title: Billy Powell

text: In 1973, Lynyrd Skynyrd was signed to MCA Records and received national exposure following the release of their first album, "(pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd)". The band's popularity soared in 1974 with their follow-up album, "Second Helping", which featured their highest-charting single, "Sweet Home Alabama". The band enjoyed increasing popularity over the next three years, culminating in the 1977 release of "Street Survivors".


title: Billy Powell

text: Three days after the release of "Street Survivors", Skynyrd's chartered Convair CV-240 crashed into a forest near McComb, Mississippi. The crash took the lives of singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, and both pilots. The remainder of the band suffered mild to severe injuries. Powell suffered severe facial lacerations, almost losing his nose, but was otherwise relatively uninjured. He was the first to be released from the hospital, and the only member able to attend the funerals of his fallen bandmates.


title: Billy Powell

text: During the time between the plane crash and the Lynyrd Skynyrd reunion in 1987, Powell joined the Christian rock band Vision in 1984. With Vision he recorded three albums ("Mountain in The Sky", "Vision", and "Streetfighter"), and toured extensively. His keyboard performances were spotlighted in Vision concerts. During the concerts, Powell spoke about his newfound Christianity; messages that were also delivered via two bonus tracks included on the album "Mountain in The Sky". Powell also worked with 38 Special during this time.


title: Billy Powell

text: Powell rejoined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987 for a tribute tour, and remained with the band until his death. At the time of his death, he and guitarist Gary Rossington were the only members from the classic lineup who were active in the band.


title: Billy Powell

text: On January 28, 2009, Powell died at the age of 56 at his home in Orange Park, Florida. It was during a break from Skynyrd's touring schedule that Powell suffered a fatal heart attack. His passing inspired countless tributes, in and out of the Southern rock community and extending across the country-music world, where he had many friends and admirers. The music he had recorded with Vision was played exclusively at a private memorial service, and Kid Rock sang a tribute. Many Southern Rock musicians were in attendance, including his Skynyrd and Vision bandmates, their families, Hank Williams Jr. and others. He was survived by his wife Ellen, sons Brandon and Joel, daughters Layla, Ashley, and Maggie, brother Rick, and sister Donna. The song "Gifted Hands" was later written and recorded by Lynyrd Skynyrd as a tribute to Powell.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: Michael Hirst (born 21 September 1952) is an English screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his films "Elizabeth" (1998) and "" (2007), as well as the Emmy Award-winning television series "The Tudors" (2007-2010) and "Vikings" (2013-2020). Hirst owns Green Pavilion Entertainment, a production company he launched in December 2017.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: Hirst was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire and grew up in Ilkley. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and attended the London School of Economics. He received a First Class Joint-Honours Degree in English and American Literature from the University of Nottingham and studied Henry James' writings at Trinity College, Oxford.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: Hirst was originally going to be an academic, but decided to become a screenwriter after Nicolas Roeg read one of his short stories and asked Hirst to write screenplays for him.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: Hirst was head writer, creator, and executive producer of the Showtime television drama series "The Tudors" which aired from 2007 to 2010. It tells the story of King Henry VIII and his Six Wives as well as his court and the dilemmas throughout his kingdom during his reign.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: Hirst is one of the co-writers on the screenplay for the James Dalessandro book, "1906". The story follows a young man who discovers a series of secrets and lies that left San Francisco highly vulnerable to the fires that engulfed it in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake. Brad Bird was the director; it was released in 2012.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: Hirst had been chosen to write the movie adaptation of Stuart Hill's best-selling book: "The Cry of the Icemark" before it was put on hold and is also set to adapt Bernard Cornwell's book "Azincourt", which tells the story of King Henry V of England and the Battle of Agincourt.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: Hirst produced "The Borgias" television series for Showtime. "The Borgias" tells the story of the notorious Borgia family. It stars Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI, his first series-regular role. The show was created by Neil Jordan, with filming beginning in the summer of 2010 and ran for three seasons.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: Hirst was developing a feature film about Mary Queen of Scots with Working Title Films, to star Saoirse Ronan. The film was further developed without Hirst's involvement and released in 2018, written by Beau Willimon and directed by Josie Rourke.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: Premiering in 2013, Hirst created "Vikings", the History Channel's first foray into serialised drama. It stars Gabriel Byrne, Travis Fimmel, Clive Standen, Katheryn Winnick, Jessalyn Gilsig, and Gustaf Skarsgård.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: In 2019, Hirst began working with writer Jeb Stuart on the sequel to "Vikings" called " " which is set approximately 100 years after the end of "Vikings" and is expected to release on Netflix in 2022.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: In 2021, "Billy the Kid" was bought by Epix; Hirst writes and executive produces. It premiered in 2022.


title: Michael Hirst (writer)

text: His daughters are Maude Hirst and Georgia Hirst. They have made appearances on his shows, the former on "The Tudors" and both on "Vikings".


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: The R-7 Semyorka (), officially the GRAU index 8K71, was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961, but was never deployed operationally. A derivative, the R-7A, was deployed from 1959 to 1968. To the West it was unknown until its launch (later it would get the NATO reporting name SS-6 Sapwood). In modified form, it launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit, and became the basis for the R-7 family which includes Sputnik, Luna, Molniya, Vostok, and Voskhod space launchers, as well as later Soyuz variants.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: The R-7 was long, in diameter and weighed ; it had two stages, powered by rocket engines using liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene and capable of delivering its payload up to , with an accuracy (CEP) of around . A single thermonuclear warhead was carried with a nominal yield of 3 megatons of TNT. The initial launch was boosted by four strap-on liquid rocket boosters making up the first stage, with a central 'sustainer' engine powering through both the first and the second stage. Each strap-on booster included two vernier thrusters and the core stage included four. The guidance system was inertial with radio control of the vernier thrusters.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: Design work began in 1953 at OKB-1 in Kaliningrad in Moscow Oblast (presently Korolyov, Moscow Oblast) and other divisions with the requirement for a two-stage missile of with a range of and the maximum speed of 20 mach carrying a warhead. Following first ground tests in late 1953 the initial design was heavily reworked and the final design was not approved until May 1954 and Korolev reportedly reviewed more than 100 design proposals. In 1954, the draft project was completed. For the first time the development of the project was created a separate volume dedicated to the testing of missile technology. This volume was developed under the leadership of Arcady Ilyich Ostashev. Instead of using jet vanes for control, which increased resistance generated at the engine nozzle exhaust outlet, the R-7 used special control engines. These same engines served as the last stage's vernier thrusters.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: Because of clustered design, each booster had its own propellant tanks. The design team had to develop a system to regulate the propellant component consumption ratio and to synchronize the consumption between the boosters.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: Starting from the R-1, which was a copy of the German V-2, a free-standing missile was launched from a horizontal pad. It turned out that assembling a cluster of a central core and four boosters on the pad is almost impossible without it falling apart. Also, a wind gust could knock the missile off of the pad. The solution was to eliminate the pad and to suspend the entire rocket in the trusses that bear both vertical weight load as well as horizontal wind forces. The launch system simulated flight conditions with strap-on boosters pushing the central core forward.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: The R-7 rocket was another Soviet attempt to build a successful rocket to get to space. The rocket had some key features to it that made it unique. One of the main features to the rocket were the many different engines that were utilized for propulsion. Of the four strap on propulsion engines, they were all powered by the RD-107 engine. Vernier engines were utilized for steering, and the R-7 contained four of them. Powering the vernier capabilities for the rocket was the RD-108 engine.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: The new missile's GRAU index was 8K71. The first flight-ready vehicle was delivered to the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 1 May 1957, and flown on 15 May. A fire broke out in the Blok D strap-on almost immediately at liftoff. It broke away from the booster at T+88 seconds, which crashed 400 km (248 miles) downrange. The next attempt on 11 June (the same day the United States conducted its first test launch of an ICBM), an electrical short caused the missile to start rolling uncontrollably and disintegrate 33 seconds after liftoff. The first successful long flight, of , was made on 21 August 1957. The dummy warhead impacted in the Pacific Ocean and five days later, TASS announced that the Soviet Union had "successfully tested a multi-stage intercontinental ballistic missile". A modified version of the missile (8K71PS) placed Sputnik 1 in orbit from Baikonur on 4 October 1957 and Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: The next ICBM test took place on 30 January 1958, but the strap-ons failed to separate cleanly and damaged plumbing in the core stage, which lost thrust and impacted far off target. These early flights revealed assorted design flaws in the R-7 which necessitated multiple modifications to the missile. Testing continued into December 1959, and the last original 8K71 flew on 27 February 1961. The additional development resulted in the 8K74 (also known as R-7A), which was lighter, had better navigation systems, more powerful engines, extended its range to by carrying more fuel, and increased payload to . Aside from the initial Sputnik launches, the 8K71 formed the basis of the 8K72 booster used for the first generation Luna probes. Six out of nine Luna probes launched on the 8K72 failed. Combined with the failed Sputnik launch on 27 April 1958, this brought the booster's total space launch record to 6 successes in 13 attempts. The improved 8K74 formed the basis for the later Vostok and Molniya boosters, greatly increasing reliability.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: The first strategic-missile unit became operational on 9 February 1959 at Plesetsk in the north-west of the USSR. On 15 December 1959 the R-7 missile was tested at Plesetsk for the first time. The missiles were fully deployed by 1962.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: Total service was limited to no more than ten nuclear-armed missiles active at any time. A single launch pad was operational at Baikonur and from six to eight were in operation at Plesetsk.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: The costs of the system were high, mostly due to the difficulty of constructing in remote areas the large launch sites required.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: Besides the cost, the missile system faced other operational challenges. With the U-2 overflights, the huge R-7 launch complexes could not be hidden and therefore could be expected to be destroyed quickly in any nuclear war. Also, the R-7 took almost twenty hours to prepare for launching, and it could not be left on alert for more than a day due to its cryogenic fuel system. Therefore, the Soviet force could not be kept on permanent alert and could have been subject to an air strike before launching. Additionally, the huge payload for which it was designed, adapted to early heavy H-bombs, became irrelevant with the coming of lighter bomb technology.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: The limitations of the R-7 pushed the Soviet Union into rapidly developing second-generation missiles which would be more viable weapons systems. The R-7 was phased out of military service by 1968.


title: R-7 Semyorka

text: While the R-7 turned out to be impractical as a weapon, it became the basis for a series of Soviet expendable space launch vehicles, the Soyuz family of launchers. As of 2018, in modified versions (Soyuz-U, Soyuz-FG, and the Soyuz-2 (including the boosterless 2.1v variant), the vehicle is still in service, having launched over 1840 times.


title: Jeju uprising

text: The Jeju uprising, known in South Korea as the Jeju April 3 incident (), was an uprising on Jeju Island from April 1948 to May 1949. Residents of Jeju opposed to the division of Korea had protested and had been on a general strike since 1947 against elections scheduled by the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) to be held only in the territory controlled by the United States Army Military Government in Korea. The Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) and its supporters launched an insurgency in April 1948, attacking the police, and Northwest Youth League members stationed on Jeju mobilized to violently suppress the protests. The First Republic of Korea under President Syngman Rhee escalated the suppression of the uprising from August 1948, declaring martial law in November and beginning an "eradication campaign" against rebel forces in the rural areas of Jeju in March 1949, defeating them within two months. Many rebel veterans and suspected sympathizers were later killed upon the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, and the existence of the Jeju uprising was officially censored and repressed in South Korea for several decades.


title: Jeju uprising

text: The Jeju uprising was notable for its extreme violence; between 14,000 and 30,000 people (10 percent of Jeju's population) were killed, and 40,000 fled to Japan. Atrocities and war crimes were committed by both sides, but historians have noted that the methods used by the South Korean government to suppress protesters and rebels were especially cruel, with violence against civilians by pro-government forces contributing to the Yeosu-Suncheon rebellion in South Jeolla during the conflict. Some historians and scholars, including military historian Allan R. Millett, regard the Jeju uprising as the true beginning of the Korean War.


title: Jeju uprising

text: In 2006, almost 60 years after the Jeju uprising, the South Korean government apologized for its role in the killings and promised reparations. In 2019, the South Korean police and defense ministry apologized for the first time over the massacres.


title: Jeju uprising

text: After Imperial Japan surrendered to Allied forces on August 15, 1945, the 35-year Japanese occupation of Korea finally came to an end. Korea was subsequently divided at the 38th parallel north, with the Soviet Union assuming trusteeship north of the line and the United States south of the line. In September 1945, Lt. General John R. Hodge established a military government to administer the southern region, which included Jeju Island. In December 1945, U.S. representatives met with those from the Soviet Union and United Kingdom to work out joint trusteeship. Due to lack of consensus, however, the U.S. took the "Korean question" to the United Nations for further deliberation. On November 14, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed UN Resolution 112, calling for a general election on May 10, 1948, under UNTCOK supervision.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Fearing it would lose influence over the northern half of Korea if it complied, the Soviet Union rejected the UN resolution and denied the UNTCOK access to northern Korea. UNTCOK nevertheless went through with the elections, albeit in the southern half of the country only. The Soviet Union responded to these elections in the south with an election of its own in the north on August 25, 1948.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Residents of Jeju island were some of the most active participants in the Korean independence movement against colonial Japanese occupation. Due to the island's relative isolation from the mainland peninsula, Jeju experienced relative peace after the Japanese surrender, contrasting with the period of heavy unrest in the southern region of mainland Korea. As with the mainland, the period immediately following the Japanese surrender was characterized by the formation of People's Committees, local autonomous councils tasked with coordinating the transition towards Korean independence. When the American military government arrived on Jeju in late 1945, the Jeju People's Council was the only existing government on the island. As a testament to this relative stability, the US military governor under the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) John R. Hodge stated in October 1947 that Jeju was "a truly communal area that is peacefully controlled by the People's Committee without much Comintern influence."


title: Jeju uprising

text: The Jeju People's Committee had come under the directive of the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) by late 1946. The WPSK encouraged the People's Council to establish military and political committees, as well as mass organizations. The 1946 USAMGIK dissolution of the provisional People's Republic of Korea and their associated People's Committees on the mainland sparked the Autumn Uprising of 1946, which did not spread to Jeju (as its PC still operated virtually undisturbed by the American military government) but did contribute to rising tensions on the island.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Residents of Jeju began protesting against the elections a year before they took place. Particularly concerned about permanently dividing the peninsula, the WPSK planned gatherings on March 1, 1947, to denounce the elections and simultaneously celebrate the anniversary of the March 1st Movement (also known as the Sam-Il Movement). An attempt by the security forces to disperse the crowds only brought more citizens of Jeju out in support of the demonstrations. In a desperate attempt to calm the boisterous crowd, Korean police fired indiscriminate warning shots above their heads, some of which went into the crowd. Although these shots successfully pacified the demonstrators, six civilians were killed, including a six-year-old child.


title: Jeju uprising

text: On March 8, 1947, a crowd of about a thousand demonstrators gathered at the Chong-myon jail, demanding the release of WPSK members the military government had arrested during the Sam-Il demonstrations. When the demonstrators started throwing rocks and subsequently rushed the jail, the police inside shot at them in a panic, killing five. In response, WPSK members and others called on the military government to take action against the police officers who fired on the crowd. Instead, 400 more police officers were flown in from the mainland, along with members of an extreme right-wing paramilitary group known as the Northwest Youth League. Although both the police and paramilitary groups employed violent and harsh tactics in their suppression of the locals, the Northwest Youth League was especially ruthless, described as borderline terroristic.


title: Jeju uprising

text: As the May 10, 1948 elections approached, WPSK leaders hardened in their opposition to the involvement of UNTCOK in Korean affairs, as they believed the elections would concretise the 38th parallel partition as a border, rendering a unified, independent Korea much less likely. In January 1948, Pak Hon-yong, the leader of the WPSK, called on WPSK members south of the 38th parallel to oppose the elections by whatever means necessary, and called for a general strike to begin on February 7. At this point, there were at least 60,000 members of the WPSK on Jeju, and at least 80,000 active supporters. These members and supporters not only went on strike but in some cases attacked government installations and engaged with police forces in open conflict. These engagements between WPSK guerrillas against rightist groups and police continued through March 1948.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Although skirmishes had been taking place on Jeju Island since early 1947, April 3, 1948, is considered as the day the Jeju uprising officially began. Some sources claim it came about when military police "fired on a demonstration commemorating the Korean struggle against Japanese rule," igniting mass insurrection. Other sources, however, make no mention of this demonstration incident, and claim that WPSK plans to attack on April 3 had been in the works for some time. Whatever the case, around 02:00 around 500 WPSK guerrillas alongside up to 3,000 sympathizers attacked Northwest Youth League positions as well as 11 of the 24 police stations on the island, killing 30 police officers, specifically targeting those who were known to have previously collaborated with the Japanese.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Lieutenant General Kim Ik-ryeol, commander of police forces on the island, attempted to end the insurrection peacefully by negotiating with the rebels. He met several times with rebel leader Kim Dal-sam of the WPSK but neither side could agree on conditions. The government wanted a complete surrender and the rebels demanded disarmament of the local police, dismissal of all governing officials on the island, prohibition of paramilitary groups, and the re-unification and liberation of the Korean peninsula.


title: Jeju uprising

text: In the wake of these failed peace negotiations, the fighting continued. The U.S. military government responded to guerrilla activity by transferring another regiment to Jeju from Busan and deploying police companies, each 1,700 strong, from the southern provinces of the mainland. The guerrillas retreated to their bases in the forests and caves around Hallasan, an extinct volcano and the highest mountain in South Korea. On April 29, the Korean, non-military, governor of Jeju province abandoned his post, defected, and joined the guerrillas. This caused many police officers, disillusioned by the atrocities they were ordered to commit against their own, to do the same. In response, U.S. military provincial governor William F. Dean ordered a purge of WPSK sympathizers from the ranks of the Korean Constabulary, and three sergeants were summarily executed.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Fighting continued through the May 10 elections. A total of 214 people had been killed by then. During election week, the guerrillas "cut telephone lines, destroyed bridges, and blocked roads with piles of stones to disrupt communications." The WPSK Women's League campaigned for residents to hide in the mountainous region controlled by guerillas the night before the election so they could not be brought out to vote at gunpoint, and thousands did. Many election officials even declined to show up. These campaigns, along with sporadic arson, violent demonstrations and attacks on three government installations on election day rendered the election useless. The turnout in Jeju was the lowest in all of South Korea, so low that the two seats reserved for Jeju province in the new national assembly were left vacant.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Fearing an upsurge in guerrilla activities after they succeeded in getting what they wanted out of the election, General Dean requested a US Navy blockade of the island on May 11, so that sympathizers from the mainland could not reach Jeju. The Navy sent the to enforce the blockade.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Although guerrilla activities waned during the summer months of 1948, they picked up again in August after the Soviet Union held elections north of the 38th parallel to form the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). In conjunction with these elections, the Workers' Party of North Korea (WPNK) organized "underground elections" for those wanting to participate south of the 38th parallel, including on Jeju Island. Although the turnout of these elections is disputed, they succeeded at emboldening WPSK military forces. In the months following the elections, conditions worsened to the point that Republic of Korea (ROK) officials decided to send the Fourteenth Regiment of the Korean Constabulary, stationed near the southern port city of Yeosu, to Jeju Island to assist counter-guerrilla efforts. Not wanting to "murder the people of Jeju," however, thousands of these troops mutinied on October 20, 1948, just as they were preparing to depart. They killed many of the high-ranking officers and former Japanese collaborators and seized Yeosu and surrounding areas before retreating into the areas around Jirisan mountain and setting up guerrilla bases, much as the Jeju guerrillas did while hiding out in Hallasan. Embarrassed by this incident, Syngman Rhee, the newly elected president of the ROK, intensified the government's efforts to stamp out the rebellion. On November 17, 1948, Syngman Rhee proclaimed martial law in order to quell the rebellion. During this period, ROK police forces engaged in numerous war crimes. One report describes the events of December 14, 1948 at a small Jeju village, in which ROK forces attacked the village and kidnapped many young men and girls. The girls were gang-raped over a two-week period and were then executed along with the young men.


title: Jeju uprising

text: By the end of 1948, the ROK's harsh tactics and effective suppression campaigns had reduced the number of guerrilla forces to just 300.


title: Jeju uprising

text: On January 1, 1949, the guerrillas launched one last offensive against ROK police. They attacked at Odong-ni and Jeju City, but were beaten back by ROK police and driven to the island's interior mountains. ROK police pursued the guerrillas and continued to commit atrocities, including rounding up whole villages and killing them all. The ROK forces, now determined to destroy the remaining WPSK guerrillas, launched an eradication campaign in March 1949. During the campaign, 2,345 guerrillas and 1,668 civilians were killed. With the campaign now effectively over, the ROK held elections on Jeju Island to fill the province's empty seats in the National Assembly; Jeju Island was now effectively and symbolically under ROK jurisdiction.


title: Jeju uprising

text: At the beginning of the uprising, the island was controlled by the United States Army Military Government in Korea. Only a small number of Americans were present. Jimmie Leach, a captain in the US Army, was an adviser to the South Korean Constabulary and claimed that there were six Americans on the island, including himself, and that they could call on two small L-4 scout planes and two old minesweepers converted to coastal cutters, manned by Korean crews. On March 8, 1949, the US Armed Forces sent an investigation team headed by Colonel James A. Casteel to Jeju to investigate the causes of the rebellion. They summarized that the February 1948 Jeju general strike prior to the rebellion was caused by instigation by the WPSK and hostility towards the police as a result of shootings. They also described the strike as "communist inspired" but participated by both the left and right in response to the March 1 shootings.


title: Jeju uprising

text: By the spring of 1949 four South Korean Army battalions arrived and joined the local constabulary, police forces, and right-wing Northwest Youth Association partisans to brutally suppress protests. The combined forces quickly destroyed or disabled most of the remaining rebel forces. On August 17, 1949, the leadership of the movement fell apart following the killing of major rebel leader Yi Tuk-ku. The US military later called the complete destruction of Jungsangan village a "successful operation."


title: Jeju uprising

text: The National Committee for the Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Incident concluded that the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea and the Korean Military Advisory Group shared responsibility for the incident as it began under the rule of the military government and an American colonel was in charge of the security forces of Jeju until August 1948.


title: Jeju uprising

text: After the outbreak of the Korean War, the US assumed command of the South Korean armed forces. Brigadier General William Lynn Roberts commanded Americans on Jeju.


title: Jeju uprising

text: The US military documented massacres but did not intervene. On May 13, 1949, the US ambassador to South Korea wired Washington that the Jeju rebels and their sympathizers had been, "killed, captured, or converted." "Stars and Stripes" reported on the South Korean Army's brutal suppression of the rebellion, local support for the rebels, as well as rebel retaliation against local rightist opponents.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Immediately after the North Korean invasion of South Korea, the South Korean military ordered the "preemptive apprehension" of suspected leftists nationwide. Thousands were detained on Jeju and then sorted into four groups, labeled A, B, C and D, based on the perceived security risks each posed. On August 30, 1950, a written order by a senior intelligence officer in the South Korean Navy instructed Jeju's police to "execute all those in groups C and D by firing squad no later than September 6."


title: Jeju uprising

text: In one of its first official acts, the South Korean National Assembly passed the National Traitors Act in 1948, which among other measures, outlawed the Workers Party of South Korea. For almost fifty years after the uprising, it was a crime punishable by beatings, torture, and a lengthy prison sentence if any South Korean even mentioned the events of the Jeju uprising. The event had been largely ignored by the government. In 1992, President Roh Tae Woo's government sealed up a cave on Mount Halla, where the remains of massacre victims had been discovered. After civil rule was reinstated in the 1990s, the government admitted that the events on Jeju Island had taken place. A decade later in 2006, the government of South Korea issued an official apology.


title: Jeju uprising

text: In October 2003, President Roh Moo-hyun apologized to the populace of Jeju for the brutal suppression of the uprising: "Due to wrongful decisions of the government, many innocent people of Jeju suffered many casualties and destruction of their homes." Roh was the first South Korean president to apologize for the 1948 massacre. In March 2009, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission revealed, "At least 20,000 people jailed for taking part in the popular uprisings in Jeju, Yeosu and Suncheon, accused of being communists, were massacred in some 20 prisons across the country," when the Korean War broke out.


title: Jeju uprising

text: The commission reported 14,373 victims during the uprising, 86 percent at the hands of the security forces and 14 percent at the hands of armed rebels, and estimated that the total death toll was as high as 30,000. The commission listed the number of confirmed deaths at each stage of the incident; 104 deaths from March 3, 1947 to April 4, 1948; 214 deaths during the initial armed uprising from April 4 to May 10; and 637 deaths during armed conflict from May 11 to October 10. The most violent period was from October 11, 1948 to March 1, 1949, with 9,709 confirmed deaths. There were a further 2,668 confirmed deaths between March 3, 1949 and June 24, 1950. 800 more deaths occurred on Jeju up to 21 September, 1954. The commission confirmed 7,624 victims of the security forces, and 1,528 victims of the armed rebels. Further, they confirmed 448 victims of systematic civilian massacres.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Some 70 percent of the island's 230 villages were burned to the ground, and over 39,000 houses were destroyed. Of the 400 villages before the uprising only 170 remained afterwards. In 2008, bodies of massacre victims were discovered in a mass grave near Jeju International Airport. Estimates of the overall deaths of the 1948-1950 uprising run as high as 100,000.


title: Jeju uprising

text: In January 2019, the Jeju District Court overturned military court rulings that imprisoned Jeju Islanders, clearing the names of the 18 surviving plaintiffs and recognizing them as wronged victims of the Jeju April 3 Uprising and Massacre. At the 71st commemoration of Jeju uprising, April 3, 2019, the South Korean police and defense ministry apologized for the first time over the massacres.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Families of victims of the uprising and associated massacres, as well as various civic organizations, continuously attempted to openly discuss the uprising but the national government suppressed all materials and discussions, and even made the topic of the uprising illegal. The first published recollection in South Korea of the massacre was the 1978 novel "Sun-i Samch'on" (, "Uncle Suni") which is set during the event. However, it was swiftly banned by the ROK government and its author, Hyun Ki-young, was arrested and tortured for three days by the National Intelligence Service.


title: Jeju uprising

text: However, on November 23, 1998, after the democratization of South Korea, President Kim Dae-jung stated that "the Jeju uprising was a communist rebellion, but there are a lot of people who died under false accusations as innocents, so now we have to reveal the truth and clear their false charges." On December 26, 1999, the National Assembly passed a bill, 'A special law for the Jeju uprising truth ascertainment and the regaining impaired reputation of the victims'. On January 12, 2000, the National Assembly legislated a law so the Korean government could begin conducting an investigation of the uprising. Due to this decision, it could be possible to expand the human rights of the residents of Jeju. On October 15, 2003, a truth ascertainment committee of the Jeju uprising was assembled according to the special law, and ascertained a fact-finding report of the Jeju uprising. In line with the finding of the committee, on October 31, 2003, former president Roh Moo-hyeon admitted that the brutal suppression of the uprising was a massive abuse of governmental power and made a public apology to the people of Jeju on behalf of the Republic of Korea. On the 71st anniversary of the event, the defense ministry and police under the Moon Jae-in administration apologized for the past government's role in the Jeju massacre.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Some right-wing groups, including the Wallganjosun (), and Jaehyanggooninhoe () argued that the Jeju uprising was led and instigated by the WPSK.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Kim Gwang-dong, the director of researching policy in Korea argued that though the fundamental characteristic of the uprising was "subversion of the system," there were many skewed and biased studies that criticizes the Korean government's faults in suppressing the rebellion. He said that "it was an armed struggle and revolt of the forces who advocate communism against forces who support liberal democracy."


title: Jeju uprising

text: A Presbyterian minister, Lee Jong-yoon, said at a church in Seoul that "the Jeju rising was incurred by the leftist forces and they provoked the rebellion to disturb the May 10 general election." The statement was broadcast through the CTS channel.


title: Jeju uprising

text: On November 20, 2010, a chairman of an adjustment committee of past affairs and a former new right, Lee Young-Jo argued that the "Jeju rising was apparent communist-led rebellion."


title: Jeju uprising

text: There are controversies about the legality of martial law, which took effect on November 17, 1948. One side that thinks it was illegal, according to the first constitution of South Korea. The other side argued that martial law from the Japanese colonial era still existedand so there are any violence of the effectuating martial law. This part continued before August 15, 1948, and after the formation of the South Korean government.


title: Jeju uprising

text: Although the report of the incident started in June 2000, 14,028 victims were found, but it is expected that the number will be higher since there are either unidentified or unidentifiable victims. On the other hand, about 180 soldiers died in combat, and 140 policemen died in the April 3 incident.


title: Jeju uprising

text: In 2003, South Korea's National Committee for the Investigation of the Truth concluded the US Army military government and the Korean military shared responsibility for the incident. On October 31, 2003, South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun offered an apology to the victims of the Jeju incident. On March 28, 2008, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology opened a chemical aid project in Bonggae-dong, Jeju as part of a joint compensation program for the Jeju April 3 incident.


title: Jeju uprising

text: In January 2019, 18 survivors, who were formally charged with insurrection, were acquitted more than 70 years after their imprisonment. The Jeju District Court overturned military court rulings that imprisoned Jeju Islanders, clearing the names of the 18 surviving plaintiffs and recognizing them as wronged victims of the Jeju April 3 Uprising and Massacre. At the 71st commemoration of Jeju uprising, April 3, 2019, the South Korean police and defense ministry apologized for the first time over the massacres.


title: Murali Gopy

text: Gopynathan Velayudhan Nair Muralikrishnan (born 4 March 1972), professionally credited as Murali Gopy, is an Indian actor-screenwriter, producer, author, singer, lyricist, music composer and journalist. He has written critically acclaimed films like "Ee Adutha Kaalathu", "Left Right Left", "Tiyaan", "Kammara Sambhavam", and the highest-grossing Malayalam film "Lucifer". He has won numerous awards including Filmfare Awards South and South Indian International Movie Awards.


title: Murali Gopy

text: Murali Gopy joined "The New Indian Express" in 1995, immediately after completing PG in Journalism at Institute of Journalism, Thiruvananthapuram, and worked as sub-editor and reporter there. Later, he joined "The Hindu", as sub-editor and Features Editor. He then shifted base to UAE, and became chief sub-editor with Arab-Allied Media, Dubai, for the sports magazines "Cleanbowled" and "Sports Today". In 2008, he was appointed chief editor of MSN India Entertainment. In 2012, he resigned the job to be more active in films. His writings on various topics can be found in his blog .


title: Murali Gopy

text: Murali is a screenwriter and short story writer. He published his first short story "Ayur Rekha" in "Kalakaumudi" in 1991 at the age of 19. He has often stated that he started writing stories to bring a smile to his father, thespian Bharat Gopy, who was debilitated by a massive stroke in 1986. "Murali Gopiyude Kadhakal", a compilation of his stories, has been published by Mathrubhumi Books, the third edition of which is now running. He has also sketched illustrations for "The Hindu", "Kalakaumudi" and "DC Books".


title: Murali Gopy

text: Murali Gopy made his debut as a screenwriter, actor and singer in the Lal Jose movie "Rasikan" (2004). The 2012 film "Ee Adutha Kaalathu", scripted by Murali, is considered a pathbreaker in Malayalam cinema, for its innovative method of weaving story threads together. It was opined to be "the cinema of 21st century" by stalwart writer N. S. Madhavan. His next screenplay was for "Left Right Left", also directed by Arun Kumar Aravind. It is a social thriller set in three periods – the 60s/70s, the 80s/90s and the present. The movie, which opened to excellent reviews on its release, has since then been looked upon as a cult classic. The 2017 movie "Tiyaan", written by him was noted for its bold theme that focused on the current socio-political scenario in India. Kammara Sambhavam, scripted by him, combines black humour with satire and spoof. He scripted Lucifer, starring Mohanlal, and directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran.


title: Murali Gopy

text: Murali's debut acting role in "Rasikan" was as the villain Kala Bhaskaran. His notable performances include the role of Ajay Kurien, an impotent and abusive husband in "Ee Adutha Kaalathu", Che Guevara Roy, a partially paralyzed left activist in "Left Right Left", Father Michael Plathottathil a young priest in "Kanyaka Talkies", the double role as Dr.Hari Narayan and Ravi Narayan in the psychological thriller "1 by Two", Devassy Pappan, an 80-year-old patriarch in "Pa Va", Bhramaram, Mahashay Bhagvan, a self-proclaimed Godman in "Tiyaan". As an actor, Murali has been praised for his attention to minute details and realistic acting style. His onscreen portrayals have won him many accolades including the 61st Filmfare Awards South for The Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Known to be greatly selective, Murali Gopy has worked only in a limited number of movies since his foray into the film industry in 2004.


title: Murali Gopy

text: Murali, who is passionate about his singing, has rendered songs for many films. His "The LRL Anthem" in "Left Right Left", "Pakalinu Veyil" in "1 by Two", "Kalippu" in "Premam" and "Bham Bham Shiv Bole" in "Tiyaan", were super hits. He has won Asiavision Movie Award for The New Sensation in Singing for "LRL Anthem".


title: Murali Gopy

text: Murali Gopy ventured into lyrics writing with the song "Neti" in "Tiyaan", which describes the path to spiritual enlightenment. He has also written the Lucifer anthem song "Empuraane", which was sung by Usha Uthup.Also he written the theme song of the movie Theerppu called "Raavil"


title: Murali Gopy

text: Murali Gopy made his debut as a music composer with the song "Raavil", for the movie "Theerppu", which was also scripted and produced by him.


title: Murali Gopy

text: Murali is the son of the actor Bharath Gopi and Jayalakshmy. He was married to Anjana Pillai, and has two children, Gowri and Gowrav. Anjana died at the age of 38, on 26 April 2015 after suffering a heart attack.


title: Özge Törer

text: Özge Törer (born 16 August 1998) is a Turkish actress known for her role as Bala Hatun in the Turkish TV series "Kuruluş Osman", in which she stars alongside Burak Özçivit. Törer was born in 1998 in Istanbul, Turkey. She lived in Silivri, Turkey, until she finished high school, upon after she went to Mugla Sitki Kocman University where she won an award for her role in a stage show. Özge, who previously only appeared as a host in a small television show, won two awards for "Best Actress of the Year in 2021, ("one at the Crystal Globe Awards) for her role as Bala Hatun.


title: The Leopard

text: The Leopard ( ) is a novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa that chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the "Risorgimento". Published posthumously in 1958 by Feltrinelli, after two rejections by the leading Italian publishing houses Mondadori and Einaudi, it became the top-selling novel in Italian history and is considered one of the most important novels in modern Italian literature. In 1959, it won Italy's highest award for fiction, the Strega Prize. In 2012, "The Observer" named it as one of "the 10 best historical novels". The novel was also made into an award-winning 1963 film of the same name, directed by Luchino Visconti and starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon.


title: The Leopard

text: Tomasi was the last in a line of minor princes in Sicily. He had long contemplated writing a historical novel based on his great-grandfather, Don Giulio Fabrizio Tomasi, another Prince of Lampedusa. But after the Lampedusa palace near Palermo was bombed and pillaged during the Allied invasion of Sicily, Tomasi sank into a lengthy depression. To combat his feelings he began to write "Il Gattopardo".


title: The Leopard

text: Despite being universally known in English as "The Leopard", the original Italian title is "Il Gattopardo" which refers to the serval, a much smaller animal. Although uncommon north of the Sahara Desert, one of the serval's few North African ranges is quite near Lampedusa. The symbol on the Tomasi di Lampedusa coat of arms is the serval, and though unusual, servals were owned by some Sicilians as exotic pets.


title: The Leopard

text: The novel is the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, a 19th-century Sicilian nobleman caught in the midst of civil war and revolution. As a result of political upheaval, the prince's position in the island's class system is eroded by newly-moneyed peasants and "shabby minor gentry." As the novel progresses, the Prince is forced to choose between upholding the continuity of upper class values, and breaking tradition to secure the continuity of his family's influence. A central theme of the story is the struggle between mortality and decay (death, fading of beauty, fading of memories, change of political system, false relics, etc.), and abstraction and eternity (the prince's love for the stars, continuity and the resilience of the Sicilian people). In a letter to a friend, the author notes: "Be careful: the dog Bendicò is a very important character and is almost the key to the novel". This heraldic emblem is the key to destruction, in the sense that ruin comes even to the dog.


title: The Leopard

text: Most of the novel is set during the time of the "Risorgimento", specifically during the period when Giuseppe Garibaldi, the leader of the famous Redshirts, swept through Sicily with his proletariat army known as The Thousand. As the novel opens in May 1860, Garibaldi's Redshirts have landed on the Sicilian coast and are pressing inland; they will soon overthrow the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and incorporate it into the unified Italian Kingdom under Victor Emmanuel. The plot focuses upon the aristocratic Salina family, which is headed by Prince Fabrizio. Don Fabrizio is the patriarch of the family as well as the keeper of its strict code of conduct and Roman Catholic ritual.


title: The Leopard

text: Prince Fabrizio finds marriage with his overly puritanical wife to be physically unsatisfying, and thus keeps a series of mistresses and courtesans as well as indulging in his hobby of amateur astronomy. He is drawn to his nephew Prince Tancredi Falconeri whom he sees as having noble qualities. This affection is somewhat diminished when he discovers that Tancredi has joined Garibaldi's Redshirts. On a trip to the Salina estate in the town of Donnafugata the Prince learns that the mayor, Don Calogero Sedara, has become wealthy through dodgy business transactions and political influence and that his wealth now rivals that of the Salinas. When Sedara introduces his extraordinarily beautiful daughter, Angelica, Tancredi is smitten with her, to the dismay of the Prince's daughter Concetta, who loves Tancredi. Although aware of his daughter's feelings, the Prince accepts the inevitable and helps arrange Tancredi's betrothal to Angelica. The two pass a blissfully innocent period of engagement.


title: The Leopard

text: Fabrizio is offered the position of a Senator in the new Italian state but turns it down. Angelica is introduced to Palermo society at a sumptuous ball and despite her background slips easily into the role of future countess. The narrative then jumps forward by two decades and finds Prince Fabrizio on his deathbed, surrounded by family. The Prince considers that he will be the last true prince of the Salinas, the last leopard. A final chapter takes place in 1910 when Concetta, now seventy, is living in the family home with two of her sisters.


title: The Leopard

text: This chapter begins with a detailed description of the exquisitely decorated drawing-room where the Salina family recites the daily rosary. Afterwards, the Prince wanders out into the garden, where the sickly, over-ripe smells of lush foliage threaten to overwhelm him with memories – specifically of a mortally wounded Neapolitan soldier who in his last moments had crawled into the lemon grove and died there. Perturbed by these thoughts, the Prince takes refuge in watching his dog, Bendicò, joyfully dig up the garden, and in thoughts about the behavior of his wayward nephew, Prince Tancredi Falconeri.


title: The Leopard

text: At dinner the Prince announces that he will drive into Palermo. The adults at the table, including the Princess and the family's Jesuit chaplain, Father Pirrone, instantly know that the only reason he is leaving is to visit a brothel. As the Prince is driven in his carriage into the city he passes Tancredi's villa, worrying again that Tancredi has fallen in with the bad company of the rebels fighting to overthrow the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Prince's thoughts vacillate between anticipation and guilt, between disgust with his wife (who crosses herself whenever they make love or he even kisses her goodnight; to preempt a private rebuke from the family priest about visiting prostitutes, the Prince points out that "he's had seven children with the Princess and yet has never seen her navel") and admiration for her modesty. Two hours later his thoughts run a similar course, with the addition of a kind of disgusted satisfaction with the prostitute and a satisfied disgust with his own body. When he arrives back home he finds the Princess in bed, thinks affectionately of her, climbs into bed with her and finds he cannot sleep. "Towards dawn, however, the Princess had occasion to make the Sign of the Cross."


title: The Leopard

text: The following morning the Prince's shaving is interrupted by the arrival of Tancredi, who reveals that his position in the Italian nationalist movement has risen. He adds that he will soon be joining Garibaldi in the mountains. The Prince suddenly imagines his beloved nephew dead in the garden with his guts trailing out like the Crown soldier and tries to dissuade him from departing. However Tancredi insists that he is fighting for a very good reason. Later, as the Prince gets dressed, he realizes the practicality of Tancredi's words. As he ponders the coming upheavals, he realizes that his nephew is more aristocratically minded than he had thought.


title: The Leopard

text: After breakfast the Prince, accompanied by the playful Bendicò, goes into his office, which is lined with century-old paintings of the Salinas' estates. As he sits at his cluttered desk the Prince recalls how much he dislikes both the room and the work it represents. This dislike intensifies during visits from his accountant and one of his tenants, both of whom are allied with the Redshirts. Both of them assure the Prince that the unification of Italy will be peaceful and will benefit everyone, including the nobility. The Prince allows himself to be reassured, certain that the class system will remain unchanged no matter what. This belief is reinforced by his visit to Father Pirrone atop a tower where the men practise their joint hobby of astronomy.


title: The Leopard

text: At lunch the Prince becomes aware that his family is worried about Tancredi’s safety. As a result the Prince makes an effort to appear simultaneously concerned and reassuring. When dessert is brought out it is his favorite – a large, castle-shaped rum jelly. The castle is essentially demolished before Don Paolo, the Prince's son and heir, gets a chance to have any.


title: The Leopard

text: That evening the Prince receives a letter urging him to flee to safety from the revolution. In response he simply laughs. Later, as the Salinas gather to say their rosary, the Prince reads in a newspaper of the approach of Garibaldi and his men. He is disturbed but reassures himself that Garibaldi will be reined in by his Piedmontese masters.


title: The Leopard

text: After a long journey by coach, the Prince, his faithful dog Bendicò and the squabbling Salinas arrive at their estate at Donnafugata. Both the officials of the town and the common people greet the Salinas as gladly as always. Their numbers include the new mayor, Don Calogero Sedàra.


title: The Leopard

text: The Prince reflects on Garibaldi's recent conquest of the island. The Expedition of the Thousand landed at Marsala, where Tancredi and other native Sicilians joined them. Garibaldi's march was finally completed with the Siege of Gaeta, where the final Bourbons were expelled and Garibaldi announced his dictatorship in the name of Victor Emmanuel II of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Upon his arrival, the citizens of Palermo rejoiced and, later, local leaders of the movement had called at the Salina palace. Although they treated the Prince with great respect, one of them insisted on flirting with his daughter Concetta.


title: The Leopard

text: After Mass, the Princess invites the officials to the traditional first-night dinner, and Don Calogero requests permission to bring his daughter Angelica.


title: The Leopard

text: As the Prince inspects his property and possessions, the manager lists everything that has been done to keep the estate in order and then passes on some local news. Don Calogero, who was active in Garibaldi's invasion, has become a wealthy landowner and businessman. To the dismay of the Prince, Don Calogero is now almost as wealthy as the Salinas. The manager adds that Angelica has become quite full of herself as a result. The Prince realizes that he is somewhat resentful of Don Calogero's status.


title: The Leopard

text: The Prince's bath before dinner is interrupted by the arrival of Father Pirrone. Concetta has asked Father Pirrone to tell her father that she is in love with Tancredi and that she believes a marriage proposal to be imminent. She desires instruction from her father as to how she is to respond. The Prince ponders his fondness for Concetta, which is based in her apparent submissiveness and placidity. However, he thinks that Tancredi's political ambitions may require more money than Concetta will bring as her dowry. Keeping his thoughts to himself, the Prince decrees that Father Pirrone is to tell Concetta that the Prince will discuss it with her later.


title: The Leopard

text: After a nap, the Prince goes out into the garden, where his contemplations of an erotic statue are interrupted by Tancredi's teasing about sex, comments which also apply to a small crop of beautifully ripe peaches in a nearby grove. The Prince uneasily changes the subject, and he and Tancredi gossip their way back to the house, where they join the rest of the family and the arriving dinner guests.


title: The Leopard

text: Soon after, Don Calogero arrives, and the Prince is relieved to see that he is dressed quite tastelessly. His relief ends abruptly when Angelica arrives — he finds her attractive enough to feel the stir of lust. At dinner, Angelica flirts openly with Tancredi — who, in his turn, finds himself attracted to both Angelica's beauty and her money. He tells Angelica a risqué story about storming a convent and jokes about how if she had been present his band of comrades would not have needed the nuns. Concetta is enraged, angrily rebukes Tancredi and turns her back to him.


title: The Leopard

text: The following day the Prince and his family uphold a centuries-old family tradition and visit a convent founded by a female ancestor. Although tradition demands that he hold back, Tancredi expresses a desire to enter the convent, saying that a new interpretation of the rules will allow him to. To the shock of both Tancredi and her father, Concetta snaps that Tancredi has already been in a convent and enters without him.


title: The Leopard

text: After returning from the convent, the Prince looks out from his window at the town square of Donnafugata and spies Tancredi, dressed in his 'seduction color' of Prussian blue. He is carrying a box of peaches from the palace's fruit grove and is seen knocking on the door of the Sedàra household.


title: The Leopard

text: This chapter begins with a lyrically written introduction to the silent, still, dim, early morning world at Donnafugata in which the Prince likes to walk with Bendicò. Narration then describes how Tancredi writes every week, but never to Concetta and always with comments that he would like the Prince to pass on to Angelica, who, in turn, visits every day, pretending to come to see the girls but in reality to learn news of Tancredi.


title: The Leopard

text: One particular day a letter arrives from Tancredi in which he asks the Prince to ask Angelica's father for her hand in marriage. He uses several arguments to persuade the Prince to do so, among them that she will bring money into the family and guarantee that the family will continue to have status in the new kingdom of Italy. The Prince finds himself agreeing with many of Tancredi's points and takes a little second-hand sensual pleasure in knowing that he will soon be able to enjoy seeing Angelica more often.


title: The Leopard

text: When the Prince informs the Princess she is outraged and accuses Tancredi of betraying both Concetta and his lawful King. The Prince angrily replies that if Concetta wished to marry Tancredi then she should not have refused him outside the convent. The Princess relaxes.


title: The Leopard

text: The next morning, the Prince, in the company of his usual morning companions, Don Ciccio (the parish organist) and Bendicò, takes his gun with him on his walk and shoots a rabbit: 'The animal had died tortured by anxious hopes of salvation, imagining it could still escape when it was already caught, just like so many human beings.'


title: The Leopard

text: Later, the Prince and Ciccio eat their picnic lunch and settle down for a nap. However, instead of sleeping, the Prince finds himself contemplating the recent vote taken on the question of whether Sicily should politically join with the new Italian Kingdom. The Prince remembers how he could not decide which way to mark his ballot. Eventually he voted 'yes'. He then recalls the celebrations which greeted the result — a unanimous vote in favor.


title: The Leopard

text: The Prince contemplates what he believes to be the historical significance of the vote, as well as its deeper meaning. This leads him to ask Ciccio how he voted in the Plebiscite. At first reluctant, Don Ciccio finally admits that, as the son of a Bourbon royal gamekeeper, he could not bring himself to vote in favor of the revolution. Many others in Donnafugata voted the same way, but Don Calogero rigged the election and announced the results as unanimous in favor of the House of Savoy.


title: The Leopard

text: The Prince asks Don Ciccio what the people of Donnafugata really think of Don Calogero. Don Ciccio speaks at angry length of how many people despise Don Calogero in spite of, or perhaps because of, his embodiment of a harsh reality — that 'every coin spent in the world must end in someone's pocket.' Don Calogero was moneylender to peasants and eloped with Angelica's mother, who was the uneducated daughter of a rough peasant farmer. The girl's father vowed revenge, but his corpse was later found, shot twelve times in the back. Angelica's mother never appears in public, and the rumor is that, because of her peasant background, she is unable to function in society. Don Ciccio reveals that he once glimpsed Angelica's mother at early-morning mass and discovered that she, like Angelica, is an extraordinary beauty. It is thus no surprise that the homely Don Calogero keeps such a woman under wraps.


title: The Leopard

text: Although scandalized by Don Ciccio's stories, the Prince at last asks the question that is really on his mind — what is Angelica truly like? Don Ciccio speaks rapturously of her beauty, poise and sophistication, and then speaks about how her parents' vulgarity seems not to have affected her. The Prince bristles and informs Don Ciccio that thenceforth, because Angelica and Tancredi are to be married, the Sedàras must be spoken about with appropriate respect. Don Ciccio, who has believed that Tancredi was attempting to seduce Angelica and ruin her marriage prospects, in order to embarrass her father, is horrified. He bursts out that for Tancredi and Angelica to marry will cause the end of the good qualities of the Salina and Falconeri families. However, the Prince thinks to himself that the marriage will be not the end, but the beginning. As the Prince and Don Ciccio return to Donnafugata, it is impossible to tell which of them is Don Quixote and which is Sancho Panza.


title: The Leopard

text: The Prince takes his time dressing for his meeting with Don Calogero and when he finally goes downstairs he has a vision of the two of them as animals. Their conversation is for the most part polite, with both men making occasional slips into tactlessness but ultimately making the truths of the situation quite apparent. For the Prince the truth involves Tancredi's excellent lineage but extreme poverty, whereas for Don Calogero the truth involves his wealth, which is much greater than the Prince had ever realized, and the fact that Don Calogero is in final negotiations to purchase the title of Baroness for his daughter. An agreement is reached that the marriage is to proceed. As the Prince leaves the meeting he passes Concetta, who does not even turn.


title: The Leopard

text: As preparations progressed for the wedding between Tancredi and Angelica, the Prince and Don Calogero became more like each other — the Prince grew more ruthless in his business dealings, while Don Calogero saw the value of good manners and better grooming. Don Calogero, the narrator suggests, began 'that process of continual refining which in the course of three generations transforms innocent peasants into defenseless gentry'.


title: The Leopard

text: The narrator describes, in a tone that is at times enraptured and at other times pointedly cynical, Angelica's first visit to the Prince and his family, following her betrothal to Tancredi. Dressed beautifully, she makes her entrance with perfect timing and immediately endears herself to the Prince. Only Bendicò, growling in a corner, seems unhappy to see her. Finally, the narrator also describes how Angelica, as she listens, coolly considers the financial and sexual prosperity that awaits them, and comments that, within a few years of the marriage, Angelica will become one of the great political kingmakers of the Italian Kingdom.


title: The Leopard

text: A week later, the family's quiet evening is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Tancredi, who has brought with him a friend, Count Carlo. Tancredi and the Count, in their full dress uniforms, fascinate the Prince's daughters and puzzle the Prince, who says he had thought they were still fighting for Garibaldi. Tancredi and the Count react with disgust, saying there was no way they could have stayed with such a rough outfit when positions with the new king's army were available. Tancredi then produces the ring he has purchased for Angelica. A moment later, Angelica rushes in, having been informed by a note that Tancredi is back. The lovers embrace; sensuality fills the air.


title: The Leopard

text: Love and sensuality fill the subsequent days at Donnafugata. The Count pursues Concetta, dreamily and ineffectually, while Concetta's younger sisters, Carolina and Caterina, dream romantically of Tancredi and the Count. Tancredi and Angelica spend their time exploring the palace's many rooms, each of which contains some representation of a leopard, the family insignia. They discover one set of rooms that seems to have been used to indulge sexual sadism, and flee when the implications sink in. Narration describes how, on several occasions, Tancredi and Angelica are tempted to give in to their mutual sensual desire, but never do, and how this idyllic time of romantic, intimate gaming between them is a happy prelude to the miserable, unsuccessful marriage that will follow.


title: The Leopard

text: A government representative, Chevalley di Monterzuolo, arrives and tells the Prince that, because of his aristocratic background and social influence, the government wants him to sit as an appointed (as opposed to elected) member of the Senate. At first, the Prince is quite silent, leading Chevalley to attempt to flatter him into accepting the offer — an attempt that does not work. The Prince explains at increasingly intense, often poetic length, why, like other Sicilians, he has no interest in being involved in government. He suggests that Don Calogero is more the type of man they should be looking for, and the narrator informs us that Don Calogero will indeed became a Senator ten years hence.


title: The Leopard

text: The following morning, the Prince accompanies Chevalley to the station. As they walk through the streets of early-morning Donnafugata, both of them overwhelmed by the squalor and despair surrounding them, they think the situation ought to change, but whereas Chevalley believes it will, the Prince is convinced it will not.


title: The Leopard

text: Father Pirrone visits his home village. Much has changed since the arrival of the Garibaldini. The land, which was previously owned by a Benedictine monastery, has been seized and sold to a peasant moneylender. Many of the villagers complain to Father Pirrone about their new landlord.


title: The Leopard

text: During a conversation with a childhood friend, Father Pirrone enters a lengthy speech explaining why the Prince and other aristocrats do not really have any reaction one way or the other to the events of the revolution. They "live in a world of their own...all they live by has been handled by others." He concludes by saying that the feelings and attitudes that give rise to class consciousness, never truly die.


title: The Leopard

text: The next day, Pirrone finds his sister Sarina in tears in the kitchen, and gets her to admit that her daughter Angelina (whom Pirrone mentally compares to the beautiful Angelica, and finds wanting) is pregnant out of wedlock. She confesses furiously that the father is the girl's first cousin Santino, the son of paternal uncle of Sarina and Father Pirrone. The latter ponders the long-standing family feud between Pirrone's father and his uncle. After saying Mass, he goes to visit his uncle and manipulates him and Santino into accepting what he proposes as the terms of marriage. Back home, Father Pirrone persuades Angelina's grudging father into agreeing to the terms of marriage by sacrificing his own inheritance. Santino and his father arrive; the marriage is contracted and the young people are happy. Later, while travelling back to the Salinas' Palace, Father Pirrone is certain that Santino and his father had planned Angelina's seduction so they could get their hands on property they had believed was rightfully theirs. He also realizes that the nobility and the peasants are, at least on one level, far more similar than he once thought.


title: The Leopard

text: The Salinas prepare to attend a ball, one of the most important of the Palermo social season. The Prince is both excited and concerned about the evening to come. It will be the first time Angelica and her beauty are to be presented to the public. However, he remains concerned that Don Calogero will make a complete fool of both himself and the Salinas. When Angelica, looking beautiful, and Don Calogero, looking acceptable, arrive shortly after, Angelica makes a huge social success, thanks to detailed training in etiquette given to her by Tancredi. The Prince, after being satisfied that Angelica has been accepted, wanders through the rooms of the Palazzo Ponteleone where the ball is being held, becoming increasingly gloomy at the callowness of the young men, the boredom in the older men, and the silliness of the girls. The Prince notices Tancredi and Angelica dancing happily together, oblivious to the other's desperation, ambition and greed. As he watches, the Prince comes to realize and accept, if only for a moment, that whatever happiness the lovers feel is to be celebrated, no matter what.


title: The Leopard

text: Angelica asks the Prince to dance with her. Flattered, he agrees to a waltz. They are a successful couple and dance well, with the Prince's memory flashing back to the days of his youth "when, in that very same ballroom, he had danced with the Princess before he knew disappointment, boredom and the rest". As the dance finishes, he realizes the other dancers have stopped and are watching them, his "leonine air" preventing the onlookers from bursting into applause. Angelica asks him to eat with her and Tancredi, and for a flattered moment he almost says yes, but then again remembers his youth and, recalling how embarrassing it would have been for him to have an old relative eating with him and a lover, politely excuses himself. The ball goes on until six in the morning. The Prince decides to walk home, alone with his thoughts.


title: The Leopard

text: For years, the Prince has felt that he is dying, 'as if the vital fluid...life itself in fact and perhaps even the will to go on living, were ebbing out of him... as grains of sand cluster and then line up one by one, unhurried, unceasing, before the narrow neck of an hourglass'. A last-minute visit to a doctor has tired him so much that it is decided that he should not go back to the villa outside Palermo, but shall stay in a hotel inside the city itself. As he settles into the hotel, the Prince contemplates the fates of several of his family members — Tancredi's political success in the new Kingdom of Italy; and the deaths of Father Pirrone from old age, of Princess Maria from diabetes, and of Paolo after being thrown by a horse. He also recalls the maturation and dignity of Concetta who, he realizes, is the true heir of what was noble and enduring of the Salina family. He dismisses Paolo's son and biological heir, Fabrizietto, as dissolute, shallow and aimless.


title: The Leopard

text: As the Prince receives the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, he considers the joys (sensual, spiritual, political and animal — in particular, the loving and playful Bendicò) and the sorrows (political, sexual and familial) that he has experienced, concluding that of the 73 years he has been alive, he has only fully lived three of them. In his last moments, as his family gathers around, he sees a young woman appear — beautiful, exquisitely dressed, sensitive, and smiling lovingly. The narrator describes her in terms identical to those in which it describes a beautiful woman glimpsed at the train station on the way back to Palermo — in other words, death was present in his life even then. As the woman helps him to his feet, he sees her face, and to him she appears 'lovelier than she ever had when glimpsed in stellar space'.


title: The Leopard

text: This chapter begins with a reference to 'the old Salina ladies', three elderly sisters whose right to have private Masses in their home is being investigated by representatives of the Archdiocese of Palermo, due to the fact that the ladies have certain relics in their home that, according to rumor, may not be authentic. Eventually, the narrator reveals that the ladies are the three daughters of the Prince — the authoritarian Concetta, the blunt-spoken Carolina and the paralyzed Caterina. As the priests enter the chapel, they are surprised to see a sensuously painted 'Madonna' hanging behind the altar, and walls lined with relics.


title: The Leopard

text: After the priests depart, Concetta retires to her bedroom, where she keeps several locked boxes of decaying mementos of her past, including the skin of her father's dog Bendicò, which had been made into a rug and which is now completely moth-eaten. There, because she is the most pragmatic of the three sisters, she foresees what is about to happen — the confiscation of the relics and the painting, the re-consecration of the chapel, the inevitable spreading of stories of the Salinas' humiliation, and the equally inevitable destruction of what is left of the family's reputation and prestige. Her thoughts are interrupted by a footman announcing the arrival of Princess Angelica Falconeri.


title: The Leopard

text: The well-preserved Angelica, widowed after Tancredi's death a few years before, meets Concetta in the sitting room. She chattily tells Concetta of her plans for celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Garibaldi invasion. Angelica also promises to use her influence with the Cardinal to keep the family's embarrassment from going public. In addition, Angelica informs Concetta that an old friend is coming to call. Senator Tassoni is a veteran of Garibaldi's Redshirts, a close friend and confidant of Tancredi, and a former illicit lover of Angelica. Tassoni is shown in, and after speaking flatteringly of how well Tancredi had spoken of her, he confesses to Concetta that one night, Tancredi tearfully confessed to him that he had once told a lie to her, namely the story about the Redshirts' raid on a convent. Tassoni reveals that Tancredi had wanted to kiss Concetta when she reacted so angrily to the story, and had carried with him the grief of offending her for the rest his life.


title: The Leopard

text: After Tassoni and Angelica depart, a horrified Concetta sees Tancredi in a radically different light. What she had once believed was an attempt to seduce Angelica was only a momentary flirtation. Tancredi loved only her and was profoundly unhappy with the adulterous Angelica. Concetta also realizes that Tancredi's attempt to enter the convent with her family was a marriage proposal and that her angry words were interpreted as a refusal. After fifty years, Concetta is stripped of the comfort of blaming others for her broken heart.


title: The Leopard

text: The following day, the Cardinal inspects the palace chapel and orders the sisters to replace the painting behind the altar, stating that it does not depict the Blessed Virgin but a woman reading a letter from her lover. He leaves behind a priestly antiquarian to examine the relics and determine which are genuine. A few hours later, the priest emerges with a basket full of forged relics and the news that only the few which remain are genuine.


title: The Leopard

text: Meanwhile, Concetta returns to her room and contemplates her possessions there with new perspective. Even the few relics which she once cherished are now only reminders of a life unfulfilled. She also realizes that an unpleasant smell is coming from what remains of Bendicò's rug and orders it thrown out: 'During the flight from the window, its form recomposed itself for an instant; in the air there seemed to be dancing a quadruped with long whiskers, its right foreleg raised in imprecation. Then all found peace in a heap of livid dust.'


title: The Leopard

text: The novel was assailed from all sides upon its publication. Even the first attempt at its publishing failed when Lampedusa was told by an Italian editor that "his novel is unpublishable." When it was finally posthumously published in 1958, conservative elements criticized its portrayal of the decadence of both the nobility and clergy. Leftist elements attacked the novel for its criticism of Italian unification and the destruction of the nobility. The novel's decidedly non-Marxist depiction of the Sicilian working class also enraged the influential Communist Party of Italy.


title: The Leopard

text: Despite or because of this controversy, "The Leopard" was to gain great critical acclaim, most famously from the English novelist E.M. Forster, but also by many 20th and 21st century critics worldwide. In 1959, it won Italy's highest award for fiction, the Strega Prize.


title: The Leopard

text: The novel served as the basis for a film directed by Luchino Visconti. Starring Burt Lancaster, Visconti's film has been described as a fresco of Sicilian life because of its opulent recreation of life. The saturated colours, cinematography, and Visconti's renowned attention to detail all helped make it the winner of the "Palme d'Or" at the Cannes Film Festival.


title: The Leopard

text: 20th Century Fox cut the film dramatically for its original 1963 release, but in the 1980s Visconti's vision was re-released with English subtitles and the famous ballroom scene restored to its full 45 minute running time.


title: The Leopard

text: The novel was adapted for radio by Michael Hastings and Promenade Productions and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2008. The radio play starred then-relative unknowns Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell alongside respected actors such as Stanley Townsend and Julie Legrand.


title: The Leopard

text: "We were the Leopards, the Lions, those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth." (spoken by Don Fabrizio)


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: Miriam Amanda Wallace "Ma" Ferguson (June 13, 1875 – June 25, 1961) was an American politician who served two non-consecutive terms as the governor of Texas: from 1925 to 1927, and from 1933 to 1935. She was the first female governor of Texas, and the second to be governor of any U.S. state, after Nellie Tayloe Ross.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: Ferguson was born Miriam Amanda Wallace in Bell County, Texas. She studied at Salado College and Baylor Female College. When she was 24, she married James Edward Ferguson, a lawyer, at her father's farm near Belton in Bell County, Texas.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: Her nickname, "Ma", came from her initials, "M. A.", and the fact that her husband was known as "Pa" Ferguson. They had two daughters: Ouida Wallace Ferguson, and Dorrace Watt Ferguson.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: Her husband served as Governor of Texas from 1915 to 1917. During his second term, he was investigated by State Attorney General Dan Moody (who would, incidentally, succeed her as Governor in 1927 after her first term) for actions that had been taken against the University of Texas. The Texas State Senate impeached him, convicted him on ten charges, and prohibited him from holding state office in Texas again.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: After her husband's impeachment and conviction, Ma Ferguson ran in the primary for the Democratic nomination for governor and was successful, openly supported by her husband, whom she said she would consult for advice. She was elected to office in the 1924 general election.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: During her campaign, she made it clear she was a puppet candidate for her husband, saying voters would get "two governors for the price of one". Her speeches at rallies consisted of introducing him and letting him take the platform. A common campaign slogan was, "Me for Ma, and I Ain't Got a Durned Thing Against Pa." Patricia Bernstein of the "Houston Chronicle" stated "There was never a question in anyone’s mind as to who was really running things when Ma was governor."


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: After her victory in the Democratic primary, Ferguson defeated George C. Butte, a prominent lawyer and University of Texas dean who emerged as the strongest Republican gubernatorial nominee in Texas since Reconstruction. Due to the widespread corruption of her husband's term, resulting in his impeachment, thousands of voters crossed party lines in the general election to vote for the Republican candidate. Republicans usually took between 11,000 and 30,000 votes for governor, but Butte won nearly 300,000 votes, many of them from women and suffragists. It was still primarily a Democratic state, and Ferguson received 422,563 votes (58.9 percent) to Butte's 294,920 (41.1 percent). Butte had been supported in the general election by former governor William P. Hobby, who had succeeded James Ferguson in 1917 and won a full term in 1918.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: In 1924, Ma Ferguson became the first elected female chief executive of Texas. She was the second female state governor in the United States, and the first to be elected in a general election. Nellie Tayloe Ross had been sworn in as governor of Wyoming to finish the unexpired term of her late husband two weeks before Ferguson's inauguration, though Ross and Ferguson won their respective elections on the same day. Ferguson's campaign manager was Homer T. Brannon of Fort Worth, Texas.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: In 1926, state attorney general Dan Moody, who had investigated her husband for embezzlement and recovered $1 million for Texas citizens, ran against her in a run-off election. He defeated her to become the next and then-youngest governor of Texas. Suffragist activism provided a major contribution to her defeat, as these women rallied behind Moody and campaigned for him.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: Ferguson ran again in 1932. She narrowly won the Democratic nomination over incumbent Ross S. Sterling, then soundly defeated Republican Orville Bullington in the general election, 521,395 (61.6 percent) to 322,589 (38.1 percent). It was a year of Democratic successes as Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected as President of the United States. Bullington was a cousin of the first wife of John G. Tower, future U.S. Senator from Texas. He fared more strongly than most Texas Republican candidates did in that period, but did not match Butte's 1924 showing against Ferguson.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: Ferguson's second term as governor was less controversial than her first. It was rumored that state highway contracts went only to companies that advertised in the Fergusons' newspaper, the "Ferguson Forum." A House committee investigated the rumors, but no charges were ever filed. The Great Depression forced both the federal and state governments to cut down on personnel and funding of their organizations, and the Texas Rangers were no exception. The number of commissioned officers in the law-enforcement agency was reduced to 45, and the only means of transportation afforded to Rangers were free railroad passes, or using their personal horses. The situation worsened for the Rangers when they entangled themselves in politics in 1932 by publicly supporting Governor Ross Sterling in his re-election campaign over "Ma" Ferguson. Immediately after taking office in January 1933, she proceeded to discharge all serving Rangers. The force also saw its salaries and funds slashed by the Texas Legislature, and their numbers reduced further to 32 men. The result was that Texas became a safe hideout for the many Depression-era gangsters escaping from the law, such as Bonnie and Clyde, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd and Raymond Hamilton. The hasty appointment of many unqualified Rangers to stop the increasing criminality proved ineffective.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: The general disorganization of law enforcement in the state convinced the members of the Legislature that a thorough revision of the public security system was in order, and with that purpose it hired the services of a consulting firm from Chicago. The resulting report yielded many worrying conclusions, but the basic underlying facts were simple: the criminality levels in Texas were extremely high, and the state's means to fight them were underfunded, undermanned, loose, disorganized and obsolete. The consultants' recommendation, besides increasing funding, was to introduce a whole reorganization of state security agencies; especially, to merge the Rangers with the Texas Highway Patrol under a new agency called the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). After deliberating, the Legislature agreed with the suggestion. The resolution that created the new state law enforcement agency was passed in 1935 under the next governor of Texas, James V. Allred, and with an initial budget of $450,000, the DPS became operational on August 10.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: In October 1933, Ferguson signed into law Texas House Bill 194, which was instrumental in establishing the University of Houston as a four-year institution.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: "Fergusonism," as the Fergusons' brand of populism was called, remains a controversial subject in Texas. As governor, she tackled some of the tougher issues of the day. Though a teetotaler like her husband, she aligned herself with the "wets" in the battle over prohibition. She opposed the Ku Klux Klan, which was on the decline after 1925 because of a national murder and sex scandal by its president, D. C. Stephenson.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: Ferguson has been described as a fiscal conservative but also pushed for a state sales tax and corporate income tax. She is often credited with a quote allegedly referring to bilingualism in Texas schools: "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it ought to be good enough for the children of Texas." Variations of this statement have been dated to 1881, and were often used to ridicule the claimed backwardness of various unnamed Christians. Ferguson did not originate the quote.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: Ferguson issued almost 4,000 pardons during her two nonconsecutive terms in office, many of them to free persons who had been convicted of violating prohibition laws. In 1930, between Ferguson's terms, the Secretary of State of Texas Jane Y. McCallum published a pamphlet criticizing the former governor's numerous pardons of prisoners. Though never proven, rumors persisted that pardons were available in exchange for cash payments to the governor's husband. In 1936, voters passed an amendment to the state constitution stripping the governor of the power to issue pardons and granting that power to a politically independent Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (see Capital punishment in Texas).


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: Except for an unsuccessful bid to replace Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel in 1940, the Fergusons remained retired from political life after 1935. In the 1940 campaign, Ma Ferguson trailed O'Daniel's principal rival, Ernest O. Thompson of Amarillo, who was Texas Railroad Commissioner.


title: Miriam A. Ferguson

text: Her husband, James, died of a stroke in 1944. Miriam Ferguson died from congestive heart failure in 1961 at the age of 86. She was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.


title: Vltava

text: Vltava ( , ; ) is the longest river in the Czech Republic, running southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice and Prague, and finally merging with the Labe at Mělník. It is commonly referred to as the "Czech national river".


title: Vltava

text: Both the Czech name ' and the German name ' are believed to originate from the old Germanic words ' 'wild water' (compare Latin '). In the ' (872 AD) it is called '; from 1113 AD it is attested as '. In the ' (1125 AD) it is attested for the first time in its Bohemian form, ".


title: Vltava

text: The Vltava River is long and drains an area of in size, over half of Bohemia and about a third of the Czech Republic's entire territory. As it runs through Prague, the river is crossed by 18 bridges (including the Charles Bridge) and covers within the city. The water from the river was used for drinking until 1912 when the Vinohrady Water Tower ceased pumping operations. It is, however, the source of drinking water in case of failures of or repairs to the water supply from the Želivka and Kárané sources. The Podolí water processing plant is on standby for such cases with the long section of the river upstream of the Podolí plant under the stricter, second degree of pollution prevention regulations.


title: Vltava

text: The height difference from source to mouth is about and the largest stream at the source is named Černý Potok (Black Brook) or Teplá Vltava (Warm Vltava). The Vltava itself originates by a confluence of two streams, the Warm Vltava ("), which is longer, and the Cold Vltava ("Studená Vltava"), sourcing in Bavaria. Along its course, Vltava receives many tributaries, the biggest being Otava and Berounka from the left and Lužnice and Sázava from the right side.


title: Vltava

text: Between the confluence with the Labe(Elbe) at Mělník and Prague, the river is navigable by vessels of up to displacement. Most of the river upstream of Prague as far as České Budějovice is currently navigable by craft of up to displacement, but such vessels cannot pass the dams at Orlík and Slapy, and are also restricted by a low bridge at Týn nad Vltavou. Work is planned to complete boat lifts, planned for but never completed, at the two dams, and to rebuild the bridge, in order for them to navigate throughout. Much smaller craft, of up to displacement and under beam and air draft, can avoid these obstacles.


title: Vltava

text: Upstream of České Budějovice, the river's section around Český Krumlov (specifically from Vyšší Brod to Boršov nad Vltavou) is a very popular destination for water tourism.


title: Vltava

text: Nine hydroelectric dams have been built on the Vltava south of Prague to regulate the water flow and generate hydroelectric power, starting in the 1930s. Beginning at the headwaters, these are: Lipno, Lipno II, Hněvkovice, Kořensko, Orlík, Kamýk, Slapy, Štěchovice and Vrané. The Orlík dam supports the largest reservoir on the Vltava by volume, while the Lipno dam retains the largest reservoir by area. The Štěchovice Reservoir is built over the site of St John's Rapids.


title: Vltava

text: The river also features numerous weirs that help mitigate its flow from in elevation at its source near the German border to at its mouth in Mělník.


title: Vltava

text: The Vltava basin has flooded multiple times throughout recorded history. Markers have been created along the banks denoting the water line for notable floods in 1784, 1845, 1890, 1940, and the highest of all in 2002.


title: Vltava

text: In August of that year, the basin was heavily affected by the 2002 European floods when the flooded river killed several people and caused massive damage and disruption along its length, including in Prague. It left the oldest bridge in Prague, Charles Bridge, seriously weakened, requiring years of work to repair.


title: Vltava

text: Prague was again flooded in 2013. Many locations within the Vltava and Elbe basins were left under water, including the Prague Zoo, but metal barriers were erected along the banks of the Vltava to help protect the historic city centre.


title: Vltava

text: One of the best-known works of classical music by a Czech composer is Bedřich Smetana's "Vltava", sometimes called "The Moldau" in English. It is from the Romantic era of classical music and is a musical description of the river's course through Bohemia (listen).


title: Vltava

text: A minor planet 2123 Vltava discovered in 1973 by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh is named after the river.


title: Vltava

text: Smetana's symphonic poem also inspired a song of the same name by Bertolt Brecht. An English version of it, by John Willett, features the lyrics "Deep down in the Moldau the pebbles are shifting" / "In Prague three dead emperors moulder away."


title: Vltava

text: US First Lady Hillary Clinton and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met in Prague, strolled through Wenceslas Square with Václav Havel, and took a fourth of July cruise on the Vltava River in summer 1996 after the Velvet Revolution.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: Wu Jinyan (, born August 16, 1990) is a Chinese actress. She is best known for her roles in television series "Beauties at the Crossfire" (2013), "Story of Yanxi Palace" (2018) and "The Legend of Haolan" (2019).


title: Wu Jinyan

text: Wu was born in Chengdu, Sichuan. She began studying ballet at the age of 3. In 2000, she moved from her hometown to train at the Dance School Affiliated to Beijing Dance Academy, working to become a professional ballerina. After 7 years of boarding school, Wu joined the National Ballet of China, where she suffered repeated fractures in her feet. Wu later reported that these injuries caused her to pursue a different career to ballet. In 2009, Wu entered Beijing Film Academy, majoring in acting.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: At the Affiliated school, Wu once had a chance to become an actress. The director even invited Wu's parents to persuade her to participate. But the role needed to shave the head, which would affect the dance presentation, she finally gave up this opportunity.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: During Wu’s sophomore year, she began her career by taking part in filming a time-travel television series, which has not been aired yet.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: In 2011, Wu signed a contract with Zijun Entertainment, which opened up more acting opportunities for her.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: In 2013, Wu played a dual role in the period political drama "Beauties at the Crossfire", which achieved the highest ratings of the year for Anhui TV. She also got the nomination of Most Popular Actress at the Shanghai Television Festival.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: In 2015, she appeared in the Guan Hu's crime film "Mr. Six" as a college student begging money to go home, opposite Feng Xiaogang.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: In 2016, during the shooting of "Waitan Zhong Sheng", Wu made acquaintance with Yu Zheng, a Chinese screenwriter and producer. Then she became an artist of Huanyu Entertainment and was cast as the lead role in the historical drama "Zhaoge".


title: Wu Jinyan

text: In 2018, Wu starred in the historical drama "Story of Yanxi Palace". The drama was incredibly popular in China and throughout Asia, streaming over 15 billion times and becoming the most googled show in 2018.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: She gained increased attention after starring in historical fiction "The Legend of Haolan" (2019) as Li Haolan / Zhao Ji.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: In 2019, Wu joined the cast of "Youth Periplous", a Chinese variety show broadcast on Zhejiang Television. In August, she ranked 65th on "Forbes" China Celebrity 100 list. In September, Wu portrayed a scriptwriter in the suspense romance drama "You Are My Answer" which aired on Hunan Television. In October, Wu appeared in the 2019 edition of Forbes 30 Under 30 China list, which consisted of 30 influential people under 30 years old who have had a substantial effect in their fields.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: On January 1, 2020, Wu starred in a music video for JJ Lin's song titled "The Story of Us" (). Wu was invited by JJ Lin to participate in the music video after the popularity of "Story of Yanxi Palace". This was her first music video. The spin-off of "Story of Yanxi Palace", "Yanxi Palace: Princess Adventures", where Wu reprised her role as consort Wei Yingluo, aired on Netflix one day before.


title: Wu Jinyan

text: Wu participated in the period drama series "Legacy" which will premiere exclusively on WarnerMedia’s regional streaming service HBO Go at an unspecified date later in 2021. "Legacy" is a 1920s-set drama that chronicles the lives of the wealthy Yi family and three sisters who vie to inherit their father’s shopping mall business. In a time of upheaval and uncertainty, the three sisters set aside their differences to keep the business afloat and save their family.


title: Disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh

text: Susannah Jane Lamplugh (; born 3 May 1961) was a British estate agent reported missing on 28 July 1986 (aged 25) in Fulham, London, England, United Kingdom. She was officially declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1993. The last clue to Lamplugh's whereabouts was an appointment to show a house in Shorrolds Road to someone she referred to as "Mr Kipper". As of July 2022, the case remains unsolved.


title: Disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh

text: John Cannan, a convicted criminal responsible for the murder of Shirley Banks in 1987 and many other rapes, abductions and attempted abductions since his release from a nearby prison three days before Lamplugh's disappearance, is the only suspect in the murder of Lamplugh. In November 2002, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge Cannan, but that month police announced at a press conference, in an extremely rare move, that they believed Cannan was the man who murdered her. Cannan himself says he knows who killed Lamplugh, and states that this person is the same person responsible for the murder of Shirley Banks, for which he himself was convicted. He is known to have shown up uninvited at a house that was for sale in Shorrolds Road in the days before the disappearance, believing that the young female occupant was alone in the house, and started acting strangely until the woman's husband appeared, causing him to quickly leave. DNA evidence has also shown that Lamplugh had previously been in a car he owned at the time of her disappearance. He will be eligible for parole in October 2022.