title: Bad Choice Road

text: Mike reports to Gus Fring, who realizes Juan Bolsa arranged the attack on Jimmy to protect Gus's business. Mike tells Gus that Nacho Varga wants to stop working as Gus's informant, but Gus refuses to release a valuable asset.


title: Bad Choice Road

text: Jimmy ends a day of convalescence early to deal with a client. Kim tells him she knows he is lying about his desert trip and will be ready to listen when he decides to tell the truth. Kim quits Schweikart and Cokely, handing over the Mesa Verde account and keeping her "pro bono" clients. As she departs, she takes the bottle stopper she previously kept as a souvenir.


title: Bad Choice Road

text: Jimmy tells Mike he is experiencing post-traumatic stress. Mike tells Jimmy it will pass with time. When Jimmy questions the events that brought them to the desert, Mike says they both made choices, good and bad, so they have to live with the consequences.


title: Bad Choice Road

text: Lalo says goodbye to Hector Salamanca and has Nacho bring him to the pickup site where Jimmy received Lalo's bail money. Instead of waiting for the Cousins to arrive, Lalo searches for Jimmy's car. After finding it, he tells Nacho to drive back to Albuquerque.


title: Bad Choice Road

text: Jimmy and Kim argue about Kim quitting S&C. Mike calls Jimmy to warn him of Lalo's imminent arrival, and tells him to leave his phone on but hidden so Mike can listen. As Lalo questions Jimmy, Mike keeps a sniper rifle trained on Lalo from a nearby roof. Lalo has Jimmy repeat the story of his desert walk, then reveals he found Jimmy's car, which is riddled with bullets. Kim tells Lalo that passersby probably shot at the car for fun and berates him for not trusting Jimmy. Lalo seems satisfied and departs. He tells Nacho to drive to Mexico, but not the original pickup site.


title: Bad Choice Road

text: Paying homage to the season four episode "Something Stupid", the episode begins with a split screen montage involving Jimmy and Kim, set to an instrumental version of Lola Marsh's "Somethin' Stupid" playing in the background. The final scene, with Lalo arriving at Kim and Jimmy's apartment, ran for sixteen minutes without commercial breaks in the original broadcast in order to keep the dramatic tension. Other scenes in the episode were made shorter to allow for additional ad space, which enabled the ad-free final scene.


title: Bad Choice Road

text: Alan Sepinwall of "Rolling Stone" observed that the film that Kim and Jimmy try to watch before Jimmy is called into court is "His Girl Friday", which Sepinwall describes as "about a woman who keeps returning to a relationship she knows is deeply unhealthy for her, with a man whose charm and wild professional lifestyle she ultimately can’t resist."


title: Bad Choice Road

text: "Bad Choice Road" received universal acclaim from critics, with many calling it one of the best episodes of the series. It has a 100% Certified Fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes, with an average 9.17 out of 10 rating from 13 reviews.


title: Bad Choice Road

text: The final scene, the confrontation between Lalo, Jimmy, and Kim, was highly regarded by critics as one of the best scenes of the series, attributing its framing to the scriptwriter and director Thomas Schnauz, and to performances by the lead actors particularly for Rhea Seehorn as Kim and Tony Dalton as Lalo. Sepinwall of "Rolling Stone" called the scene a "knockout performance" for Seehorn, and the scene itself critical to the show as "the two halves of "Better Call Saul" itself, long held separate, finally merge into one thrilling, terrifying story". David Segal of "The New York Times" called the final scene "a nonviolent, psychologically fraught ending to an episode that is low on action and very interior." Steve Greene of "IndieWire" described the scene as an "impeccably braided sequence, with three threads woven together at a point when a blade threatens to slice each one of them to bits. For a sequence with so little movement, there's a certain choreography at work here that goes beyond simple blocking. Every inch matters when there's a sniper sight trained on the man with a gun in the living room."


title: Bad Choice Road

text: For the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, Thomas Schnauz received a nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for this episode.


title: Pokémon the Series: XYZ

text: Pokémon the Series: XYZ (known in Japan as is the nineteenth season of the "Pokémon" anime series, and the third and final season of Pokémon the Series: XY, known in Japan as Pocket Monsters: XY&Z (ポケットモンスター エックスワイゼット, "Poketto Monsutā Ekkusu Wai Zetto"). Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie continue their adventures in the Kalos region, where they encounter the sinister Team Flare and meet the enigmatic Mega Evolution Trainer, Alain. They delve into the mysteries surrounding the unique transformation of Ash's Greninja and face a prophecy concerning the destruction of Kalos with the involvement of the Legendary Pokémon Zygarde.


title: Pokémon the Series: XYZ

text: The season originally aired in Japan from October 29, 2015, to November 10, 2016, on TV Tokyo, and in the United States from February 20, 2016, to January 28, 2017, on Cartoon Network.


title: Pokémon the Series: XYZ

text: The Japanese opening song is "XY&Z" by Satoshi / Ash Ketchum (Rika Matsumoto). The Japanese ending songs are "Puni-chan's Song" (プニちゃんのうた, Puni-chan no Uta) by Eureka / Bonnie (Mariya Ise), "Team Rocket's Team Song" (ロケット団団歌, Roketto-dan dan Uta) by Team Rocket (Musashi / Jessie (Megumi Hayashibara), Kojiro / James (Shin-ichiro Miki), Nyarth / Meowth (Inuka Inuyama) and Sonansu / Wobbuffet (Yūji Ueda)), "DreamDream (Serena Ver.)" (ドリドリ セレナ Ver., DoriDori Serena Ver.) by Serena (Mayuki Makiguchi), "Brilliantly (Clemont ver.)" (キラキラ シトロンver., KiraKira Citron ver.) by Citron / Clemont (Yuki Kaji), "Pikachu's Song" (ピカチュウのうた, Pikachū no Uta) by Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani), "Meowth's Ballad" (ニャースのバラード, Nyāsu no Barādo) by Nyarth / Meowth (Inuko Inuyama), and the English opening song is "Stand Tall" by Ben Dixon and The Sad Truth. Its instrumental version serves as the ending theme.


title: Pokémon the Series: XYZ

text: Viz Media and Warner Home Video have released the series in the United States on two three-disc volume sets that contain 24 episodes each.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,348-foot-long (411 m), three-foot-high prehistoric effigy mound located in Peebles, Ohio. The mound itself resides on the Serpent Mound crater plateau, running along the Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio. The mound is the largest serpent effigy in the world.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The Serpent Mound is believed to have been built by the Adena peoples around 320 BCE, and then either added to or repaired by the Fort Ancient peoples around 1100 CE. It was first reported through surveys by Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis, and was featured in their historic volume "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley", published in 1848 by the Smithsonian Institution.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The United States Department of Interior designated the mound as a National Historic Landmark in 1966. The mound is maintained through the Ohio History Connection, a non profit organization dedicated to preserving historical sites throughout Ohio.


title: Serpent Mound

text: Effigy mounds can be traced back throughout several civilizations. The significance of The Serpent Mound stems greatly from its size and historical relevance. Made up of three parts, The Serpent Mound extends over 1,376 feet (419 m) in length, varying from 9" to over 3' (30–100 cm) in height. The mound stands with a width varying between 20 and 25 feet based on the section.The Serpent Mound conforms to the surrounding land, as it rests on the bank of the Ohio Brush Creek. The mound itself winds back and forth for more than eight hundred feet, with its tail coiling in seven areas throughout the mound itself. The mound features a triple-coiled tail at the end of the structure, often viewed as a benchmark of the mound. Yellowish clay and ash acts as the main constituent of the mound, with layer of rocks and soil reinforcing the outer layer. The open-mouth head of the serpent itself wraps around an east facing, 120-foot (37 m)-long, hollow oval feature.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The feature is representative of an egg, with an apparent depiction of the snake consuming it. Many scholars presume that the oval is a representation of the Sun, the body of a frog, or merely the remnant of a platform. The western side of the effigy features a triangular mound approximately 31.6 feet (9.6 m) at its base and long axis, reminiscent of other serpent effigies in Canada and Scotland.


title: Serpent Mound

text: In previous years, the civilization responsible for the creation of the Serpent Mound had been highly disputed amongst archaeologists, as can be seen in the material published in 2002. Its construction was often attributed to different civilizations. Very little additional evidence, such as artifacts and burials, can be found at the site of the mound, leaving it hard for archaeologists to trace its construction back to one civilization. Archaeologists generally acknowledged that the Adena peoples (800 BCE to 100 CE) and the Fort Ancient peoples (1000 to 1750 CE) as the main contributors to the mound's creation. They argued that the Adena completed a majority of their contribution to the mound around 320 BCE, while the Fort Ancient contributed some work around 1070 CE.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The mound's lack of physical artifacts has led archaeologists to rely on radiocarbon dating to determine when the mound was created. An article published in July 2014, titled ""New Radiocarbon Dates Suggest Serpent Mound is More Than 2,000 Years Old"", provides evidence supporting the mound's creation by the Adena peoples around 300 BCE (2300 years ago). The article references the radiocarbon data that was published in October 2014 by ""The Journal of Archaeological Science"". Furthermore, these scholars argued that it was renovated around 1400 CE by Fort Ancient peoples.


title: Serpent Mound

text: In 2019, additional research was published in ""The Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology"" by Monaghan and Hermann. These scholars corroborate the 2014 research, and refine the radiocarbon dates. Monaghan and Hermann determined that the mound was built around 2,100–2,300 years ago (300-100 BCE) during the Adena period, but was subsequently rebuilt (or repaired) about 900 years ago (1100 CE) during the Fort Ancient period.


title: Serpent Mound

text: Nevertheless, archaeologist Bradley Lepper recently expressed some doubt about the connection with the Adena peoples.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The Serpent Mound at Rice Lake in Peterborough County, Ontario, Canada, dating over 2,000 years old, has also been linked with the Adena peoples.


title: Serpent Mound

text: Several groups of Paleo-Indians (13000 BCE–7000 BCE) occupied the land in Ohio prior to the Adena and Hopewell cultures. Evidence shows that numerous civilizations of Paleo-Indians occupied the land in Ohio, thriving through hunter-gatherer techniques, and ranged throughout the land. The Paleo-Indians hunted large game such as mastodon. Archaeologists have found remains of more 150 mastodons in Ohio, as well as the remains from other large game. The most complete mastodon skeleton was excavated at the Burning Tree Mastodon site.


title: Serpent Mound

text: Clovis point spear heads have been found that indicate interaction with other groups of Paleo-Indians that also hunted large game.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The Paleo Crossing site and Nobles Pond site tools, like spear-throwers, were more sophisticated. Base camps were established for winter lodging. The Glacial Kame culture, a late Archaic group, traded for sea shell and copper with other groups and were used as a sign of prestige within the group, for respected healers and hunters. The objects were buried with their owners.


title: Serpent Mound

text: Following the ancient Paleo-Indians, the Woodland Period (800 BCE–1200 CE) of the Post-Archaic Period is known for its rich ritual and artistic life and well-developed villages. The Woodland Period is well known for the emergence of earthworks and mounds, which were commonly used for burials as well. Along with hunted and gathered for their food and game, many civilizations cultivated crops such as maize, squash and beans. The Adena and Hopewell cultures flourished during the Early and Middle Woodland periods, while the population of the Woodland people expanded dramatically. Several groups of the Woodland people lived in larger villages, surrounded by defensive walls or ditches that were built for protection. Ritual and artistic endeavors waned during the Late Woodland period, as well as trading amongst other groups. Many of the earthworks and effigy mounds were built early on in this period, while these cultures lack construction of new mounds after their inception.


title: Serpent Mound

text: During the late prehistoric period (900 CE–1650 CE) the villages of civilizations such as the Adena people and the Fort Ancient people were much larger. These villages were often built on a higher ground near a river, commonly surrounded by a wooden stockade. After a long hiatus, civilizations returned to building earthworks and effigy mounds, but not as frequently as during the Woodland period.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The Adena culture consists of the pre-contact American Indian culture that lived throughout the midwest in states such as Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and most predominantly Ohio. The majority of these civilizations inhabited the Scioto River and Hocking Valleys in southern Ohio, as well as the Kanawha Valley near Charleston, West Virginia. This period is often referred to as The Early Woodland Period, ranging between 800 BCE and 1 CE The name “Adena” refers to the culture that once inhabited this land rather than a singular group or tribe. The name originates from the estate of Ohio Governor Thomas Worthington, which can be found about one and a half miles northwest of Chillicothe, Ohio. The estate itself belongs to a small town in Ohio called Ross County, which Worthington referred to as “Adena”, a Hebrew name that “was given to places for the delightfulness of their situations”. Worthington's estate was previously home to an ancient burial mound, standing 26 feet tall, hence the name "The Adena Mound".


title: Serpent Mound

text: Archaeologists attribute the creation of these civilizations to the Adena culture as a whole, though are unsure of the specific tribes that inhabited the land. The title is used out of archaeological convenience, that encompasses similarities in artifact style, architecture, and other cultural practices, allowing archaeologists to distinguish the Adena culture from other cultures in the region at different time periods. The Adena Mound site became the "type site" of the culture itself due to its exemplification of all the culture's significant features. In light of this, the site's title was later applied to the entire culture.


title: Serpent Mound

text: As were many of the tribes of the Woodland period, the Adena people were hunter-gatherers. As well as hunting large game and reaping the lands crop, the Adena people survived through domesticating various crops such as squash, sunflower, sumpweed, goosefoot, knotweed, maygrass, and tobacco. They often lived in small villages with surrounding gardens but moved frequently to follow various animal herds while planting and feeding on various types of nuts along the way. In addition to undertaking small-scale horticultural production, the Adena people are also known for their production of clay pottery, having been one of the first to cultures to bring it to Ohio. Observed through remains found at the type site, achaeologists characterize the Adena's clay pottery through its large, thick-walled vessels, resembling a modern-day bowl. Archaeologists believe that this clay pottery was used to cook ground seeds into an oatmeal-like substance.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The Adena were known for their burial practices, having buried their dead in prominent mounds throughout the midwest. Many archaeologists believe that these structures served as territorial markers for the Adena people. The mounds themselves were often accompanied by small circular earthen enclosures that many archaeologists believe were once used for rituals. The Miamisburg Mound in Montgomery County, Ohio, is home to the largest Adena burial mound in the state. Mounds such as this hosted multiple burials, characterized by the rituals performed and the funerary objects worn such as bracelets, ear spools, gorgets and other ornaments. Larger ornaments such as bones and stone tools were often worn around the neck. The deceased individual was either cremated or placed on their back in timber-lined tombs.


title: Serpent Mound

text: By 1 CE, the Adena culture began to decline and their civilizations began to evolve into what is known as The Hopewell culture. Numerous Adena groups began to build larger earthworks and effigy mounds, expanding their efforts to acquire exotic raw materials such as copper and mica. Many people of The Hopewell culture continued to follow the old ways of the Adena people. In some regions, including Southwestern Ohio, the Adena way of life persisted well into the first century CE through the efforts of these people.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The Fort Ancient Culture refers to the Native American Cultures that flourished from 1000 CE to 1750 CE, predominantly inhabiting land near the Ohio River valley. These civilizations flourished in the modern-day regions of southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, southeastern Indiana and western West Virginia. The Fort Ancient tribes are often referred to as a "sister culture" of the Mississippian culture, though can be distinguished through the time period in which they thrived and their many cultural differences. Along with their relation to the Mississippian culture, evidence suggests that the Fort Ancient Culture were not the direct descendants of the Hopewellian Culture. Despite what many believe, the tribes of the Fort Ancient Culture were not responsible for the creation of The Great Serpent Mound, though contributed to its physical appearance through maintenance around 200 CE


title: Serpent Mound

text: The name of the culture originates from the Fort Ancient archeological site. However, the Fort Ancient Site is now thought to have been built by Ohio Hopewellian people, having later been occupied later by the succeeding Fort Ancient culture. The site is located on a hill above the Little Miami River, close to Lebanon, Ohio. Despite its name, most archaeologists do not believe that Fort Ancient was used primarily as a fortress by either the Ohio Hopewell culture or the Fort Ancient Culture. Archaeologists believe that it was more likely used as a ceremonial location.


title: Serpent Mound

text: In 1996, the team of Robert V. Fletcher and Terry L. Cameron (under the supervision of the Ohio Historical Society's Bradley T. Lepper) reopened a trench created by Frederic Ward Putnam of Harvard over 100 years before. They found a few pieces of charcoal in what was believed to be an undisturbed portion of the Serpent Mound. However, bioturbation, including burrows, frost cracks, etc., can reverse the structural timeline of an earthen mound such as Serpent Mound. It can shift carbon left by a later culture on the surface to areas deep within the structure, making the earthwork appear younger.


title: Serpent Mound

text: When the team conducted carbon dating studies on the charcoal pieces, two yielded a date of ca. 1070 CE, with the third piece dating to the Late Archaic period some two thousand years earlier, specifically 2920+/-65 years BP (before the present). The third date, ca. 2900 BP, was recovered from a core sample below cultural modification level. The first two dates place the Serpent Mound within the realm of the Fort Ancient culture. The third dates the mound back to very early Adena culture or before.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The Fort Ancient people contributed to maintaining and refurbishing The Great Serpent Mound though were not responsible for its creation. The rattlesnake is significant as a symbol in the Mississippian culture, helping us to understand the significance of the mound's shape. When attempting to identify the species of snake, there is no sign or indication of a rattle.


title: Serpent Mound

text: Very few, if any, artifacts from The Fort Ancient people can be found at the site of The Great Serpent Mound. As just like the Adena people, the Fort Ancient Culture often buried artifacts in its mounds. Along with a lack of artifacts found, the Fort Ancient people were not known to bury their dead in the same manner as the Adena culture, especially in proximity to the effigy.


title: Serpent Mound

text: Another effigy mound found in Ohio, the Alligator Effigy Mound in Granville, was carbon dated to the Fort Ancient period.


title: Serpent Mound

text: Having been built around 1070 CE, many archaeologists believe that the mound's creation could have been influenced by two different astronomical events: the light from the supernova that created the Crab Nebula in the year 1054 CE and the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1066 CE The light of the supernova would have been visible for two weeks after it first reached earth, which could even be seen in broad day light. As a secondary theory, archaeologists assumed that the tail of Halley's Comet could have influenced the shape of the mound. Though the tail of the comet has always appeared as a long, straight line that does not resemble the curves of the Serpent Mound. Numerous other supernovas may have occurred over the centuries that span the possible construction dates of the effigy, though these two influences remain the most prominent theories.


title: Serpent Mound

text: The mound is located on the site of a classic astrobleme, an ancient meteorite impact structure. When attempting to understand the impact origin of this structure, the pattern of disruption of sedimentary strata has provided archaeologists with a lot of information. In the center of the structure, strata have been uplifted several hundred feet, resembling the central uplifts of lunar craters of the Copernicus. In 2003 geologists from Ohio State University and the University of Glasgow (Scotland) corroborated the meteorite impact origin of the structure at The Serpent Mound. They had previously studied core samples collected at the site in the 1970s, providing them with a background of information pertaining to the site. Further analyses of the rock core samples indicated that the impact occurred during the Permian Period, about 248 to 286 million years ago. This has led archaeologists to believe that the topographic expression of this impact or the impact crater, has been completely erased by erosion.


title: Serpent Mound

text: In 1987, Clark and Marjorie Hardman published their finding that the oval-to-head area of the serpent is aligned to the summer solstice sunset. A depiction of the serpent mound appeared in "The Century" periodical in April 1890, drawn by William Jacob Baer.


title: Serpent Mound

text: According to archaeologist Brad Lepper, Serpent Mound may be a depiction of a Dhegihan Siouan origin story of the Great Serpent "Toothy Mouth”, lord of the Beneath World, who impregnated the First Woman


title: Serpent Mound

text: In a recent 2022 Netflix documentary: Ancient Apocalypse, directed by Graham Hancock; exploring the possibility that certain ancient archeology sites are in fact much older than mainstream archeology says. Hancock explores the idea that the Great Serpent Mound was created at the end of the Last Ice Age (during the Younger Dryas period), by an advanced civilization. Hancock informs the audience that the current alignment of the mouth opening of the Great Serpent Mound in 2022 is about 2° degrees off from perfect alignment during the Summer Solstice; but informs the audience that if the Great Serpent Mound was constructed during the Younger Dryas period, it would have been a perfect alignment. Which begs the question, why would a culture go through immense work to build this effigy, for it to be slightly off. Hancock was denied entry into the Great Serpent Mound over mixed views between both parties.


title: Serpent Mound

text: "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" fascinated many across the country, including Frederic Ward Putnam of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Putnam spent much of his career lecturing and publishing on the Ohio mounds, specifically the Serpent Mound. When he visited the Midwest in 1885, he found that plowing and development were destroying many of the mounds, removing significant history of these cultures and their burial sites. In 1886, with help from a group of wealthy women in Boston, such as The Glass Flowers' patroness Mary Lee Ware, Putnam raised funds to purchase 60 acres (240,000 m) at the site of The Serpent Mound in hopes to ensure its preservation. Along with The Serpent Mound, the purchase also contained three conical mounds as well as a village site and burial place. The Serpent Mound is now listed as a "Great Wonder of the Ancient World" by "National Geographic Magazine".


title: Serpent Mound

text: The mound was originally purchased on behalf of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum. In 1900, the land and its ownership were granted to the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society (a predecessor of the present Ohio Historical Society). The Ohio Historical Society has designated the Arc of Appalachia Preserves system, a project of Highlands Sanctuary, Inc., as the managing agency of Serpent Mound from 2010 until March 2021. In March 2021, The Ohio History Connection took back active management of the site. Following an instance of vandalism in 2015, more security cameras and protective gates were added to ensure the protection of the site and surrounding area.


title: Serpent Mound

text: During excavation of The Serpent Mound archaeologists uncovered pipes, points, and earspool from the Hopewell culture as well as Gorgets and points from the Adena culture.


title: Serpent Mound

text: After raising sufficient funds, Putnam returned to the same site in 1886. He worked for four years to excavate the burial sequence contents of both The Serpent Mound and two nearby conical mounds. After completing his excavation and publishing his work, Putnam worked on restoring the mounds to their original state.


title: Serpent Mound

text: One of the conical mounds that was excavated by Putnam in 1890 yielded several artifacts of a principal burial hosted by during the period of the Adena people. Along with these findings, Putnam found and excavated nine intrusive burials in the mound through his discovery of an ash bed containing many prehistoric artifacts, north of the conical mound. After the excavation, the conical mound was reconstructed and currently stands just south of the parking lot at The Serpent Mound State Memorial.


title: Serpent Mound

text: In 2011, archaeologists took the opportunity to excavate the property prior to installation of utility lines at The Serpent Mound State Memorial. The excavations focused on three sides of the conical mound which had previously been excavated by Putnam in 1890. In addition to these concentrations of artifacts, an ashy soil horizon was excavated north of the conical mound, where archaeologists were able to uncover many prehistoric artifacts. It is believed that the ashy deposit of charcoal is the remainder of a Fort Ancient Culture ash bed. The wood charcoal from within the remnant bed was carbon dated back to the time of the Fort Ancient Culture, between the years of 1041 CE and 1211 CE Given the results found through carbon dating, burials in the conical mound dated to the Early Woodland and Fort Ancient periods, suggestive of ritual reuse of the circum mound area and ash bed.


title: Serpent Mound

text: In 1901, the Ohio Historical Society hired engineer, Clinton Cowan, to survey newly acquired lands. Cowan created a 56 by 72-inch (1,800 mm) map that depicted the outline of The Serpent Mound in relation to nearby landmarks, such as hills and rivers. Along with this, Cowan made specific geographical surveys of the area, discovering a unique astrobleme on which the mound is based. He found that the mound is at the convergence of three distinctly different soil types. Cowan's information, in conjunction with Putnam's archaeological discoveries, has been the basis for all modern investigations of The Serpent Mound. Furthermore, a digital GIS map of Ohio's Great Serpent Mound was created by Timothy A. Price and Nichole I. Stump in March 2002.


title: Serpent Mound

text: In 1967, The Ohio Historical Society opened The Serpent Mound Museum, built very close to the site of the mound. A pathway was constructed around the base of the mound, guiding visitors through and around the site. The museum features exhibits that include explanations of the effigy's form, description of the constructing of the mound and the geographical history of the area. The museum also features an exhibit on the Adena culture, which they historically credited as the creators of the mound.


title: Serpent Mound

text: Serpent Mound State Memorial is currently being operated on behalf of the Ohio Historical Society by the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System. It is a non-profit organization that specializes in the preservation and protection of native biodiversity and prehistoric aboriginal sites in southern Ohio.


title: Mark Stanley

text: Mark Robert Speight (born 29 April 1988), known professionally as Mark Stanley is an English actor. He portrayed Grenn in the HBO series "Game of Thrones". He is also known for his roles in the films "Kajaki" and "Our Kind of Traitor", and the series "Dickensian".


title: Mark Stanley

text: Stanley was born in Leeds. He attended Allerton High School and Prince Henry's Grammar School, Otley, where he began acting. He later graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2010.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In English literature, Don Juan (1819–1824), by Lord Byron, is a satirical, epic poem that portrays the Spanish legend of Don Juan not as a womaniser, but as a man easily seduced by women. As genre literature, "Don Juan" is an epic poem, written in "ottava rima" and presented in sixteen cantos. Lord Byron derived the character, but not the story, from the same Spanish legend. Upon publication in 1819, cantos I and II were criticised as immoral, because the author Byron too freely ridiculed the social subjects, the persons, and the personages of his time. At his death in 1824, Lord Byron had written sixteen of seventeen cantos, whilst canto XVII went unfinished.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Lord Byron was a prolific writer for whom "the composition of his great poem, "Don Juan", was coextensive with a major part of his poetical life"; he wrote the first canto in late 1818, and the seventeenth canto in early 1823. Canto I was written in September 1818, and canto II was written in December 1818 through January 1819. Cantos III and IV were written in winter of 1819–1820 and canto V was written in October–November 1820. Cantos I and II were published on 15 July 1819, and cantos III, IV, and V were published on 8 August 1821.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Byron began to write canto VI in June 1822, and had completed writing canto XVI in March 1823. Given the moralistic notoriety of the satirical, epic poem, John Murray refused to publish the latter cantos of "Don Juan", which then were entrusted to John Hunt, who published the cantos over a period of months; cantos VI, VII, and VIII, with a Preface, were published on 15 July 1823; cantos IX, X, and XI were published on 29 August 1823; cantos XII, XIII, and XIV were published on 17 December 1823; and cantos XV and XVI on 26 March 1824.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: The poetical narrative of "Don Juan" (1819–24) is told in sixteen thousand lines, arranged in seventeen cantos, written in "ottava rima" (eighth rhyme); each stanza is composed of eight iambic pentameters, with the couplet rhyme scheme of "ab ab ab cc". The ottava rima uses the final rhyming couplet as a line of humour, to achieve a rhetorical anticlimax by way of an abrupt transition, from a lofty style of writing to a vulgar style of writing.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In the example passage from "Don Juan", canto I, stanza 1, lines 3–6, the Spanish name "Juan" is rhymed with the English sound for the words "true one". Therefore "Juan" is spoken in English, as , which is the recurring pattern of enunciation used for pronouncing foreign names and words in the orthography of English.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: "Don Juan" begins with the birth of the hero, Don Juan, in Seville, Spain. As a sexually precocious adolescent boy, Juan has a love affair with a married friend of his mother. When the woman's husband discovers her affair with the boy, Don Juan is sent to the distant city of Cádiz. On the way, he is shipwrecked on an island in the Aegean Sea, and there meets the daughter of the pirate whose men later sell Don Juan into Turkish slavery. At the slave market of Constantinople, the sultana sees Don Juan up for sale, and orders him bought and then disguised as a girl, in order to sneak him into her chambers. Consequent to arousing the jealousy of the sultana, Don Juan barely escapes alive from the harem. He then soldiers in the Imperial Russian army, rescues a Muslim girl, and attracts the favour of Empress Catherine the Great, who includes him to the royal court. In the course of Russian life, Don Juan falls ill because of the climate, and Catherine returns him to England, as a Russian courtier. In London, the diplomat Don Juan finds a guardian for the Muslim girl. The narrative then relates Don Juan's ensuing adventures with the British aristocracy.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In Spain. Don Juan lives in Seville with his father, Don José, and his mother, Donna Inez. The romantic Donna Julia, the twenty-three-year-old wife of Don Alfonso, fancies and lusts for the sixteen-year-old boy Don Juan. Despite attempting to resist his charms, Julia enters into a love affair with Juan, and falls in love. Suspecting his wife's infidelity, Don Alfonso bursts into their bedroom, followed by his bodyguards who find no-one and nothing suspicious upon searching their master's bedroom, for Juan was hiding in the bed; Don Alfonso and his posse leave the room. Later returning alone to his bedroom, Don Alfonso comes across Juan's shoes and they fight for the woman, Donna Julia. Breaking off the fight with Don Alfonso, Don Juan escapes. To thwart rumours and the consequent bad reputation that her son has brought upon himself, Donna Inez sends Don Juan away to travel Europe, in hope that he develop a better sense of morality. The cuckold Don Alfonso punishes his faithless wife, Donna Julia, by interning her to a nunnery.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Exiled from Seville. Don Juan travels to Cádiz, accompanied by Pedrillo, a tutor, and servants. Throughout the voyage, Juan pines for the love of Donna Julia, but seasickness distracts him. A storm wrecks the ship; Juan, his entourage, and some sailors escape in a long boat. Adrift in the Aegean Sea, they soon exhaust their supplies of food and eat Don Juan's dog. Afterwards, the sailors turn cannibal and eat Pedrillo; later, the cannibal sailors go mad and die. Juan is the sole survivor of the shipwreck and the escape in the long boat. Upon landfall at one of the Cyclades islands, two women, Haidée and Zoe, the latter being the maid of the former, discover the shipwrecked Juan and care for him in a cave at the beach. Haidée and Juan fall in love, despite neither speaking or understanding the language of the other. Moreover, Haidée's father, Lambro, is a pirate and a slaver who dislikes Don Juan, and has him enslaved and sent to Constantinople, in the Ottoman Empire.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: A digression. To give his political opinions about the Ottoman Empire's hegemony upon Greece, in "The Isles of Greece" section of canto III, Byron uses numeration and versification different from the style of verse and enumeration of the text about Don Juan. Moreover, on returning to the adventures of Don Juan, the narrator vividly describes a catalogue of the celebrations of the lovers Haidée and Don Juan. At the time of Juan's ship-wrecked arrival to the island, the islanders believed that Lambro (Haidée's father) was dead, but he returns and witnesses the revels and his daughter in company of a man. Towards the end of canto III, Byron again digresses from the adventures of Don Juan in order to insult his literary rivals, the Lake Poets, specifically William Wordsworth (1770–1850), Robert Southey (1774–1843), and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834).


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Sold into slavery. On the island, the lovers Haidée and Don Juan wake to discover that her father, Lambro, has returned. Aided by his fellow pirates, Lambro enslaves Juan, and embarks him aboard a pirate ship delivering slaves to the slave market in Constantinople. Haidée despairs at losing her lover, and eventually dies of a broken heart, whilst pregnant with Don Juan's child.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: The Sultana of Constantinople. At the slave market, Don Juan converses with an Englishman named John Johnson, telling him of his lost love Haidée, whereas the more experienced John tells him of having to flee from his third wife. A black eunuch from the harem, Baba, buys the infidel slaves Juan and John, and takes them to the palace of the sultan. Taking them to an inner chamber, Baba insists that Don Juan dress as a woman, and threatens castration if Juan resists that demand. Finally, Juan is taken into an imperial hall to meet the sultana, Gulbeyaz, a beautiful, twenty-six-year-old woman, who is the fourth, last, and favourite wife of the sultan.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: The proud Juan refuses to kiss the foot of Gulbeyaz, but compromises by kissing her hand, grateful of being rescued from enslavement. At the slave market, Gulbeyaz noticed Juan, and asked Baba to secretly buy him for her, despite risking discovery by the sultan. She wants Juan to "love" her, and then Gulbeyaz throws herself upon his breast. With Haidée still in his thoughts, Juan spurns Gulbeyz's sexual advances, saying: "The prisoned eagle will not pair, nor I / Serve a sultana’s sensual phantasy." Enraged by the rejection, Gulbeyaz thinks of having Juan beheaded, but, instead, she cries.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Before they can progress with their sexual relationship, Baba rushes in and announces to Gulbeyaz and Juan that the sultan is arriving: "The sun himself has sent me like a ray / To hint that he is coming up this way" (V. clviv, 1151). Preceded by an entourage of courtiers, concubines, and eunuchs, the sultan arrives and notices the presence of "Juanna", and is regretful "that a mere Christian should be half so pretty" (V. clv, 1240). In a Muslim culture, Don Juan is a "giaour", a non-Muslim. The narrator Byron then comments that "That in the East, they are extremely strict, / And "Wedlock" and a "Padlock" mean the same" (V. clviii, 1258).


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: The seraglio. The sultan and the sultana retire for the evening, and Don Juan, still dressed as the woman "Juanna", is taken to the crowded harem, where the odalisques reside. Juanna must share a couch with Dudù, a pretty seventeen-year-old girl. When asked his name, Don Juan calls himself "Juanna". The narrator tells that Dudù is a "kind of sleepy Venus ... very fit to murder sleep... Her talents were of the more silent class ... pensive..." Dudù gives Juanna a chaste kiss and undresses.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: At three o'clock in the morning, whilst the harem sleep, Dudù screams and awakens agitated, whilst the snoring Juanna continues asleep. The odalisques ask the reason for her screams, and Dudù relates a sexually suggestive dream, of being in a wood, like Dante, of dislodging a golden apple that tenaciously clings to the bough, of almost biting that forbidden fruit, when a bee flies out from the apple and stings her to the heart. The matron of the seraglio decides to place Juanna with another odalisque, but Dudù begs to keep her as companion in her couch. The narrator Byron does not know why Dudù screamed whilst asleep.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In the morning, the sultana Gulbeyaz asks Baba to tell her how Don Juan, as "Juanna", passed the night at the harem. Baba tells of Juana's night, but omits details about Dudù and her dream. Suspicious, the sultana becomes jealous and then enraged, and instructs Baba to kill Dudù and Juan in the usual manner, by drowning. The eunuch pleads with the sultana that killing Don Juan will not cure what ails her; Gulbeyaz then summons Dudù and Juan. Before canto VI concludes, the narrator Byron explains that the "Muse will take a little touch at warfare."


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Escape. Don Juan and John Johnson escape the harem in company of two women. Consequent to fleeing the palace of the Sultan of Constantinople, the four reach the Danube river during the Russian Siege of Izmail (1789–1790), a Turkish fort at the mouth of the river, on the Black Sea. The Imperial Russian field marshal Alexander Suvorov is preparing the final assault against the fortress at Izmail. As the battle for the fort rages, Prince Grigory Potemkin, the Russian commander-in-chief, orders Marshal Suvorov to "take Ismail at whatever price", for the greater glory of Catherine II, the Christian great empress of Russia. In the event, John Johnson presents himself to Suvorov (with whom he fought in battle at Widdin, in Bulgaria) and introduces his friend Don Juan, saying that both men are ready to join the Christian fight against the pagan Turks. Marshal Suvorov is very unhappy that John and Juan have appeared at the Siege of Izmail, in company of two women who claim to be the wives of soldiers. To assuage Suvorov to consent to the women remaining with them, Juan and John tell him that the women aided their escape from the Turks.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: At war. As brave soldiers in the Imperial Russian army, Don Juan and John Johnson prove fearless in the savagery and carnage of the Russian siege upon the Turks. To conquer the fort of Izmail, the Russians kill 40,000 Turks, including the women and the children. Being a man of noble character, Don Juan rescues a ten-year-old Muslim girl from two Christian Cossacks intent upon raping and killing her for being a pagan. In that moment, Don Juan resolves to adopt the girl as his child. In the course of battle against the Christian Russians, a Tatar Kahn and his five nobleman sons valiantly fight to the death. From the aftermath of the Siege of Izmail, Don Juan emerges a hero, and then is sent to Saint Petersburg, accompanied by the rescued Muslim girl; he's vowed to protect her as a daughter. The end of canto X reveals the girl's name: "Leila".


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In Russia. At the Imperial Russian court, the uniformed Don Juan is a dashing, handsome, and decorated soldier who readily impresses Empress Catherine the Great, who also is infatuated with and lustful for him. The Empress Catherine is a woman of forty-eight-years who is "just now in juicy vigour". At court, Don Juan becomes one of her favourites, and is flattered by the sexual interest of the Empress, which earns him a promotion in rank; thus "Love is vanity, / Selfish in its beginning as its end, / Except where ’tis a mere insanity". Privately, Don Juan concerns himself with the health, education, and welfare of the Muslim girl he rescued at the siege of Izmail.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Russian life. The cold clime of Russia makes Don Juan fall ill, so Empress Catherine sends him west-ward, to the warmer, temperate clime of England, accompanied by Leila. Ostensibly, Don Juan is a special envoy from the court of Imperial Russia with nebulous diplomatic responsibilities for negotiating a treaty between Russia and Britain. In fact, Don Juan's special-envoy job is a sinecure, by which Empress Catherine secures his health, his favour, and his finances.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In Britain. Having arrived to England, and then making his way to London, Don Juan muses upon the democratic greatness of Britain as defender of the freedoms of ordinary men—until interrupted by a menacing cockney footpad, a robber demanding either his money or his life. In self-defence, Don Juan shoots the footpad, but, as a man possessed of a strong conscience, he regrets his violent haste and tends the wound of the dying robber. Don Juan's medical effort fails and the robber mutters his last words and dies on the London street. Later, as an envoy of Russia, Don Juan is received at the English court, where the courtiers are in wonder of Juan's handsome visage, in admiration of his dress, and charmed by his mien and personality, which provoke the jealousy of some of the elder peers. In canto XI, Byron mentions John Keats (1795–1821) as a poet "who was kill'd off by one critique".


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Leila safeguarded. In effort to pursue his life and interests, in England, Don Juan first safeguards his adopted daughter, Leila, by seeking, finding, and employing a suitable guardian for her, in the person of Lady Pinchbeck, a woman whom London society consider a person of good character, possessed of admirable wit, but rumoured to be unchaste.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In society. At the house of Lady Adeline Amundeville and her husband, Lord Henry Amundeville, the narrator informs that Don Juan's hostess, Lady Adeline, is "the fair most fatal Juan ever met", the "queen bee, the glass of all that's fair, / Whose charms made all men speak and women dumb". Anglo–Russian diplomatic relations require meetings between Lord Henry and Don Juan ("the envoy of a secret Russian mission") whom the lord befriends into a regular guest at their mansion in London. Lady and Lord Amundeville invite distinguished guests to a party at their estate in the country. The narrator then describes the country environs of the Amundeville estate and the décor of the estate house, which then are followed with mock-catalogues of the social activities and of the personalities of the upper-class ladies and gentlemen who are the high society of royal Britain. The narrator Byron views the country party of the Amundevilles as English "ennui". Canto XIII concludes with the guests and their hosts retiring for the evening.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Country life. During a fox hunt, Don Juan acquits himself in riding to the hounds, proving to be a handsome, dashing, and witty man who is very attractive to the lady guests at the Amundeville country house, including the flirtatious Duchess of Fitz-Fulke, who has set her eye upon him. Jealous of the experienced duchess, who has had many love affairs, the hostess, Lady Adeline, resolves to protect the "inexperienced" Don Juan from the sexual enticements and depredations of the Duchess of Fitz-Fulke. Although Lady Adeline and Don Juan both are twenty-one years old, and, despite having a vacant heart and a cold, but proper marriage to Lord Henry, she is not in love with Don Juan. Later, the narrator Byron tells the reader whether or not Lady Adeline and Don Juan entered into a love affair; about which canto XIV contains the line: Tis strange—but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction".


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: The company of women. Lady Adeline is at risk of losing her honour, because of her apparent relation with Don Juan, whose passive, seductive manner is deceptive, because he never seems anxious to consummate the seduction; and, being personally modest, Don Juan neither brooks nor claims superiority. To thwart the social disgrace suggested by the appearance of sexual impropriety, Lady Adeline advises marriage to Don Juan, with which suggestion he agrees, but acknowledges that he usually is attracted to married women. In effort to deduce a suitable match for him, Lady Adeline deliberately omits mention of Aurora Raby, who is a Catholic, sixteen-year-old girl most suitable to pair and marry with Don Juan. Although attracted to Aurora, because she is purer of heart than the other women Lady Adeline mentioned, the adolescent girl reminds Don Juan of Haidée, the daughter of the pirate Lambro, who sold Juan into slavery at Constantinople The narrator then describes the elaborate dinner at which Don Juan is seated between Aurora and Lady Adeline. Initially laconic, Aurora soon warms to the spirit of the occasion, and contributes conversation during dinner.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Seduced by a ghost. Smitten by her beauty, Don Juan thinks of Aurora when retiring to his rooms; that night, he walks the hall outside his rooms, viewing the paintings that decorate the walls. Hearing footfalls in the hallway, he sees a friar in cowl and beads, and asks if it be ghost or dream; despite the figure's pacing, the hood hides the face from Don Juan. In the morn, Don Juan's pale face turns Lady Adeline pale. Noticing the response of her hostess, the Duchess of Fitz-Fulke gives a hard-eyed look to Don Juan, whilst the adolescent Aurora looks at him "with a kind of calm surprise".


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Lady Adeline asks if he is ill; Lord Henry says that Don Juan saw the "Black Friar" pace the hallway at night, and then tells of the "spirit of these walls", who was often seen in the past, but not of late. That on honeymoon with Lady Adeline, he saw the ghost of the Black Friar haunt the halls of the house. Accompanying herself with a harp, Lady Adeline sings the story of the ghost of the Black Friar; Aurora is silent, whilst Lady Fitz-Fulke appears mischievous. The narrator suggests that Lady Adeline sang to dispel Don Juan's dismay.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: The domestic staff of the house realise preparations for that evening's dinner party, whilst Don Juan failed to dispel dismay. The domestic affairs of the Amundeville estate include assorted petitioners and a pregnant country girl seeking legal remedy from Lord Henry, in his capacity as justice of the peace.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: At dinner, Lady Adeline performs as hostess, the Duchess of Fitz-Fulke is at her ease, and Don Juan is again preoccupied with his thoughts. Glancing at Aurora, he spies a smile creasing her cheeks, but is uncertain of its meaning, because she is quiet and her face slightly flushed. When hosts and guests retire for the night, Don Juan again thinks of Aurora, who has reawakened romantic feelings he thought lost in the past. That night, from his rooms, Don Juan again hears footfalls in the hallway, expecting the Black Friar's ghost. The door opens, but the hood conceals the face; Don Juan pursues and pushes the ghost against a wall, and smells a sweet breath, sees red lips and straggling curls, and a pearl necklace that frames a glowing bust. Don Juan pulls back the hood to reveal the voluptuous Duchess of Fitz-Fulke.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Truncated story. When Lord Byron died in 1824, the epic satire "Don Juan" was incomplete, and the concluding canto XVII featured little mention of the protagonist, Don Juan, and many mentions of the literary rivals, enemies, and critics who moralistically objected to Byron’s perspectives of people, life, and society; the critical gist was: "If you are right, then everybody's wrong!" In self-defence, Byron the poet lists people who were considered revolutionaries in their fields of endeavour—such as Martin Luther (1483–1546) and Galileo (1564–1642)—whose societies saw them as being outside the cultural mainstream of their times. Canto XVII concludes at the brink of resuming the adventures of Don Juan, last found in a "tender moonlit situation" with the Duchess of Fitz-Fulke, at the end of canto XVI.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Lord Byron scornfully dedicated "Don Juan" (1819–1824) to his artistic rival and enemy Robert Southey, who then was the incumbent Poet Laureate of Britain (1813–43); in stanza III Byron said: "You, Bob! are rather insolent, you know, / At being disappointed in your wish / To supersede all warblers here below, / And be the only Blackbird in the dish; / And then you overstrain yourself, or so, / And tumble downward like the flying fish / Gasping on the deck, because you soar too high, Bob, / And fall, for lack of moisture quite a-dry, Bob!" This reference seems to be a dig at unsuccessful copulation.


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: Moreover, the poem's Dedication further pursued artistic quarrels—of subject and theme, composition and style—with the Lake Poets, whom Byron addressed:


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: About the works of Wordsworth, Byron said Tis poetry—at least by his assertion" (IV.5), and Henry James Pye, the previous poet laureate, Byron criticised by pun: "four and twenty Blackbirds in a pye" (I.8), edged wordplay derived from the nursery song "Sing a Song of Sixpence".


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In the early 19th century, despite the piecemeal publication of the poem in 1819, the contemporary literary critics said that "Don Juan" was an immoral poetical work in which narrative Lord Byron was too free in satirising the social subjects of the poem, which made persons and personages readily identifiable. Concerning the poem’s origins, Byron said that "Don Juan" resulted from the "humorous paradoxes ... provoked by [the] advice and opposition" of friends and colleagues, rivals and enemies. In a letter (19 September 1818) to the Irish poet Thomas Moore, Byron spoke of satirical intent: "I have finished the first canto ... of a poem in the style and manner of "Beppo" [1818], encouraged by the good success of the same. It [the new poem] is ... meant to be a little quietly facetious upon every thing. But I doubt whether it is not—at least as far as it has gone—too free for these very modest days."


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: A month after the publication of cantos I and II, in a letter (12 August 1819) to publisher John Murray, Byron said: "You ask me for the plan of Donny Johnny; I have no plan—I had no plan; but I had or have materials... You are too earnest and eager about ["Don Juan"] a work never intended to be serious. Do you suppose that I could have any intention but to giggle and make giggle?—a playful satire, with as little poetry as could be helped, was what I meant."


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: After the completion, but before the publication of cantos III, IV, and V, in a letter (16 February 1821) to Murray, Byron said: "The Fifth [canto] is so far from being the last of "Don Juan", that it is hardly the beginning. I meant to take him the tour of Europe, with a proper mixture of siege, battle, and adventure, and to make him finish as Anacharsis Cloots in the French Revolution... I meant to have made him a "Cavalier Servente" in Italy, and a cause for a divorce in England, and a Sentimental "Werther–faced man" in Germany, so as to show the different ridicules of the society in each of these countries, and to have displayed him gradually "gâté" and "blasé", as he grew older, as is natural. But I had not quite fixed whether to make him end in Hell, or in an unhappy marriage, not knowing which would be the severest."


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In 1821, in a letter about the cantos III, IV, and V, the poet P. B. Shelley told Byron of his "wonder and delight" at the presentation of events, because in the composition and style, "this poem carries with it at once the stamp of originality and defiance of imitation. Nothing has ever been written like it in English, nor, if I may venture to prophesy, will there be, unless carrying upon it the mark of a secondary and borrowed light... You are building up a drama such as England has not yet seen, and the task is sufficiently noble and worthy of you." About canto V, Shelley told Byron that "Every word has the stamp of immortality... It fulfils, in a certain degree, what I have long preached of producing—something wholly new and relative to the age, and yet surpassingly beautiful".


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In 1824, Walter Scott said that in "Don Juan" Lord Byron's writing "has embraced every topic of human life, and sounded every string of the divine harp, from its slightest to its most powerful and heart-astounding tones." In Germany, Goethe translated parts of "Don Juan", because he considered Byron's writing "a work of bondless genius."


title: Don Juan (poem)

text: In 1885, being neither disciple nor encomiast of Lord Byron, Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) said that the narrative strength and thematic range of "Don Juan" are how Byron's poetical writing excites the reader: "Across the stanzas ... we swim forward as over the ‘broad backs of the sea’; they break and glitter, hiss and laugh, murmur and move like waves that sound or that subside. There is in them a delicious resistance, an elastic motion, which salt water has and fresh water has not. There is about them a wide wholesome air, full of vivid light and constant wind, which is only felt at sea. Life undulates and Death palpitates in the splendid verse... This gift of life and variety is the supreme quality of Byron's chief poem."


title: Government bond

text: A government bond or sovereign bond is a form of bond issued by a government to support public spending. It generally includes a commitment to pay periodic interest, called coupon payments"," and to repay the face value on the maturity date.


title: Government bond

text: For example, a bondholder invests $20,000, called face value or principal, into a 10-year government bond with a 10% annual coupon; the government would pay the bondholder 10% interest each year and repay the $20,000 original face value at the date of maturity (i.e. after 10 years).


title: Government bond

text: Government bonds can be denominated in a foreign currency or the government's domestic currency. Countries with less stable economies tend to denominate their bonds in the currency of a country with a more stable economy (i.e. a hard currency). When governments with less stable economies issue bonds, there is a possibility they will be unable to repay bondholders, resulting in a default. All bonds carry a default risk. International credit rating agencies provide ratings for each country's bonds. Bondholders generally demand higher yields from riskier bonds. For instance, on May 24, 2016, 10-year government bonds issued by the Canadian government offered a yield of 1.34%, while 10-year government bonds issued by the Brazilian government offered a yield of 12.84%.


title: Government bond

text: The Dutch Republic became the first state to finance its debt through bonds when it assumed bonds issued by the city of Amsterdam in 1517. The average interest rate at that time fluctuated around 20%.


title: Government bond

text: The first official government bond issued by a national government was issued by the Bank of England in 1694 to raise money to fund a war against France. The form of these bonds was both lottery and annuity. The Bank of England and government bonds were introduced in England by William III of England (also called William of Orange), who financed England's war efforts by copying the approach of issuing bonds and raising government debt from the Seven Dutch Provinces, where he ruled as a stadtholder.


title: Government bond

text: Later, governments in Europe started following the trend and issuing perpetual bonds (bonds with no maturity date) to fund wars and other government spending. The use of perpetual bonds ceased in the 20th century, and currently governments issue bonds of limited term to maturity.


title: Government bond

text: During the American Revolution, the U.S. government started to issue bonds in order to raise money, these bonds were called loan certificates. The total amount generated by bonds was $27 million and helped finance the war.


title: Government bond

text: A government bond in a country's own currency is strictly speaking a risk-free bond, because the government can if necessary create additional currency in order to redeem the bond at maturity. There have however been instances where a government has chosen to default on its domestic currency debt rather than create additional currency, such as Russia in 1998 (the "ruble crisis") (see national bankruptcy).


title: Government bond

text: Investors may use rating agencies to assess credit risk. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has designated ten rating agencies as nationally recognized statistical rating organizations.


title: Government bond

text: Currency risk is the risk that the value of the currency a bond pays out will decline compared to the holder's reference currency. For example, a German investor would consider United States bonds to have more currency risk than German bonds (since the dollar may go down relative to the euro); similarly, a United States investor would consider German bonds to have more currency risk than United States bonds (since the euro may go down relative to the dollar). A bond paying in a currency that does not have a history of keeping its value may not be a good deal even if a high interest rate is offered. The currency risk is determined by the fluctuation of exchange rates.


title: Government bond

text: Inflation risk is the risk that the value of the currency a bond pays out will decline over time. Investors expect some amount of inflation, so the risk is that the inflation rate will be higher than expected. Many governments issue inflation-indexed bonds, which protect investors against inflation risk by linking both interest payments and maturity payments to a consumer price index. In the UK these bonds are called Index-linked bonds. In the US these bonds are called Series I bonds.


title: Government bond

text: Interest rate changes can affect the value of a bond. If the interest rates fall, then the bond prices rise and if the interest rates rise, bond prices fall. When interest rates rise, bonds are more attractive because investors can earn higher coupon rate, thereby holding period risk may occur. Interest rate and bond price have negative correlation. Lower fixed-rate bond coupon rates meaning higher interest rate risk and higher fixed-rate bond coupon rates meaning lower interest rate risk. Maturity of a bond also has an impact on the interest rate risk. Indeed, longer maturity meaning higher interest rate risk and shorter maturity meaning lower interest rate risk.


title: Government bond

text: If a central bank purchases a government security, such as a bond or treasury bill, it increases the money supply because a Central Bank injects liquidity (cash) into the economy. Doing this lowers the government bond's yield. On the contrary, when a Central Bank is fighting against inflation then a Central Bank decreases the money supply.


title: Government bond

text: These actions of increasing or decreasing the amount of money in the banking system are called monetary policy.


title: Government bond

text: In the UK, government bonds are called gilts. Older issues have names such as "Treasury Stock" and newer issues are called "Treasury Gilt". Inflation-indexed gilts are called "Index-linked gilts"., which means the value of the gilt rises with inflation.


title: Government bond

text: They are fixed-interest securities issued by the British government in order to raise money. The issuance of gilts is managed by the UK Debt Management Office, an executive agency of HM Treasury. Prior to April 1998, gilts were issued by the Bank of England. Purchase and sales services are managed by Computershare.


title: Government bond

text: UK gilts have maturities stretching much further into the future than other European government bonds, which has influenced the development of pension and life insurance markets in the respective countries.


title: Government bond

text: A conventional UK gilt might look like this – "Treasury stock 3% 2020". On the 27 of April 2019 the United Kingdom 10Y Government Bond had a 1.145% yield. Central Bank Rate is 0.10% and the United Kingdom rating is AA, according to Standard & Poor's.


title: Government bond

text: The U.S. Treasury offered several types of bonds with various maturities. Certain bonds may pay interest, others not. These bonds could be:


title: Government bond

text: The principal argument for investors to hold U.S. government bonds is that the bonds are exempt from state and local taxes.


title: Government bond

text: The bonds are sold through an auction system by the government. The bonds are buying and selling on the secondary market, the financial market in which financial instruments such as stock, bond, option and futures are traded.


title: Government bond

text: TreasuryDirect is the official website where investors can purchase treasury securities directly from the U.S. government. This online system allow investors to save money on commissions and fees taken with traditional channels. Investors can use banks or brokers to hold a bond.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The Bomb, Medium Capacity, (Grand Slam) was a earthquake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against German targets towards the end of the Second World War. The bomb was originally called Tallboy Large until the term Tallboy got into the press and the code name was replaced by "Grand Slam". The bomb was similar to a large version of the Tallboy bomb but a new design and closer to the size that its inventor, Barnes Wallis, had envisaged when he developed the idea of an earthquake bomb.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Medium Capacity (M.C.) bombs were designed to remedy the shortcomings of General Purpose (G.P.) bombs, with a greater blast and casings which were robust enough to confer a considerable capacity to penetrate, especially the Tallboy and Grand Slam. The Grand Slam case was made of a chrome-molybdenum alloy steel and had a charge-to-weight ratio of over 43 per cent.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Conventional Avro Lancaster bombers could not carry the bomb and 32 Lancaster B.Mk 1 (Special)s with more powerful engines, a stronger undercarriage, without bomb bay doors and minus many items to save weight, were built. When airborne with the Grand Slam a Special could barely manoeuvre and pilots were advised to refrain from minor adjustments of the flying controls, allowing the aircraft to wallow. A Lancaster which returned with its bomb was not permitted to land at RAF Woodhall Spa, the 617 Squadron base, but had to use the longer runway at RAF Carnaby.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: From 14 March to 19 April 1945, 42 Grand Slams were dropped on Germany. When landing on reinforced concrete, the bombs tended to break up when they hit or explode prematurely. The bombs had been designed to land in soft ground, penetrate deeply and then explode, creating a , causing the structure above to subside. Grand Slams and Tallboys were capable of causing damage that smaller bombs could not, accelerating the collapse of German resistance and avoiding mass civilian casualties. Grand Slams were the most effective bombs used by the Allies until the advent of nuclear weapons later that year. After the war, the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces used Grand Slams and other bombs for research.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Medium Capacity (M.C.) bombs were designed to address the shortcomings of General Purpose (G.P.) bombs, which had a charge-to-weight ratio of about 27 per cent (contemporary German bombs had a ratio of fifty per cent). M.C. bombs were to have a charge-to-weight ratio of at least forty per cent and use explosives of greater power, although shortages often led to inferior explosive types being used. High Capacity (H.C.) bombs had a charge-to-weight ratio of up to 75 per cent. M.C. bombs had greater blast effect than G.P. bombs but had casings which were robust enough to confer a considerable capacity to penetrate.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: On 18 July 1943, after the Dams raid, the Controller of Research and Development at the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) received a requirement for twelve Tallboy Small [] bombs, 60 unfilled Tallboy Medium (Tallboy) bombs and 100 Tallboy Large. Lack of capacity led to work the Tallboy Large being stopped on 30 September. Interest in the Tallboy Large, renamed Grand Slam on 22 November 1944, after the term Tallboy appeared in the press, increased after better understanding of the effect of the Tallboy was gained by the inspection of targets in Europe. The Tallboy was discovered to be too small to destroy concrete buildings with direct hits; only near misses which opened a under the foundations were found to be effective. In September 1944 the German V-2 rocket bombardment of London began, which had been expected by the British since Operation Hydra, the attack on the Peenemünde research centre, on the night of 17/18 August 1943 and Grand Slams were considered as a weapon to be used on V-2 launch sites.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Doubts remained at the Air Ministry; an officer in the planning department was sceptical, even with the discovery of the limits of the Tallboy bomb, about what the Grand Slam could be used on and whether when ready in February–March 1945, there would be anything left to bomb. Aircraft adapted to carry the Grand Slam could not carry any other load. Air Commodore Christopher Bilney replied that the Tallboy Large would be more useful than the Upkeep mine used in the Dams raid. At the Bomber Command headquarters in High Wycombe, there was a debate about how many Tallboy Large's to order, which ranged from 25 a month to 75. The head of Bomber Command, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, thought that the new bomb might be useful against U-boat pens and the bigger targets of Operation Crossbow (anti-V-weapons attacks) but put the burden on the Air Ministry to decide how many to manufacture. In September the decision to make the new bombs was made and 600 were ordered in October; 200 from British sources and 400 from the US. The British order was cancelled on 4 October, leaving only US production, but RAF representatives in the US were able to persuade the Americans to build fifty bomb casings by the end of the year, to be filled in Britain. Four Lancaster bombers for trials were ordered then this was cut to one aircraft. During the Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) any complacency about an imminent end to the war was confounded; the Grand Slam production order was revised again for 25 from British sources and 200 from the US.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: An expanded version of the Tallboy design was not feasible and the English Steel Corporation of Sheffield began work on "large boilers" in late 1944. Experiments with the composition of the bomb casing to find one that could withstand the shock of impact, a steel alloy of chromium-molybdenum. A concrete core, accurate to 1/10,000th of an inch was made, then a sand-covered outer mould was created, into which the molten metal was poured. The core was chipped out after the metal had cooled but hot places on the casing could result in structural flaws, breaking the bomb casing when it hit, with no guarantee of the detonation of its contents. The US casings were made by electric resistance welding but both types had to pass stress tests to weed out inadequate examples. The British-made casings were sent on specially-built road trailers, the nose on one and the tail on another, to be machined.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The nose sections were filled by upending them to pour in of Torpex explosive a bucketful at a time. Once the tail section was connected, the Grand Slam was long, at its widest diameter and weighed . As with the Tallboy, the fins of the Grand Slam were angled and generated a stabilising spin and the Grand Slam had a charge-to-weight ratio of 43 per cent. Four fuzes were provided, one specially made for the Grand Slam with an 11-second delay, the No. 53 with a thirty-minute delay, a No. 53A with an hour's delay and a No. 37 which had a delay of 6–144 hours. The first bomb arrived at Woodhall Spa on 20 January and fifteen were expected by the beginning of February.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The ten remaining Dambuster Lancasters were sent for storage at the end of 1944 and 617 Squadron was increased from two fights to three, at the expense of 51 Squadron, a Halifax squadron of 4 Group, which lost a flight. To carry the Grand Slam, specially modified Lancasters were necessary but these would have to be subtracted from the production of conventional Lancasters, at a time when several 5 Group squadrons were converting to Lancaster from Halifaxes. The weight of the Grand Slam meant that only new aircraft would be able to carry it, rather than converting existing and worn aircraft and 32 B.Mk 1 (Special)s were ordered from Avro. There was little agreement on what equipment the specials should carry and Avro backslid on production to get the new Avro Lincoln, a Lancaster derivative, on schedule. Work began on the specials at the end of January 1945 and two had been built by 13 February, twelve were due within ten days, 24 by month's end and the remainder in March.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: PB995 was sent to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) with PB592/G, a conventional B.Mk 1 built in 1944, which was to be modified to be a B.MK 1 (Special). Some equipment did not need to be fitted but other items were removed, which began a period of removals and reinstatements. A conference on 25 February was necessary to sort out the confusion. The front and mid-upper turrets were to go, along with the H2S, its fairing and the TR1196 R/T set, electric lights, flare chutes, flame dampers, some of the fuel tanks, the rear turret armour, three fire axes, a toolkit and the crew ladder. The commander of 5 Group, Air Vice-Marshal Ralph Cochrane ordered that the Identification friend or foe (IFF) be got rid of in favour of the VHF Bomber Fixer. Despite bombing by day, navigation equipment was needed because of the north-west European climate; GEE and LORAN were to be carried along with high-altitude and low altitude radio altimeters. The recognition lights and some of the usual VHF equipment were to stay along with the rear guns and 6,000 rounds of ammunition. The bomb doors had to go as even the widened Tallboy bomb doors would not fit a Grand Slam and as the mid-upper gunner and wireless operator were redundant, the crew was cut to five men.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: While carrying a Grand Slam, a Lancaster would be incapable of taking evasive action and Fishpond tail-warning radar went with the H2S set. As Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters were operating in northern Germany, an Automatic Gun-Laying Turret (AGLT; also Village Inn or Z Equipment) was considered. The AGLT rear turret had been under test by the Bomber development Unit and two Main Force squadrons of 1 Group, which found that they restricted the view of the rear-gunner; the radar gun laying device was also unable to discriminate between German fighters and friendly bombers and bombers with the turret only flew when not in the company of other Allied aircraft. The aircraft of several bomber groups had been fitted with AGLT transmitters and worked best as an early-warning device and the B.Mk.1 (Special)s were fitted with AGLT in the nose. With a fuel load of the Special would weigh and the first was delivered to RAF Woodhall Spa, the base of 617 Squadron in Lincolnshire, on 25 February. There were still arguments about what the Specials would carry, when it was found that Avro had failed to install GEE sets. It was agreed to remove the front turret and its accoutrements; heating was needed for the rear guns and the Stabilised Automatic Bomb Sight had Tallboy dropping equipment but no capacity to drop practice bombs which needed to be incorporated. The TR1154 W/T was to be replaced by VHF R/T.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: In March Lancaster wheels and tyres were replaced by those of the heavier Avro Lincoln and the maximum weight of the Special was set at with a maximum landing weight of excepting emergencies. The commander of 617 Squadron, John "Johnny" Fauquier, ordered that if returning with a bomb, the Special would divert from Woodhall Spa and use the longer runway at RAF Carnaby near the coast at Bridlington in East Yorkshire. The centre of gravity when loaded with a Tallboy or Grand Slam was within the aircraft design limits, provided the rear turret was retained. Merlin 24 engines [ at 3,000 rpm, at 3,000 rpm, + boost at ] were to equip the Special, fitted with paddle-bladed propellers. Particular attention was to be paid to the skin of the wings and rear fuselage when checking the airframe and the Special would take off only from smooth runways and always with experienced pilots. Fuel was to be used from inboard tanks to outboard ones to relieve the stresses on the wings.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The Specials were to have day bomber camouflage, the black underside being painted in "Sky" a pale green shade with the upper surfaces keeping the usual dark green and dark earth. To discriminate between Tallboy and Grand Slam Lancasters, the Tallboy aircraft kept the code letters KC and the Specials were coded YZ.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: A Ramsome Rapier crane at the A&AEE could lift the Grand Slam when on a concrete base and the Type H trolley was acceptable when limited to with its tyres at 80 PSI. The bomb cradle on the trolley was tilted up at the front to protect the bomb bay roof from damage by the tailfins of the bomb. The bomb was raised into the bomb bay by a crew of six men, who took 35 minutes. Templates were manufactured to help align the bomb in the bay, the front one proving unnecessary and being dispensed with; the rear template was hung from the bomb bay roof. The inside of the Special bomb bay was faired with quick-release panels from the bomb door hinges to the underneath of the fuselage floor to protect pipe-work.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The top of the bomb bay had metal plates installed, the forward bulkhead was faired to the contour of the nose of the Grand Slam and another fairing was fitted to the rearward bulkhead to smooth the airflow as it exited the bay. The usual bomb bay switches were replaced by a master switch; a release cable and lever were fitted to the left hand side of the cockpit for emergencies. The bomb was connected to the bay with a sprung dowel sticking out of the bomb bay roof and a Vickers release unit with metal links, which could be adjusted from within the aeroplane, wrapped around the bomb and released electrically or manually. Fuzing devices in the bomb bay roof worked for the Tallboy as well as the Grand Slam. The new bomb had a two-piece metal skirt between the bomb proper and the tail unit, whose front edge jutted out from the casing of the bomb. As the bomb fell, the slipstream could detach the tail unit of the bomb and the A&AEE advised that it be redesigned.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The bomb dump at Woodhall Spa had been limited to forty Tallboys but room was made to accommodate ten Grand Slams by removing ordnance not in use. In February the A&AEE used PB592/G, a Lancaster B.Mk1, to test loading the Grand Slam using the Type H bomb trolley, which had been designed for the Tallboy and Grand Slam. When the first bomb was moved with an Allen crane, its front wheels rose from the ground as the bomb was lifted and the bomb could not be lowered smoothly, only by unlocking and locking the brake, which dropped the bomb each time. The armourers used a US Bay City crane afterwards with a power-lowering unit added early in 1945.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The A&AEE at RAF Boscombe Down had only one bomb to test, with 617 Squadron standing by with the rest, ready to commence operations. The bombing range at the Ashley Range in the New Forest had a concrete target about , to be bombed preferably from the optimum height of . PB955 was loaded with the Grand Slam to be flown by Group Captain H. A. (Bruin) Purvis; bad weather led to two failed attempts to bomb due to mist obscuring the target. On the third attempt, PB592/G, flown by Squadron Leader Headley (Hazel) Hazelden, managed to drop the bomb on 13 March. The aim of the crew was accurate for distance and observers saw the black and white painted bomb rotate as it fell, about off line to starboard. After release, the Grand Slam accelerated to , near supersonic, penetrating deep underground before detonating. The bomb exploded and left a crater in diameter and deep; 617 Squadron was phoned from a nearby pub and told of the success; formal permission to use the bomb was given on 22 March and operations began the same day.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: By mid-March 1945, over had been dropped on the Bielefeld viaduct in 54 attacks and damage from 17 hits in one raid was repaired in 24 hours. After an abortive attempt against viaducts at Arnsberg and Bielefeld on 9 March the bombers returned on 13 March, when 9 Squadron and 617 Squadron sent 19 Lancasters each against the same targets, two of the 617 Squadron aircraft carrying Grand Slams, escorted by 75 Mustang Mk IIIs from 11 Group. The attack at Arnsberg by 9 Squadron was called off after two aircraft bombed and 617 Squadron turned back from Bielefeld after 129 Squadron (Mustang Mk IIIs) reported unbroken cloud all the way to the target. On 14 March, fifteen Lancasters of 617 Squadron, carrying 14 Tallboys and a Grand Slam, all fuzed for 11 seconds' delay, tried again as fifteen 9 Squadron Lancasters made another attempt against the railway viaduct at Arnsberg. The weather was clear to the targets with some cloud around Bielefeld and a haze over both targets. Escorts from 11 Group consisted of 74 Mustang Mk IIIs and 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group provided four Oboe Mosquitos each from 105 and 109 squadrons to mark the targets. A Mosquito of 627 Squadron was present to film the attack.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The Lancasters of 617 Squadron flew around Bremen then found that there was cloud on the north side of Bielefeld forcing PD112 "S" with the Grand Slam to attack from the south after resetting the SABS, followed by the photographic Mosquito. One of the 105 Squadron Oboe Mosquitoes dropped four Target Indicator bombs which landed about to the south-south-west of the target. At and from , a far from ideal height, the Grand Slam fell from PD112 "S", which jumped higher at the loss of weight. After 35 seconds, the bomb hit the ground about short and exploded the site erupting as the Tallboys came down. The pilot of the photographic aircraft, which recorded the attack from shouted "You've done it!". The effect of the Grand Slam could not be distinguished from that of the eleven Tallboys but photographic reconnaissance by a Spitfire from 542 Squadron, following the bombers, then a Mosquito from 540 squadron later on, showed that of the north viaduct and of the south viaduct had been demolished, depositing about of rubble into the valley.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: On 15 March, in a haze with some cloud over the target, two aircraft of 617 Squadron with Grand Slams fuzed for 11 seconds' delay and 14 Lancasters of 9 Squadron, carrying Tallboys, attacked the railway viaduct at Arnsberg again. A close fighter escort of 34 Mustang Mk IIIs was provided by 11 Group. A photographic Mosquito, KB433, was laid on by 627 Squadron and another 141 fighters were in the vicinity covering raids by 4, 6 and 8 Groups. The long viaduct, built from brick and stone faced with concrete, crossed the Ruhr in five spans. In poor visibility the crew of the photographic Mosquito saw that "the whole force made one run into sun and one bomb seen to drop". This was the first Grand Slam, dropped from at


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The photographic crew reported, "Second run into sun and one or two bombs fell. Individual runs then made. No direct hits seen. Majority of bombs fell to the east...". The second Grand Slam was brought home after several bomb runs because of the haze and the Lancaster, PB996, landed at the emergency bomber landing ground at RAF Manston. Ten Tallboys were also dropped with no effect and no aircraft were lost. On the return journey the port inner propeller of NG384 over-speeded and could not be feathered and then oil leaking out from behind the propeller caught fire and the pilot, Flight-Lieutenant F. A. Jones ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft south of the target. Four of the crew parachuted but then the fire went out and Jones force-landed at Gosselies near Brussels.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: On 19 March, 19 Lancasters of 617 Squadron, six with Grand Slams and 13 with Tallboys, attacked the viaduct again as 9 Squadron attacked the Vlotho rail bridge, in fairly cloudy weather at high altitude, with thin patches lower down. The bombers were escorted by 88 Mustang IIIs from 11 Group. PD329 "Y", a Lancaster without bombs from 463 Squadron carried two cameramen from the RAF Film Unit accompanied 617 Squadron. A report from 129 Squadron, part of the escorting Mustang force, called the bomber formation tight but then the bombers flew into cloud at . The squadron flew over the Möhne Dam with its barrage balloons, smoke screen and anti-aircraft fire. The cameramen in PD329 "Y" had been briefed to film PB966 "C", flown by Flight-Lieutenant P. H. Martin and formated on its starboard side, with a cameraman in the nose turret to film the Grand Slam as it fell away and the other on the floor of the fuselage filming vertically. Closer to the target, PD329 "Y" dropped back and flew on the port quarter of PB966 "C".


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The bomb was not to be dropped from under but Martin, the pilot, could not coax the bomber above . On its five-minute bombing run, Martin had to fly within the tolerances of its SABS bombsight, within 0 of airspeed and +/- of altitude. The cameramen started filming and when the bomb dropped, PB966 "C" jumped higher. The bomb began its spin and came down on the western span, which disintegrated, along with the roofs of buildings nearby. All but one Lancaster of the first wave, whose Tallboy hung up, bombed. A second wave bombed fairly accurately but one Grand Slam fell off line due to a SABS fault. Two spans of the bridge, about long and one pier had been destroyed, the track on the west bank had been cut, of one of the embankments had been shoved out of line and the entrance to a tunnel on the east bank had been blocked; no damage had been caused to a Red Cross camp nearby. After the war the casings of a Grand Slam and a Tallboy were found at the site; the Grand Slam was thought to have landed flat on a road and only the explosive at the rear of the casing detonated; the Tallboy hit a wall, broke up and buried itself in the ground without going off.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Twenty Lancasters of 617 Squadron, two carrying Grand Slams and the rest Tallboys, flew in good weather with little cloud to Bremen to attack the double-tracked railway bridge at Arbergen which crossed the Weser near Nienburg. The bridge was long with three steel girder spans. The railway approached the river from the south-west along an embankment until from the river where it crossed a meadow on a low-lying steel viaduct resting on piers. The bombers were escorted by twenty Mustang Mk IIIs (P-51Cs) of 306 (Polish) Squadron and 309 (Polish) Squadron. Another five fighter squadrons were provided to escort a day raid by 1 and 8 Groups on an oil refinery at Bremen; other Main Force aircraft attacked targets in Münster and Rheine.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The first Grand Slam was dropped from , landing short and the second fell off target to the north, due to flak (anti-aircraft fire) and aiming problems. The Tallboys hit the middle of the bridge and the ends were blown off their piers; the pier to the east collapsed onto the ground and the western pier was twisted and sagged to the ground at one place; part of the railway track, above the embankment and the first pier on the west side, was wrecked. One Lancaster was shot down near Okel and left a crater deep; five Lancasters were damaged by flak and an attack by a Me 262 jet fighter.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Twenty Lancasters of 617 Squadron, six carrying Grand Slams fuzed for 25–30 seconds' delay and 14 with Tallboys with 25–35 seconds' or one-hour delay fuzes, attacked the railway bridge at Nienburg, between Bremen and Hanover, in atmospheric conditions ideal for bombing. A railway bridge at Bremen was attacked at the same time by 9 Squadron with Tallboys. The bombers were escorted by 114 Mustang Mk IIIs and 69 Spitfire Mk IXs from 11 Group squadrons. The Lancasters of 617 Squadron bombed within one minute, dropping five Grand Slams and twelve Tallboys. One Lancaster crew claimed a near miss with a Grand Slam and another crew claimed a hit.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: It had been planned that the fourth and eight rows of Lancasters would not bomb on the first pass and Flight Lieutenant L. S. Goodman reported that on the second bomb run the bridge was under water, the spans having been broken of blown off their piers. A third Lancaster crew found that their bomb would not drop despite two attempts and the bridge collapsed before the third try, leaving the crew to take it home. A fourth Grand Slam was reported to have hit the east end of the structure. Reconnaissance photographs showed that the bridge had been destroyed.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Another railway Bridge near Bremen was attacked later in the day by twenty 617 Squadron Lancasters, six carrying Grand Slams and 14 with Tallboys. The bridge at Bad Oeynhausen was attacked by 9 Squadron. The weather was clear and ideal for bombing but was also good for the Bremen anti-aircraft defences. The bombers were escorted by 41 Mustang Mk IIIs from 11 Group with seven more squadrons in the vicinity. A total of 128 Lancasters took part in the bombing from 1 Group and 5 Group, most accompanying 617 Squadron on the attack on the bridge at Bremen. The Germans started to generate a smoke screen but were too late; two hits were observed before the smoke screen and wreckage blocked the view. The pitch control on one of Lancaster PB996's engines made the aircraft lose speed and its bomb was dropped on a jettison area; the pilot of PD112 decided to bomb despite the bomb-aimers clear vision panel being smashed by flak .


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Three hits were claimed and one Tallboy hung up when the bomb aimer tried to drop it then fell off 15 seconds later, overshooting the bridge. Later analysis found that a Tallboy had landed on the bank at the south end of the bridge about from the abutment and the shock of the explosion shifted it, making the span fall into the river. A Tallboy hit the north end of the bridge, the damage being swiftly repaired; another to the south which was filled in and new track laid. Eventually the Germans demolished the bridge to create an obstacle to the Allied ground advance. Lancaster NG489 was hit by flak and the crew jettisoned the Grand Slam to regain control. Several other Lancasters were hit by anti-aircraft fire and four others were attacked by Me 262s, fifteen of which were seen on the flight to the target.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Twenty Lancasters of 617 Squadron, 13 carrying Grand Slams, the remainder carrying Tallboys, attacked the Valentin submarine pens in clear visibility escorted by 90 Mustang Mk IIIs of 11 Group. Since October 1944, building work had been seen at Farge, a village on the Weser river, north of Vegesack and north-west of Bremen. The building had of the structure above ground and below, was long and wide, enclosing of space. The walls and roof were made of reinforced concrete with arched trusses on the walls, filled with concrete. The roof was about thick and was being reinforced to a thickness of . Farge was intended for the assembly of type XXI U-boats. The shipyard at Vegasack and the site of the building, was code named , construction beginning early in 1943. The site was chosen because it was on the convex side of a curve in the river less prone to silting; the river bed was dredged to a depth of to allow submarine sections in on barges and assembled U-boats out.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Production was expected to begin in March 1945, full production to be achieved in August; the schedule had slipped but production was to start within two months. One Lancaster had returned soon after take-off and another turned back over the target with engine-trouble, ditching the Grand Slam in the North Sea. Moderate to heavy flak was encountered by the gaggle of Lancasters but there was no fighter opposition. The bombs were dropped in about a minute and despite 1-hour delay fuzes, three bombs exploded immediately Two of the fourteen hits on the pens were by Grand Slams and one by a Tallboy, the hits landing on the un-thickened part of the roof on the west side. The Grand Slams penetrated into the concrete causing about of the roof to fall in bringing down two moveable cranes. The thickened part of the roof and a periscope-testing tower were also damaged. One bomb damaged power stations, concrete mixing facilities and shelters on the north side. Marines who had been inside the building reported later that there was a huge concussive effect which severely depressed morale. No aircraft were lost.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: Seventeen Lancasters from 617 Squadron were dispatched to bomb the Finkenwerder U-boat pens in Hamburg, two with Grand Slams and the rest with Tallboys. The pens were inside a -building with a roof thick, reinforced by steel beams and trusses. Forty Lancasters from 5 Group were to bomb oil storage tanks nearby. The weather was clear with some haze, a thin layer of cirrus clouds above the city but the visibility was very good. A fighter escort from 11 Group consisted of 120 Mustang Mk III, 30 Mustang Mk IV, 59 Spitfire Mk IX and 24 Spitfire Mk XVI to counter any attempts by Me 262 jets to intervene. fighters, including jets, attempted to intercept the formation and there was much flak, which damaged six Lancasters before they bombed. Buildings to the north and west were hit and a reconnaissance photograph showed seven hits, four penetrating the roof.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: A post-war report recorded six hits by Tallboys, the two Grand Slams and the other Tallboys landing in the water. The six Tallboys had penetrated the roof part way, hit girders and exploded, blowing holes through the ceiling and depositing hundreds of tons of concrete into the pens. There had been 3,000 people inside the pens, fewer than usual, because it was Poets Day, when German workers left at ; 27 people were killed, about sixty were seriously injured and a panic ensued; U-906 and U-1192 were damaged. About thirty Me 262s appeared and 467 Squadron RAAF, on the oil tanks raid, accelerated and turned, ending up bumping along behind the 617 Squadron slipstream. The Mustangs jettisoned their drop tanks and 122 Squadron bounced the German jets which raced away. The Polish 306, 309 and 315 squadrons attacked the jets and claimed three Me 262s shot down and three damaged; two Lancasters were shot down.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: The coastal gun-batteries on the islands of Heligoland and Düne in the Heligoland Bight, the south-eastern extremity of the North Sea, were attacked on 19 April. The military installations on the main island comprised a radar installation covering the Elbe and Weser rivers, an airfield and a coastal battery each of and guns. To ensure that Allied ships could enter the Elbe and Weser estuaries, Bomber Command intended to attack the island with bombs but at least forty heavy anti-aircraft guns on the islands had to be silenced. The gun positions had a diameter of about and only hits or near misses would be effective. On 18 April 969 bombers had attacked the anti-aircraft guns but some remained operational. On 19 April, 20 Lancasters of 617 Squadron attacked with six Grand Slams and fourteen Tallboys and 16 Lancasters from 9 Squadron carried Tallboys fuzed for 25 seconds' delay.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: A Mosquito from the RAF Film Unit accompanied the raiders and a fighter escort was provided by 11 Group and 12 Group, consisting of 11 Mustang Mk IIIs, 42 Spitfire Mk IXs and 26 Spitfire XVIs. The gun emplacements were at the north and south ends of the island and three aiming points were chosen, two for 9 Squadron and one for 617 Squadron. Thin stratocumulus cloud was encountered from and six of the 9 Squadron bombers were to act as wind finders, the results being broadcast to the rest of the squadron at H-5. As 9 Squadron flew towards the island they were surprised to see 617 Squadron attacking, climbed out of the way and circled while waiting for their fighter escort. The attack by 617 Squadron was made in two waves against hardly any anti-aircraft fire and all bar one aircraft bombed. Photographic evidence showed two hits on aiming point H and several near misses, which added to the damage. Another attack by the Main Force was planned but the war ended before it took place.


title: Grand Slam (bomb)

text: In 1991, Alan Cooper wrote that during March 1945, 156 day-sorties were flown, 31 with Grand Slams and 40 with Tallboys. An analysis of the bombing accuracy of 617 Squadron and 9 Squadron on Tallboy sorties found that, using different bomb sights and bombing from heights between , 1 per cent of the Tallboys dropped by 617 Squadron were gross errors [defined as missing the aiming point by more than ] against 10 per cent of the Tallboys dropped by 9 Squadron. Unlike the Tallboy, the Grand Slam was designed to penetrate concrete roofs and was more effective against fortifications than earlier bombs. By the end of the war, 41 Grand Slams had been dropped on operations although in 2004, Stephen Flower wrote of 42 bombs, a figure he repeated in his 2013 publication.