian and magician. His act was mostly composed of hijinks, interaction with one specific audience member, and a few legitimate magic tricks. From 2001 to 2014, he was a year-round headliner in Las Vegas. Self-described as the "Freddy Krueger of Comedy", Szeles performed wearing his ever-present headband, and his shows frequently used gore; for example, pretending to suck on his own hanging eyeball, cutting his wrists, and skewering his own tongue. He was also good friends with fellow performer Criss Angel and helped him perform a variety of illusions, most notably during three guest appearances on Angel's "Mindfreak".


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: Szeles was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Doreen and Edward Szeles. In the 1970s, he relocated to California, where he began his career performing on the streets of San Francisco. He first appeared on television in "The 8th Annual Young Comedians Show" in 1983 and later went on to become the host of the short-lived 1991 syndicated variety/game show "Ruckus". He appeared on various talk and variety shows from the mid 1980s to mid 2000s. His only credited performance as an actor was "The Obligatory Holiday Episode" of "The Weird Al Show" (playing the part of Uncle Johnathan). He made several appearances on "Late Night with David Letterman", a record 24 appearances on Fox's Comic Strip Live, and had several specials on Comedy Central including "Comedy Central Presents", "Lounge Lizards", and more recently his own one-hour special entitled "Wrong on Every Level". He dedicated the special to his Uncle Eugene, who showed him his first card trick which "started this whole mess". He appeared in the 2005 documentary "The Aristocrats".


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: Szeles also authored a how-to book on practical jokes titled "Every Trick in the Book", a compilation of both classic practical jokes and plain magic tricks, along with his own original material in both categories. From 2014 onwards, he was working on his memoirs with the working title of "Drive It Like You Stole It", although his declining health prevented him from finishing it.


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: In 2008, Szeles combined two of his passions, classic-car collecting and drive-in movie theaters, to open the "Amazing Underground", a members-only indoor drive-in located within his warehouse facilities in Las Vegas.


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: In 2011, Szeles was performing regular shows in Las Vegas at the Harmon Theater while also taking select dates at venues across the United States and in Australia. 2011 marked Szeles' third year of performing at the Harmon Theatre and Szeles' 11th consecutive year as a full-time Las Vegas headliner. He won the "Best Comedian" award from the "Las Vegas Review-Journal", Comedian of the Year from Nevada Magazine, Top Ten Acts in Vegas (LVRJ), and was the longest-running, most successful solo comic magician in U.S. history.


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: In March 2007, it was reported that Szeles was diagnosed with "a serious heart condition". The performer's website identified the condition as cardiomyopathy and went on to assert that, due to a combination of weight loss and blood thinners, he was doing well.


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: In December 2012, Szeles ended his one-year contract with Bally's and ceased performing in Las Vegas. He had been performing in the city for 13 years. Szeles toured throughout 2013, playing The Improv comedy clubs. On June 7, 2014, he married his partner and manager Anastasia Synn. He has a stepdaughter, Haley Kenyon, from Synn's previous relationship.


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: However, his heart condition worsened, and Szeles announced that he would effectively retire, performing a final show in Toledo, Ohio, for the general public, and then for members of The Magic Castle on June 30 and July 1, 2014. On November 5, 2014, in front of a live audience on ENT Speaks, he stated that he had a year to live. However, Szeles defied his initial terminal prognosis. In 2017, he played several shows across the United States, with Synn assisting him and taking over when he became fatigued.


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: A documentary titled "The Amazing Johnathan Documentary" about his illness and return to the stage was released on Hulu in 2019.


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: A second documentary, "Always Amazing: The True Story of the Life, Death, and Return of Amazing Johnathan", was also released in 2019, on YouTube.


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: Szeles died in his sleep of heart failure at his home in Las Vegas on February 22, 2022, at the age of 63.


title: The Amazing Johnathan

text: A memorial service was held for Szeles in Las Vegas. He was humorously eulogized by Penny Wiggins (AKA Psychic Tanya), Mac King, Butthole the Clown, Billy the Mime, Criss Angel, Tape Face, and Harrison Greenbaum.


title: Memento Mori (short story)

text: "Memento Mori" is a short story written by Jonathan Nolan and published in the March 2001 edition of "Esquire" magazine. It was the basis for the film "Memento" directed by his brother Christopher Nolan. The name refers to "memento mori", a symbolic or artistic expression of the Latin phrase meaning "remember that you [have to] die."


title: Memento Mori (short story)

text: In the story, a man named Earl has anterograde amnesia. Because of his inability to remember things for more than a few minutes, he uses notes and tattoos to keep track of new information. Earl owes his condition to an attack against him and his wife by an unknown assailant. His wife was raped and killed while Earl suffered severe head injuries, resulting in his amnesia. The story jumps between two timeframes. The first timeframe finds Earl confined to a mental institution, which he learns through written notes he had left himself. The second timeframe finds Earl on the run after he escapes from the mental institution. He learns this through a third-person narrative. Earl's goal after escaping the institution is to find the man who murdered his wife and get revenge.


title: Memento Mori (short story)

text: Jonathan got the idea for the story from his general psychology class at Georgetown University. He pitched the idea to his brother Christopher during a cross-country road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. His brother responded to the idea, and encouraged him to write a first draft. After Jonathan returned to Washington, D.C., to finish college, he sent his brother a draft two months later, and Christopher set to work on a screenplay, while Jonathan began finishing the short story.


title: Memento Mori (short story)

text: Christopher eventually made the feature film "Memento", starring Guy Pearce, which was inspired by Jonathan's story, although radically different. For example, in the short story, Earl is confined to a mental institution and the main character in the movie is not. Also, in the movie, the protagonist's attempt to seek revenge on his wife's killer is manipulated by other characters. In the short story, other characters, such as doctors, are only briefly mentioned. Jonathan's short story was eventually published in "Esquire" magazine, although it can also be found in James Mottram's making-of book about the film, "The Making of Memento", and as a hidden special feature on the film's special edition DVD.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Several planned missions of the Apollo crewed Moon landing program of the 1960s and 1970s were canceled for a variety of reasons, including changes in technical direction, the Apollo 1 fire, hardware delays, and budget limitations. After the landing by Apollo 12, Apollo 20, which would have been the final crewed mission to the Moon, was canceled to allow Skylab to launch as a "dry workshop" (assembled on the ground in an unused S-IVB Saturn IB second stage). The next two missions, Apollos 18 and 19, were later canceled after the Apollo 13 incident and further budget cuts. Two Skylab missions also ended up being canceled. Two complete Saturn V rockets remained unused and were put on display in the United States.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: In September 1962, NASA planned to make four crewed low-Earth-orbital test flights of partially equipped Block I Command/Service Modules (CSM) using the Saturn I launch vehicle, designated SA-11 through SA-14, in 1965 and 1966. However, the limited payload capacity of the Saturn I compared to the uprated Saturn IB would have severely limited the systems carried, and thus the testing value of these flights. Therefore, NASA canceled these flights in October 1963, and replaced them with two crewed Saturn IB missions, designated AS-204 and AS-205. These would be followed by the first uncrewed flight of the Lunar Module (LM) on AS-206, then the third crewed mission, designated AS-207/208, would use AS-207 to launch the crew in an improved Block II CSM, which would rendezvous and dock with the LM launched uncrewed on AS-208.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: The crew selected on March 21, 1966, for AS-204 consisted of Command Pilot Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger Chaffee, who named their mission Apollo 1. AS-205 was to be named Apollo 2, and AS-207/208 would be Apollo 3. The AS-205 crew were Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham. However, AS-205 was later deemed unnecessary and officially canceled on December 22, 1966.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Schirra's crew then became the backup for Grissom's crew, and the crewed LM mission became the second crewed mission, redesignated AS-205/208 and crewed by the original backup for Grissom's crew: Command Pilot Jim McDivitt, CSM Pilot David Scott and LM Pilot Rusty Schweickart. They immediately began their training in the first Block II Command Module CM-101, as Grissom's crew were preparing for a February 1967 launch.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Then, on January 27, 1967, Grissom, White, and Chaffee were killed in a flash fire in their spacecraft cabin during a test on the launch pad, interrupting the program for 21 months to identify and fix the root causes of numerous safety problems. This forced cancellation of plans to fly any crewed Block I spacecraft, and effectively forced a "reboot" of all crewed mission plans.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: In September 1967, NASA created a list of remaining mission types necessary to achieve the first crewed lunar landing, each designated by a letter A through G, where G would be the first crewed landing. This list was later extended through letter J to cover follow-on lunar missions.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Two uncrewed Saturn V test launches (A missions) were flown as Apollo 4 and Apollo 6. A third test was planned but canceled as unnecessary.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: The first development Lunar Module, LM-1 was flown uncrewed (B mission) as Apollo 5. A second uncrewed test was planned using LM-2 but was canceled as unnecessary. LM-2 was retrofitted to look like a production LM which would land men on the Moon and was donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, where it is currently on display as a simulation of the Apollo 11 first landing.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Schirra's crew would fly the C mission, first crewed CSM (Block II CSM-101, retrofitted with the cabin safety improvements) as Apollo 7 in October 1968.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: McDivitt's crew and mission were kept as the first crewed development LM flight (D mission); this was planned to be Apollo 8 in December 1968, now using a single Saturn V launch vehicle instead of two separate Saturn IB launches. The E mission was planned as an elliptical medium Earth orbit test of the operational LM with the CSM in a simulated lunar mission to an apogee of , to be commanded by Frank Borman in March 1969.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Of all the components of the Apollo system, the LM had the most technical issues. It was behind schedule and when LM-3 was shipped to the Kennedy Space Center in June 1968, over 101 separate defects were discovered. Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, which was the lead contractor for the LM predicted that the first man-rated LM, to be used for the D mission, would not be ready until at least February 1969, delaying the entire sequence.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: George Low, the manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, proposed a solution in August 1968. Since the CSM would be ready three months before the Lunar Module, they could fly a CSM-only mission in December 1968. But instead of just repeating the C mission that would fly the CSM in Earth orbit, they could send the CSM all the way to the Moon and maybe even enter into orbit. This mission was dubbed "C-Prime" (an imaginary letter between C and D). This new mission would allow NASA to practice procedures for a lunar flight that would otherwise have to wait until Apollo 10, the F mission. There were also concerns from the Central Intelligence Agency that the Soviet Union was planning their own circumlunar flight for December to upstage the Americans once again (see Zond program). McDivitt's crew—who had grown accustomed to working with LM-3 and preparing for its flight—was kept on the D mission which now became Apollo 9, while Borman's crew would fly the CSM lunar orbit mission on Apollo 8, and the E mission was canceled.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: The swap of crews was also decisive in who would be the first man to walk on the Moon. Pete Conrad was backup commander for McDivitt's crew, and by the process of crew rotation, would have been in line for commander of Apollo 11 three flights later. Neil Armstrong got this honor by virtue of being Borman's backup commander.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: NASA contracted to have 15 flight-worthy Saturn V rockets produced. Apollo 11 achieved the first landing with the sixth Saturn V, leaving nine for follow-on landings. The following landing sites were chosen for these missions, planned to occur at intervals of approximately four months through July 1972.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: The last five missions were J-class missions using the Extended Lunar Module, capable of three-day stays on the Moon and carrying the Lunar Roving Vehicle:


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: As the later missions were up to three years out, little detailed planning was made, and a variety of landing sites were given for some flights. According to "NASA OMSF, Manned Space Flight Weekly Report" dated July 28, 1969, Apollo 18 would have landed at Schröter's Valley in February 1972, Apollo 19 in the Hyginus rille region in July 1972, and Apollo 20 in Copernicus crater in December 1972.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Other proposed landing sites and schedules for the last three missions included Gassendi crater (Apollo 18, July 1973), Copernicus (Apollo 19, December 1973), and Marius Hills or Tycho crater (Apollo 20, July 1974).


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: As a number of ambitious Apollo Applications Programs were planned, it was still hoped in 1969 that further Saturn V launch vehicles could be contracted, allowing for more ambitious lunar missions.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: In the NASA report "Scientific Rationale Summaries for Apollo Candidate Lunar Exploration Landing Sites" from March 11, 1970, Apollo 18 is targeted for Copernicus, and Apollo 19 is assigned Hadley rille (the eventual landing site of Apollo 15). The Apollo 20 mission had been canceled two months before, but the report still suggested its target, Hyginus rille, possibly as an alternative Apollo 19 landing site.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Harrison Schmitt was likely to be the first scientist to the Moon on Apollo 18 or 19, with Don L. Lind the second. On January 4, 1970, NASA announced the cancellation of Apollo 20 so that its Saturn V launch rocket could be used to launch the Skylab space station as a "dry workshop" (assembled on the ground), instead of constructing it as a "wet workshop" from a spent S-IVB upper stage of a Saturn IB launch vehicle. Also, budget restrictions had limited the Saturn V production to the original 15. After NASA Deputy Administrator George M. Low announced that the final three Moon landings were rescheduled for 1973 and 1974, following the three planned Skylab missions, Chief Astronaut Deke Slayton moved Lind to Apollo Applications, stating that "with the cancellation of 20, I could see I just wasn't going to have a flight for him".


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Another lunar landing was lost in April 1970 when Apollo 13 had in-flight failure, and the Fra Mauro landing site was reassigned to Apollo 14. Then on September 2, 1970, NASA announced it was canceling the H4 and J4 missions after more budget cuts. Skylab was postponed to 1973, and the final landing schedule became:


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: In the closing days of the program, Apollo 17 LMP Schmitt aggressively lobbied for a crewed landing on the far side of the Moon, targeting the far side Tsiolkovskiy crater. Schmitt's ambitious proposal included the launch into lunar orbit of special communications satellites based on the existing TIROS satellites to allow contact with the astronauts during their powered descent and lunar surface operations. NASA administrators rejected these plans because of lack of funding and added risk.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: In August 1971, President Richard Nixon proposed to cancel all remaining lunar landings (Apollo 16 and 17). His Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Caspar Weinberger was opposed to this and persuaded Nixon to keep the remaining Moon missions, but recommended that if such cancellation did happen, it should be "on the ground that Apollo 15 was so successful in gathering needed data that we can now shift, sooner than previously expected, to the Space Shuttle, Grand Tour, NERVA, etc".


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: John Young, who flew on Apollo 10 and 16, believed that fear of losing astronauts was a reason why NASA canceled Apollo 18, 19, and 20.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Slayton was the director of Flight Crew Operations and effectively chose the crews for the flights. He did not intend to give astronauts two lunar landing commands but, according to historian Michael Cassutt, as late as the summer of 1969—when 10 landings were still scheduled—Slayton planned to give Lunar Module pilots Fred Haise, Edgar Mitchell, and James Irwin the opportunity to walk again on the Moon as commanders. During the early Apollo missions he used a rotation system of assigning a crew as backup and then, three missions later, as the prime crew; however, by the later Apollo flights, this system was used less frequently as astronauts left the program, Slayton wanted to give rookies a chance, and astronauts did not want to take backup positions that no longer could lead to prime-crew spots.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: When Apollo 18 was canceled, Schmitt was moved up to Apollo 17 under pressure from the scientific community, replacing Joe Engle. Schmitt, a geologist, became the only professional scientist and the twelfth man to walk on the Moon.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Slayton's intention for the Apollo 19 crew was the original (prior to cancellation) Apollo 16 backup crew:


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: For Apollo 20 there is even more uncertainty. Based on normal crew rotation, the crew would likely have been:


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: One of the surplus CSMs, CSM-119, was modified to carry two additional crew and kept on standby for a potential rescue mission in case of issues on-board Skylab. During Skylab 3, a malfunction on the Apollo CSM docked to the station caused fears that the crew would not be able to return safely. CSM-119 was wheeled out to Launch Complex 39B on Saturn IB SA-209 during the mission and prepared for a possible launch. Two astronauts, Brand (commander) and Lind (Command Module pilot), would have flown the CSM to retrieve the three crew members. The problem was fixed without requiring a rescue flight. CSM-119 was returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building and remained on standby until the Skylab program ended.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Skylab 5 would have been a short 20-day mission to conduct more scientific experiments and boost Skylab into a higher orbit. Brand, Lind, and William B. Lenoir (science pilot) would have been the crew.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Two complete Saturn V rockets went unused after the Apollo program, SA-514 and SA-515, as well as the third stage of the SA-513. SA-513 was the launch vehicle originally planned for the Apollo 18 mission, which was instead used (without its third stage) to launch Skylab.


title: Canceled Apollo missions

text: Several Saturn IBs also remained unused and in storage at the end of the Apollo program. Three (SA-206, SA-207 and SA-208) were used for the crewed launches of the Skylab program, and SA-210 was used for the crewed ASTP flight. The second stage of SA-212 was rebuilt as the launched Skylab. Of the remaining vehicles, two are on display, and the rest were scrapped. Any surplus Rocketdyne H-1 first stage engines were rebranded as the Rocketdyne RS-27 engine for usage on active launch vehicles of the time, such as those of the Delta 2000 Series in 1974.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: Rebekah West Harkness (née Semple West; April 17, 1915June 17, 1982) also known as Betty Harkness, was an American composer, socialite, sculptor, dance patron, and philanthropist who founded the Harkness Ballet. In 1947, she married William Hale "Bill" Harkness, an attorney and heir to the Standard Oil fortune of William L. Harkness, which made her one of the wealthiest women in America. In addition to her marriage, Harkness also became well known for her personal eccentricities, as well as her contributions to the arts. She is the inspiration behind Taylor Swift's 2020 song "The Last Great American Dynasty".


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: Rebekah Semple West was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1915. She was the second daughter of three children to Allen Tarwater West, a stockbroker and co-founder of G. H. Walker & Co., and Rebekah Cook (née Semple) West. Her grandfather founded the St. Louis Union Trust Company. Neither parent was involved in the upbringing of the children, leaving them to be raised primarily by nannies. Harkness took up dancing and ice skating to lose weight and was highly disciplined in both endeavors. She attended the Rossman School and John Burroughs School in St. Louis, and then the Fermata School for Girls in Aiken, South Carolina, which she graduated from in 1932. Harkness was friends with a young Potter Stewart, whom she affectionately called "Potsie," and their relationship was written about by her biographer Craig Unger.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: After graduating in 1932, she and a group of female friends formed the Bitch Pack, a sub-culture of local debutantes who enjoyed subverting society events, including lacing punchbowls with mineral oil and performing stripteases on banquet tables. Harkness would also continue to study dance and piano, and studied ballet with Victoria Cassau, who was a student of Anna Pavlova.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: In the 1960s, Harkness became well known as a philanthropist and patron of the arts. Through the Rebekah Harkness Foundation, Harkness sponsored Jerome Robbins and the Joffrey Ballet. When the Joffrey Ballet refused to rename their company in Harkness' honor, she withdrew funding and hired most of the Joffrey dancers to her new company, the Harkness Ballet. In addition to founding the Harkness Ballet, Harkness launched a ballet school and home for the company called Harkness House, as well as a refurbished 1,250-seat theater, which presented the Harkness Ballet and other dance companies to New York audiences. Through the William Hale Harkness Foundation, she sponsored construction of a medical research building at the New York Hospital and supported a number of medical research projects.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: Later in life, she studied in Fontainebleau, France, with Nadia Boulanger, at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva, and the Mannes College of Music, New York. She also studied orchestration with Lee Hoiby and received a Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire, in 1968.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: Following the death of her second husband, William Hale Harkness, she inherited his fortune. She soon became the owner of a vast number of properties, and indulged in many luxuries. Harkness' passions for dance and music followed her into adulthood. She used much of her inheritance to become a patron of the ballet, as well as to compose music. Her 1955 tone poem, Safari Suite, was performed at Carnegie Hall, and in 1957 she released an album titled Music With a Heartbeat. Harkness also surrounded herself with other well-known creatives, like yogi B.K.S. Iyengar and Salvador Dalí, who would design her urn upon her death.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: Tabloids became fascinated with Harkness as she was known for being an eccentric, who filled her pool with Dom Pérignon and dyed her neighbor's cat green following an argument.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: A philanthropist, Harkness supported the Joffrey Ballet for years, as well as the Harkness Ballet Foundation and the William Hale Harkness Foundation. Harkness later donated $2 million to the William Hale Harkness Medical Research Building at the New York Hospital and supported medical research on Parkinson's disease.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: On June 10, 1939, Harkness married Dickson W. Pierce, the son of Thomas M. Pierce. Before their divorce in 1946, they had two children; Allen Pierce (b. 1940) and Anne Terry Pierce (b. 1944). Following the divorce, Harkness gained custody of both children. Allen shot and killed a man in a brawl and was charged with second-degree murder, the charge eventually being reduced to manslaughter, with Allen serving a total of eight years. Anne married Anthony McBride in 1966 and had a severely brain-damaged baby who died at age 10.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: On October 1, 1947, Harkness married William Hale Harkness (1900–1954), the son of William Lamon Harkness, both Standard Oil heirs. Before his death in August 1954, they had one child together; Edith Hale Harkness (1948–1982). Edith married Kenneth Perry McKinnon in 1971, and was in and out of mental institutions before eventually completing suicide after many attempts, just months following her mother's death.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: In 1961, Harkness married Ben Kean (c. 1912–1993), a physician who was a professor of Tropical Medicine at the Cornell Medical College. They divorced in 1965.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: In 1974, she married Niels H. Lauersen, another physician, who was 20 years her junior. They divorced in 1977.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: Harkness died of stomach cancer in her Manhattan home on June 17, 1982 at the age of 67. During her final days, Harkness began to reconcile with her children. Following her death, a memorial was held at the family home before Harkness was cremated, and her ashes were placed in a $250,000 spinning urn designed by Salvador Dalí, then placed in the Harkness Mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: Harkness' "Holiday House" in Watch Hill, Rhode Island was acquired in 2013 by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. In 2020, Swift wrote the song "The Last Great American Dynasty" for her eighth studio album "Folklore" (2020), in which she tells Harkness' life story and draws parallels between Harkness’ highly publicized life and her own.


title: Rebekah Harkness

text: "An American Ballet Story" is an upcoming documentary film directed by Leslie Strait and sponsored by the International Documentary Association. It explores the Harkness' legacy and her company, Harkness Ballet.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Sir Frederick Grant Banting (November 14, 1891 – February 21, 1941) was a Canadian medical scientist, physician, painter, and Nobel laureate noted as the co-discoverer of insulin and its therapeutic potential.


title: Frederick Banting

text: In 1923, Banting and John Macleod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Banting shared the honours and award money with his colleague, Charles Best. That same year, the government of Canada granted Banting a lifetime annuity to continue his work. As to this day, Frederick Banting, who received the Nobel Prize at age 32, remains the youngest Nobel laureate for Physiology/Medicine.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Frederick Banting was born on November 14, 1891, in a farmhouse near Alliston, Ontario. The youngest of five children of William Thompson Banting and Margaret Grant, he attended public high school in Alliston. In 1910, he started at Victoria College, part of the University of Toronto, in the General Arts program. After failing his first year, he petitioned to join the medical program in 1912 and was accepted. He began medical school in September 1912.


title: Frederick Banting

text: In 1914, he attempted to enter the army on August 16, and then again in October, but was refused due to poor eyesight. Banting successfully joined the army in 1915 and spent the summer training before returning to school. His class was fast-tracked to get more doctors into the war and so he graduated in December 1916 and reported for military duty the next day. He was wounded at the Battle of Cambrai in 1918. Despite his injuries, he helped other wounded men for sixteen hours, until another doctor told him to stop. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1919, for heroism. In 1918, he was awarded the license to practise medicine, surgery, and midwifery by the Royal College of Physicians of London.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Banting returned to Canada after the war and went to Toronto to complete his surgical training. He studied orthopedic medicine and, in 1919–1920, was Resident Surgeon at The Hospital for Sick Children. Banting was unable to gain a place on the hospital staff and so he decided to move to London, Ontario to set up a medical practice. From July 1920 to May 1921, he continued his general practice, while teaching orthopedics and anthropology part-time at the University of Western Ontario in London because his medical practice had not been particularly successful. From 1921 to 1922 he lectured in pharmacology at the University of Toronto. He received his M.D. degree in 1922, and was also awarded a gold medal.


title: Frederick Banting

text: An article he read about the pancreas piqued Banting's interest in diabetes. Banting had to give a talk on the pancreas to one of his classes at the University of Western Ontario on November 1, 1920, and he was therefore reading reports that other scientists had written. Research by Naunyn, Minkowski, Opie, Sharpey-Schafer, and others suggested that diabetes resulted from a lack of a protein hormone secreted by the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. Schafer had named this putative hormone "insulin". The hormone was thought to control the metabolism of sugar; its lack led to an increase of sugar in the blood which was then excreted in urine. Attempts to extract insulin from ground-up pancreas cells were unsuccessful, likely because of the destruction of the insulin by the proteolysis enzyme of the pancreas. The challenge was to find a way to extract insulin from the pancreas prior to its destruction.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Moses Barron published an article in 1920 which described experimental closure of the pancreatic duct by ligature; this further influenced Banting's thinking. The procedure caused deterioration of the cells of the pancreas that secrete trypsin which breaks down insulin, but it left the islets of Langerhans intact. Banting realized that this procedure would destroy the trypsin-secreting cells but not the insulin. Once the trypsin-secreting cells had died, insulin could be extracted from the islets of Langerhans. Banting discussed this approach with J. J. R. Macleod, professor of physiology at the University of Toronto. Macleod provided experimental facilities and the assistance of one of his students, Charles Best. Banting and Best, with the assistance of biochemist James Collip, began the production of insulin by this means.


title: Frederick Banting

text: As the experiments proceeded, the required quantities could no longer be obtained by performing surgery on living dogs. In November 1921, Banting hit upon the idea of obtaining insulin from the fetal pancreas. He removed the pancreases from fetal calves at a William Davies slaughterhouse and found the extracts to be just as potent as those extracted from the dog pancreases. By December 1921, he had also succeeded in extracting insulin from the adult pancreas. Pork and beef would remain the primary commercial sources of insulin until they were replaced by genetically-engineered bacteria in the late 20th century. On January 11, 1922, the first ever injection of insulin was given to 14-year-old Canadian Leonard Thompson at Toronto General Hospital. In spring of 1922, Banting established a private practice in Toronto and began to treat diabetic patients. His first American patient was Elizabeth Hughes Gossett, daughter of U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Banting and Macleod were jointly awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Banting split his half of the Prize money with Best, and Macleod split the other half of the Prize money with James Collip.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Banting was appointed Senior Demonstrator in Medicine at the University of Toronto in 1922. Next year he was elected to the new Banting and Best Chair of Medical Research, endowed by the Legislature of the Province of Ontario. He also served as Honorary Consulting Physician to the Toronto General, the Hospital for Sick Children, and the Toronto Western Hospital. At the Banting and Best Institute, he focused his research on silicosis, cancer, and the mechanisms of drowning.


title: Frederick Banting

text: In 1938, Banting's interest in aviation medicine resulted in his participation with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in research concerning the physiological problems encountered by pilots operating high-altitude combat aircraft. Banting headed the RCAF's Number 1 Clinical Investigation Unit (CIU), which was housed in a secret facility on the grounds of the former Eglinton Hunt Club in Toronto.


title: Frederick Banting

text: During the Second World War he investigated the problems of aviators, such as "blackout" (syncope). He also helped Wilbur Franks with the invention of the G-suit to stop pilots from blacking out when they were subjected to g-forces while turning or diving. Another of Banting's projects during the Second World War involved using and treating mustard gas burns. Banting even tested the gas and antidotes on himself to see if they were effective.


title: Frederick Banting

text: During his 1927 Arctic trip with A. Y. Jackson, Banting realized that crew or passengers on board the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) paddle wheeler SS "Distributor" were responsible for spreading the influenza virus down the Slave River and Mackenzie River, a virus that had over the summer and autumn spread territory-wide, devastating the aboriginal population of the north. Returning from the trip, Banting gave an interview in Montreal with a "Toronto Star" reporter under the agreement that his statements on HBC would remain off the record. The conversation was nonetheless published in the "Toronto Star" and rapidly reached a wide audience across Europe and Australia. Banting was angry at the leak, having promised the Department of the Interior not to make any statements to the press prior to clearing them.


title: Frederick Banting

text: The article noted that Banting had given the journalist C. R. Greenaway repeated instances of how the fox fur trade always favoured the company: "For over $100,000 of fox skins, he estimated that the Eskimos had not received $5,000 worth of goods." He traced this treatment to health, consistent with reports made in previous years by RCMP officers, suggesting that "the result was a diet of 'flour, biscuits, tea and tobacco,' with the skins that once were used for clothing traded merely for 'cheap whiteman's goods.


title: Frederick Banting

text: The fur trade commissioner for the Hudson's Bay Company called Banting's remarks "false and slanderous", and a month later, the governor and general manager of HBC met Banting at the King Edward Hotel to demand a retraction. Banting stated that the reporter had betrayed his confidence, but did not retract his statement and reaffirmed that HBC was responsible for the death of indigenous residents by supplying the wrong kind of food and introducing diseases into the Arctic. As A. Y. Jackson notes in his memoir, since neither the governor nor the general manager had been to the Arctic, the meeting ended with them asking Banting's advice on what HBC ought to do: "He gave them some good advice and later he received a card at Christmas with the Governor's best wishes."


title: Frederick Banting

text: Banting also maintained this position in his report to the Department of the Interior:He noted that "infant mortality was high because of the undernourishment of the mother before birth"; that "white man’s food leads to decay of native teeth"; that "tuberculosis has commenced. Saw several cases at Godhavn, Etah, Port Burwell, Arctic Bay"; that "an epidemic resembling influenza killed a considerable proportion of population at Port Burwell"; and that "the gravest danger faces the Eskimo in his transfer from a race-long hunter to a dependent trapper. White flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco do not provide sufficient fuel to warm and nourish him." Furthermore, he discouraged the establishment of an Arctic hospital. The "proposed hospital at Pangnirtung would be a waste of money, as it could be reached by only a few natives." Banting's report contrasted starkly with the bland descriptions provided by the ship's physician, F. H. Stringer.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Banting married twice. His first marriage was to Marion Robertson in 1924; they had one child, William (1929–1998). They divorced in 1932 and Banting married Henrietta Ball in 1937.


title: Frederick Banting

text: In February 1941, Banting died of wounds and exposure following the crash of a Lockheed L-14 Super Electra/Hudson in which he was a passenger, in Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland. After departing from Gander, Newfoundland, both of the plane's engines failed. The navigator and co-pilot died instantly, but Banting and the pilot, Captain Joseph Mackey, survived the initial impact. According to Mackey, the sole survivor, Banting died from his injuries the next day. Banting was "en route" to England to conduct operational tests on the Franks flying suit developed by his colleague Wilbur Franks.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Banting developed an interest in painting beginning around 1921 while he was in London, Ontario. Some of his first pieces were done on the back of the cardboard in which his shirts were packed by the dry-cleaners. He became friends with the Group of Seven artists A. Y. Jackson and Lawren Harris, fellow members of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, sharing their love of the rugged Canadian landscape. Writing on Banting, Jackson recalls that "He did not want to make a business of art and would tell [would-be purchasers] to go buy a Lismer or something else and then he would exchange it for one of his." An obituary said, "A member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, he was one of Canada's most accomplished amateur painters."


title: Frederick Banting

text: In 1927, he made a sketching trip with Jackson to the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Later that year, they travelled to RCMP outposts in the Arctic on the Canadian government supply ship "Beothic". The sketches, done both in oils on birch panels and in pen and ink, were named after the places he visited: Craig Harbour, Ellesmere Island; Pond Inlet, Baylot Island; Eskimo tents at Etach; others were untitled. A collection of Banting’s paintings was acquired by and donated to the Owens Art Gallery at Mount Allison University in 1928. Jackson and Banting also made painting expeditions to Great Slave Lake, Walsh Lake (Northwest Territories), Georgian Bay, French River and the Sudbury District.


title: Frederick Banting

text: At the time of his death in 1941, Banting was one of Canada's best-known amateur painters. Dennis Reid, the former director of Collections and Research at the Art Gallery of Ontario, views Banting's works as very much "part of the Jackson story".


title: Frederick Banting

text: In 1994, Banting was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was nominated as one of the top 10 "Greatest Canadians" by viewers of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. When the final votes were counted, Banting finished fourth behind Tommy Douglas, Terry Fox and Pierre Trudeau.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Banting's namesake, the Banting Research Foundation, was created in 1925 and provides funding to support health and biomedical research in Canada.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Banting's name is immortalized in the yearly Banting Lectures, given by an expert in diabetes, and by the creation of the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research of the University of Toronto; Sir Frederick G Banting Research Centre located on Sir Frederick Banting Driveway in the Tunney's Pasture complex, Ottawa, ON; Banting Memorial High School in Alliston, ON; Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School in London, ON; Sir Frederick Banting Alternative Program Site in Ottawa, ON; Frederick Banting Elementary School in Montréal-Nord QC and École Banting Middle School in Coquitlam, BC.


title: Frederick Banting

text: The "Major Sir Frederick Banting, MC, RCAMC Award for Military Health Research", sponsored by the True Patriot Love Foundation, is awarded annually by the Surgeon General to the researcher whose work presented at the annual Military and Veterans Health Research Forum is deemed to contribute most to military health. It was first awarded in 2011 in the presence of several Banting descendants.


title: Frederick Banting

text: The "Canadian Forces Major Sir Frederick Banting Term Chair in Military Trauma Research" at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre was established in 2012. The first Chair holder is Colonel Homer Tien, Medical Director of Sunnybrook's Tory Regional Trauma Centre and Senior Specialist and Trauma Adviser to the Surgeon General.


title: Frederick Banting

text: The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is administered by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The fellowship provided up to two years of funding at $70,000 per year to researchers in health, natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Banting House, his former home located in London, Ontario, was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1997. The Banting Interpretation Centre in Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador is a museum named after him which focuses on the circumstances surrounding the 1941 plane crash which claimed his life. The crater Banting on the Moon is also named after him for his contributions to medicine.


title: Frederick Banting

text: During the voting for "Greatest Canadians" in late 2003, controversy rose over the future use of the Banting family farm in New Tecumseth which had been left to the Ontario Historical Society by Banting's late nephew, Edward, in 1998. The dispute centred on the future use of the 40 ha (100 acre) property and its buildings. In a year-long negotiation, assisted by a provincially appointed facilitator, the Town of New Tecumseth offered $1 million to the Ontario Historical Society (OHS). The town intended to turn the property over to the Sir Frederick Banting Legacy Foundation for preservation of the property and buildings, and the Legacy Foundation planned to erect a Camp for Diabetic Youths. The day after the November 22, 2006, deadline for the OHS to sign the agreement, the OHS announced that it had sold the property for housing development to Solmar Development for more than $2 million.


title: Frederick Banting

text: The Town of New Tecumseth announced it would designate the property under the Ontario Heritage Act. This would prevent its commercial development and obligate the owner to maintain it properly. OHS objected. The Ontario Conservation Review Board heard arguments for and against designation in September 2007 and recommended designation of the entire property in October. The Town officially passed the designation by-law on November 12, 2007.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Banting's artwork has gained attention in the art community; A painting of his called "St. Tîte des Cap" sold for Can$30,000 including buyer's premium at a Canadian art auction in Toronto.


title: Frederick Banting

text: He and his insulin discovery have also been depicted in various media formats, including comic books, the biography by Michael Bliss, and on television. The National Film Board of Canada produced a short film in 1958, "The Quest". The 1988 television movie "Glory Enough for All" depicted the search for insulin by Banting and Best, with R. H. Thomson starring as Banting. Banting is also portrayed by Jason Priestley boarding his fatal flight in the 2006 historical drama "Above and Beyond".


title: Frederick Banting

text: Prior to the award of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1923—which he shared with Macleod—he received the Reeve Prize of the University of Toronto (1922). In 1923, the Canadian Parliament granted him a Life Annuity of $7,500. Following the Banting's receipt of the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh in 1927, Banting gave the 1928 Cameron Lecture in Edinburgh. He was a member of numerous medical academies and societies in Canada and abroad, including the British and American Physiological Societies, and the American Pharmacological Society. In 1934, he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) King George V and became an active Vice-President of the Diabetic Association (now Diabetes UK). In May 1935 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 2004, Banting was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.


title: Frederick Banting

text: A "Flame of Hope" was lit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1989 as a tribute to Dr. Frederick Grant Banting and all the people that have lost their lives to diabetes. The flame will remain lit until there is a cure for diabetes. When a cure is found, the flame will be extinguished by the researchers who discover the cure. The flame is located at Sir Frederick Banting Square in London, Ontario, Canada beside the Banting House National Historic Site of Canada.


title: Frederick Banting

text: A time capsule was buried in the Sir Frederick Banting Square in 1991 to honour the 100th anniversary of Sir Frederick Banting's birth. It was buried by the International Diabetes Federation youth representatives and Governor General of Canada Ray Hnatyshyn. It will be exhumed if a cure for diabetes is found.


title: Frederick Banting

text: Since 1941, the American Diabetes Association confers Banting Medals for those with long-term contribution to diabetes research and treatment. In 1991, International Diabetes Federation and World Health Organization (WHO) made his birthday the World Diabetes Day. On November 14, 2016, Google celebrated his 125th birthday with a Google Doodle. 2021 marks the centenary of Dr. Banting’s co-discovery of insulin at the University of Toronto. Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp.


title: Danish West Indies

text: The Danish West Indies () or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with ; Saint John () with ; and Saint Croix with . The islands have belonged to the United States since they were purchased in 1917. Water Island was part of the Danish West Indies until 1905, when the Danish state sold it to the East Asiatic Company, a private shipping company.


title: Danish West Indies

text: in 1672 and St. John in 1718. In 1733, Saint Croix was purchased from the French West India Company. When the Danish company went bankrupt in 1754, the King of Denmark–Norway assumed direct control of the three islands. Britain occupied the Danish West Indies in 1801–02 and 1807–15 during the Napoleonic Wars.


title: Danish West Indies

text: Danish colonizers in the West Indies aimed to exploit the profitable triangular trade, involving the export of firearms and other manufactured goods to Africa in exchange for slaves, who were then transported to the Caribbean to work the sugar plantations.


title: Danish West Indies

text: Caribbean colonies, in turn, exported sugar, rum and molasses to Denmark. The economy of the Danish West Indies depended on slavery. After a rebellion, slavery was officially abolished in 1848, leading to the near economic collapse of the plantations.


title: Danish West Indies

text: In 1852, the Danish parliament first debated the sale of the increasingly unprofitable colony. Denmark tried several times to sell or exchange the Danish West Indies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: to the United States and to the German Empire, respectively. The islands were eventually sold for 25 million dollars to the United States, which took over the administration on 31 March 1917, renaming the islands the United States Virgin Islands.


title: Danish West Indies

text: Merchants in Copenhagen asked King Christian IV for permission to establish a West Indian trading company in 1622, but, by the time an eight-year monopoly on trade with the West Indies, Virginia, Brazil and Guinea was granted on 25 January 1625, the failure of the Danish East India and Iceland Companies and the beginning of Danish involvement in the Thirty Years' War dried up any interest in the idea. Prince Frederick organized a trading mission to Barbados in 1647 under Gabriel Gomez and the de Casseres brothers, but it and a 1651 expedition of two ships were unsuccessful. It was not until Erik Smit's private 1652 expedition aboard the "Fortuna" was successful that interest in the West Indies' trade grew into an interest in the creation of a new Danish colony.


title: Danish West Indies

text: Smit's 1653 expedition and a separate expedition of five ships were quite successful, but Smit's third expedition found his two vessels captured for a loss of 32,000 rigsdaler. Two years later, a Danish flotilla was destroyed by a hurricane in August. Smit returned from his fourth expedition in 1663 and formally proposed the settlement of St. Thomas to the king in April 1665. After only three weeks' deliberation, the scheme was approved and Smit was named governor. Settlers departed aboard the "Eendragt" on 1 July, but the expedition was ill-starred: The ship hit two large storms and suffered from fire before reaching its destination, and then it was raided by English privateers prosecuting the Second Anglo-Dutch War, in which Denmark was allied with the Netherlands. Smit died of illness, and a second band of privateers stole the ship and used it to trade with neighboring islands. Following a hurricane and a renewed outbreak of disease, the colony collapsed, with the English departing for the nearby French colony on Saint Croix, the Danes fleeing to Saint Christopher, and the Dutch assisting their countrymen on Ter Tholen in stealing everything of value, particularly the remaining Danish guns and ammunition.